Cockney Consonants

Ah the start of the tongue tips! This month I’ll be looking at Cockney. Have you read the blog yet? If not, head over and take a look here!

In this video I cover major consonant sounds in Cockney.

H - him, here, home, underhanded, have.

ING - sing, being, ringing, doing, thing.

TH - think, both, without, through, breathe.

T - butter, letter, what in, beat him, utterance.

L - old, all, awful, called, loyal.

Cockney vowels 1

Today we’re jumping into some vowels. Hope you enjoy it!

Here are some words to go with today’s video:

i sound (ee)- me, seem, even, team, believe, reason, extreme, keep, freed

au (ow)- now, about, out, crown, doubt, house, flounder, around, frown, how

ai (I)- I, why, crime, flying, triumph, time, like, replies, island, grimy, alive, smile

Cockney vowels 2

Here’s part two of your cockney vowels! I hope you enjoy it.

Here are some words that go with today’s video:

Ei sound - say, maybe, today, away, playful.

Oh sound - No, go, home, control, follow, pogo.

oo sound - you, too, flu, refuse, choosing.

ʊ sound - look, good, should, pushy, crooked.

I sound - it, sick, winner, this, initial.

Welcome to Canada!

In Part 1, we’re looking at a few key things involving placement and intonation, as well as a couple of sounds. Canadian raising (focussing on ei and ai diphthongs today), upswing, and the mouth placement!

Canadian raising words for practice: Remember, these change before VOICELESS consonants.

ei sound: great, take, place, grape, acre

ai sound: ice, might, hype, pike, strife

Part 2!

Today we’re getting into specific sounds. 2 of them specifically. The au diphthong (out and about) and the ou (no, go) diphthong, which in Canadian English, isn’t much of a diphthong at all!

Enjoy the video, and here are some words for you to practice.

au sound: out, now, about, drown, cows.

ou sound: grow, own, ago, only, holy

In the next video, we’ll look at some specific word changes that are particularly Canadian.

Part 3!

Our last day in Canada. Today is all about specific words. Here’s a text to practice with! Have fun with it, and don’t forget to incorporate all the other sounds and placement things we talked about in previous videos!

The sun shone pretty bright out yesterday, eh? Today it’s a little colder but tomorrow it’s going to snow. So, I’m so sorry but I’m going to have to take a raincheck on meeting for coffee again. I know it’s the second time I cancelled, but I’ve been really busy lately. And when it snows the water lever gets all frozen over and I have to spend the day pouring hot water all over it. It’s a really annoying process. We want to replace the well and get a new system, but that’s a pretty major project so it’s probably going to have to wait until next year.

Tricky TH’s

In this video we look at two situations that cause our TH’s to vanish and turn into other sounds, or cause us to add little extra syllables to the words. They are an N before a TH, and an S or Z before a TH.

Watch the video and then try these out:

N into TH - in then, then they, can think, begin throwing, down there.

S/Z into TH - is that, this thing, his thoughts, does threaten, kiss them.

Annoying ING’s

Many people have difficulty hearing and/or pronouncing the difference between an NG sound and an N sound. There are many accents that do not distinguish between one and the other (ex: cockney, east London, many Irish accents, many southern US accents, and many other languages)

Here are some pairs to try after watching this video. Try some more of your own, and feel free to invent words!

Thin - thing. Bin - bing. Sing - sin. Flint - flinged. Tin - ting.

As always, if you have any questions do feel free to drop me a message!

Shhhhhh and CH

These are two difficult sounds for many people, particularly those who don’t speak English as their first language. If you have trouble pronouncing these sounds, this is for you.

SH sound - she, with, shopping, sheep, ashram.

CH sound - choice, chewing, achieve, which, catch.

If this doesn’t work for you, feel free to get in touch so we can figure out what does!