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 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. This diphthong is officially made up of the 'aw' as in 'law' [] sound and the 'ih' as in 'sit' [] vowel sound. I find though that the first sound, oy, has lips that are more rounded that the 'aw' as in 'law' sound when it stands on its own. Oy. In the first vowel sound, the tongue is somewhat raised but even front to back, oy. In the second vowel sound, the 'ih' as in 'sit', the tongue is more raised in the front. Oy, oy. And the lips of course go from being round to, oy, being more relaxed, so the corners pull out to that relaxed position. Oy, toy.

Here are the two sounds of this diphthong. You can see in the first sound that the lips are rounded, and in the second sound that the corners of the lips pull back slightly. Here the two sounds are in profile with parts of the mouth drawn in. In the first sound the tongue is pulled back, in the second sound, the front part of the tongue raises towards the roof of the mouth while the tip of the tongue touches the bottom front teeth. The 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. Sample words: avoid, point, enjoyable. Sample sentence. The boy is annoying, but a loyal employee. Now you'll see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight ahead and from an angle, so you can really study how the tongue and lips move to make this diphthong.

The, the tongue comes through the teeth for the TH sound []. Boy, lips together for the B, and there, the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. The lips are rounded and you cannot see the tongue, at it is back. The the corners of the lips pull out as the front part of the tongue raises. Is, teeth together for the Z sound. Annoying again the lips round for the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. Front part of the tongue raises at the end. But, lips together for the B. A loyal, again, the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong where the lips round at the beginning and then stretch wider. Next the dark L sound and the tongue comes up to make the final L. Employee, again, the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong, and the corners of the lips pull wide for the 'ee' as in 'she' [].

The, tongue tip through the teeth for the TH sound. Boy, watch here the lips are rounded and then the corners pull out as the front part of the tongue comes forward and raises. Is, teeth together for the Z sound. Annoying, again, watch how the mouth moves through the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. But, lips together for the B. Tongue tip up to make the D, how the T is pronounced, and again for the L. Loyal, the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. Employee, lips together for the M. Tongue up and then down to make the L, and again the 'oy' as in 'toy' diphthong. And the corners of the lips pull wide for the 'ee' as in 'she'. Employee.

International Phonteic Alphabet symbol: []

This diphthong combines the 'aw' as in 'law' [] and 'ih' as in 'sit' [] vowel sounds. See those sounds' individual pages for more information.

Miss the old sound video? See it here.