Vowel Sound / æ / as in "cat" - American English Pronunciation

Find out how to pronounce vowel sound /æ/ used in words like "back," "fact," or "jam."
Improve your American accent with exercises recorded by a professional speech therapist.
Practice pronunciation of the / æ / vowel sound in everyday words.
Learn about the essential spelling rules for the /æ/ vowel.
Look for a special soundtrack at the very end of the video.

Quick links:
• How to make the /æ/ sound: 0:52
• Pronunciation exercise: 2:09
• Most common spelling for the sound /æ/: 4:22

Related videos:
#AmericanPronunciation #VowelSounds #FrontlVowels
► Interactive Vowel Sounds Chart: American English Pronunciation
https://goo.gl/IwiOIn
► Vowel sound /ɛ/, as in "bed": https://youtu.be/OLG3cCLcNiI
► Vowel sound /eɪ/, as in "make": https://youtu.be/0RXzfRcjk-s
► Contrasting sounds /ɛ/ vs /æ/, as in "bed" and "bad": https://youtu.be/GnWPcvI20Uk

[THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, SPANISH, JAPANESE, CHINESE, VIETNAMESE, KOREAN, PORTUGUESE AND RUSSIAN SUBTITLES]
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TRANSCRIPT

Hello there! This is the Sounds American channel.

In this video, we're going to talk about the American vowel sound /æ/, as in the word "cat." You can also hear this sound in words like "at," "half," "man," or "laugh."
We'll be using a special phonetic symbol—/æ/—for this sound.

The /æ/ is specific to English, as the majority of other languages don't have this sound. That's the reason why many people distort the /æ/ or replace it with other vowels.

Let's learn how to pronounce this sound the right (American) way.
OK, to pronounce the /æ/ sound, you should focus on the correct position of your tongue and jaw.
Open your mouth as wide as possible, slightly spread your lips, and tense them.
Tense your tongue, flatten it, and push it forward. Your tongue should be positioned very low in your mouth. The tip of your tongue should be touching the back of your bottom front teeth.
Remember, the /æ/ is a very open vowel sound, so your jaw should be very low and your tongue should be very flat.
Now, let's try saying it: /æ/, /æ/, /æ/.

[Pronunciation exercise]
Now, let's practice this sound in some words.
You'll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation. Like this: [abstract].
You'll have a few seconds to pronounce the word, if you want to.
Let's begin!

• act
• add
• Alps
• am
• an
• and
• angle
• ankle
• ant
• apple
• as
• ash
• ask
• asks
• at
• babble
• back
• backed
• backpack
• backs
• bad
• badge
• bag
• band
• bang
• bank
• bass
• bat
• batch

You're done! Congratulations!

By the way, the /æ/ is almost always written as the letter 'a.'
And more on the spelling: the letter 'a' stands for the /æ/ sound, as in the word "cat," in 97% of cases. The remaining 3% are split between the combination of letters 'al,' as in the word "half," and 'au,' as in the word "laugh."

Thanks for watching! Hope you find it useful.
Stay tuned on our Sounds American channel!

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