Here are the links and resources referenced in today’s video:
🔴Vowel Sound Masterclass:    • Perfect Your English Accent: Learn 15...  
🔴Consonant Masterclass:    • How To Perfectly Pronounce 27 English...  
🔴 Free PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a14-...

The /ɪ/ vowel sound in English is relatively uncommon. Around 10-20% of the world’s languages have it. For example, Spanish does not have this sound. Spanish speakers will often use the /i/ sound instead of the /ɪ/ sound. So, they may say “sheep” as in the animal, when they mean “ship” as in a boat. Not using the correct vowel sound in a given word is confusing to listeners, because often changing the vowel can change the meaning of the entire word, like I just illustrated with “sheep” vs. “ship”.

Today, we will do 4 things: 1) learn a 4-step process to produce a perfect /ɪ/ 2) Learn about length variations in the /ɪ/ sound 3) Take 2 challenges to practice discriminating between the /ɪ/ and other vowel sounds to build a strong mental model.

And I have created a free bonus PDF for you with a list of words that have the /ɪ/sound in them. So you can keep practicing! But make sure you watch this entire video first, because then, you will get the most out of the free PDF.
If you watched my vowel Masterclass video, you know that a vowel is characterized by 4 elements. If you missed it, check it out:    • Perfect Your English Accent: Learn 15...  

The /ɪ/ sound is a high-front, lax and unrounded sound.

Follow these 4 steps to make the /ɪ/ sound:
1) Put your hand under your chin,
2) Say the /i/ sound. Notice how you feel tension under your chin. Because the /i/ is a tense sound.
Steps 3 and 4 are happening simultaneously:
3) Imagine the /i/ sound as a straw. And you are cutting that sound with a diagonal cut. Why a diagonal cut, because when you say the /ɪ/ sound, the body of your tongue is moving toward the center of the roof of your mouth. If you look at the vowel quadrilateral, you will notice how the tongue is slightly farther back, approaching the center of your mouth.
4) As you are making that diagonal cut, release the tension. You will feel that tension release on the back of your hand.

This sound is sometimes called the short I sound. This is very misleading, as far as I am concerned. Because it is not the short version of any sound. And here is another reason it is misleading. The /ɪ/ sound changes length depending on what comes after.
We use a longer /ɪ/ sound when the /ɪ/ is in a stressed syllable, and is followed by a voiced consonant. We talked about voiced and unvoiced consonants in my Consonant Master class video. Make sure you check it out if you missed it:    • How To Perfectly Pronounce 27 English...  
Make sure you complete both ear-training/auditory training exercises so you can build an excellent mental model of the /ɪ/ sound.
After you complete these exercises, go ahead and download the free PDF. In it, I have a lot of 1, 2, and 3-syllable words for you to practice. For multi-syllabic words, the vowel that makes the /ɪ/ sound will be indicated in red.
I do want to point out that there are quite a few words in which either the /i/ or the /uh/ sound can be used.
For example: In-vi-si-ble: the I in the 3rd syllable, sible, actually makes the shwa sound. Most native speakers would use the shwa, because it is in an unstressed syllable, and it is easier and the word flows better when you use the /shwa/ sound. So keep that in mind as you practice along with the PDF.
That is it for this video. Today, we reviewed jaw, tongue and lip placement for /ɪ/, and we worked on creating the perfect mental model of the ae sound by studying what it looks like, and working on “hearing” it clearly, by discriminating it from other vowels.
As always If you found this video interesting and helpful, please make sure you like, comment, and subscribe! I will see you next time!
Here are the links and resources referenced in today’s video:
🔴Vowel Sound Masterclass:    • Perfect Your English Accent: Learn 15...  
🔴Consonant Masterclass:    • How To Perfectly Pronounce 27 English...  
🔴 Free PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a14-...


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