Hi everyone and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy, and this is our 48th episode.

Last week, I talked about the fact that there is no L sound in could, would,

and should. I decided to continue along that line this week and tell you that there's also no

L sound in the words walk and talk or any other words that

end an A-L-K for that matter.

The words could, should, and would have something else in common with walk and talk.

An odd vowel sound. No, it isn't the same vowel sound in both sets of words,

but they both have less understood vowel sounds. Remember, could, should, and would have the

you as in put sound. Uh. Walk and talk have the U as in put sound, U.

Walk and talk have the A.W sound, aw.

I call it the A.W sound because it is often spelled that way, as in the words awful, dawn, and draw. This sound can be confusing because it has a lot of common

spellings. It is the vowel sound in the word dog, which is obviously spelled with an O, and is also

commonly spelled A-U, As in taught and cause.

I'll get to all of the A.W sounds spellings

when I do the video for that sound in a few weeks.

For now, I want to make sure you understand how to say this sound.

It sounds like this. Aw.

Aw.

Many vowel sounds we can't see from outside the mouth.

This one we can.

First, the lips are made rounded.

...