If you want more information on the photos in this video, which have parts of the mouth drawn in, see this video on the parts of the mouth.

How to make this sound:

Video Text:

The 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. The first sound of this diphthong is not a sound that exists on its own as a vowel in American English. It's sort of a mix between the 'aa' as in 'bat' [] and the 'ah' as in 'father' [] vowel sounds. To make the sound, the tongue pulls slightly back, and in general raises. In the back it also spreads wide. Note also that the corners of the lips raise and pull back, exposing more of those front teeth. The second part of this diphthong is the 'uh' as in 'pull' vowel sound []. But I've noticed when this sound is in a diphthong that the lips tend to round more than when this sound is on it's own as a vowel in American English. So it's sort of a mix between this sound and the 'oo' as in 'boo' where the lips are very rounded. Ow. Also, in the 'uh' as in 'pull' vowel sound, the tongue pulls up towards the soft palate. So the tongue goes from being up and slightly back to really pulling up towards the soft palate in the back. Ow. And the lips go from being pulled back to rounding. Ow, now.

Here we see both sounds of the diphthong. In the first sound, you can see the jaw is dropped more. Here are the two sounds in profile. Here parts of the mouth are drawn in. In the first sound on the left, the tongue is raised and pulls back, slightly higher in the back. In the second sound the tongue stretches up towards the soft palate. The tip of the tongue is touching the bottom front teeth in the first sound, but is not quite touching in the second sound. The 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong.

Sample words: cow, bow, sound. Sample sentence: My flowers were dead and brown when I came back to town. Now you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this diphthong.

I, with the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong []. Lip up to make the F in found, and here we have the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. The space in the mouth gets darker as the tongue is moving back. My flowers, again, the 'ow' as in 'now', and again, you can see the tongue moves back as the space in the mouth gets darker. Teeth come together for the Z in flowers, also for the D in dead with the 'eh' as in 'bed' vowel sound []. Tongue tip up for the D. And brown, lips together for the B and again the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. Tongue up to make the N. The lips form a tight circle for the W, when, tongue tip up for the N. I came, lips together for the M sound. Back, the tongue up in the back to make the K sound. To town, with the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong, lips rounding at the end, tongue tip up for the N.

And now from the angle. I found, the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. You can see the tongue moving back as the lips come forward and round. My flowers, again, the 'ow' as in 'now'. The lips come in to round for the second half of the diphthong. Teeth make the Z position. Dead, tongue tip up for the D. And brown, again, the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong. The tongue there coming forward from being back for the R. When with the 'eh' as in 'bed', tongue up for the N. When I came, lips together for the M. Back, you can see the tongue moving up in the back for the K sound. To with the schwa, town. Again the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong, see the tongue moving back and the lips rounding. Tongue tip up for the N.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbol: []

Miss the old sound video? See it here.