We’re talking about the AI-sound now.

This sound is one of our special diphthong sounds. It’s a combo sound of the [ɪ] - a open front unrounded vowel , or low front unrounded vowel, represented by the letter ‘’, and the [ɪ] - a near-close front unrounded vowel , or near-high front unrounded vowel, represented by a small uppercase ‘i’.

Although the [a] is not used in the Generalized American or Canadian English accent, a close substitute is the [æ].

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol combination for this sound is [aɪ].

In General American English and Canadian English, the AI-sound is the sound in the word EYE or BUY.

SYMBOL

On the IPA vowel chart, it is located on the left of the chart and transitions. The sound remains at the front of the mouth through the whole transition. But it moves from an open or low sound to a near-close or near-high sound. It stays unrounded for the entire transition as well.

The Color Vowel® Chart, created by Karen Taylor and Shirley Thompson in 1999, is another visual organizer for spoken English and represents how to learn and think about vowels. It refers to this sound as the ‘WHITE TIE’ sound or the WHITE vowel. Notice the consistent placement on the left side of each respective chart.

SOUND

So, the AI-sound in EYE or BUY is a diphthong.

Because the sound is actually a combination of two vowel sounds transitioning from one to the next, it is important to recognize that the sound is a longer sound. It takes more time to complete the sound because the most important difference from pure vowel sounds IS the transition.

Therefore, it is important to exaggerate the mouth movement to clearly distinguish vowel sound #1 to vowel sound #2.

Non-native English speakers tend to produce the sound too quickly and the transition is too brief to distinguish clearly. As a result, the non-native English speaker’s sound may be more similar to [a] or [ɪ] as a pure vowel instead.

If you are learning this sound and you are already comfortable with the OW-sound in NOW [aʊ], that diphthong also starts at the [a] sound so vowel sound #1 is the exact same. The only difference in the ending vowel sound (vowel sound #2) is different.

For the starting [a] vowel sound, the jaw is open. If you are looking in the mirror, there should be a visible gap between your upper and lower teeth. As you transition to the second vowel in the AI-sound, your jaw closes to a near-close position. Not fully closed but both your jaw closes up and your tongue tip arches up towards the roof of your mouth. Imagine creating a small sliver of space.

The corners of your lips do not round. They should stay neutral and relaxed. So if you feel your cheek muscles activating and a smile forming, stop that! No smiling.

You might feel muscle activation in the floor of your mouth as your tongue muscles activate to move upward to reach the roof of your mouth. Although the tongue tip does not touch the roof of your mouth at all, it can feel like it’s aiming for the

FEATURES

Because the AI-sound is a diphthong, its features change from the [o] sound to the [ʊ] sound. I’ve included both below so yo ucan compare.

The [a] sound features are as follows.

Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth.
It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

The [ɪ] sound features are as follows.

Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth.
It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

In English, the AI-sound is reflected in spelling in many different ways. Depending on the specific English dialect, it may be written using any of the following letters:

I - idea, item, child, while, might, five, life, find, I, time, gigantic, vitamin (North American English pronunciation), alibi, outside, bible, grind
EI - either, neither, Einstein,
IE - die, diet, tied, lie, pie
AI - Thai, bonsai, Shanghai
Y - try, why, my, by, fly, rhyme, dynamic
UY - guy, buy
IGH - high, thigh, fight, slight
IG - sign, paradigm
AE - maestro, taekwondo

The reason why I’m especially showing you the different spelling combinations that can create this sound is that there will ALWAYS be exceptions, weird spellings, or other things that impact how reliable the written representation will be.

EYE and COYOTE are examples that don’t fit the previous visual representations.

LISTENING

You need to be able to identify the sound; rhyming is an excellent way to match it properly. So, if you are not good already, start practicing rhyming and hearing the sound.

IH	AA	AI
bit	bat	bite
lit	lat	light
min	man	mine
limb	lamb	lime
mitt	mat	might

I’m breaking down every single sound down for you so that you can learn how to produce each sound in English accurately. Sometimes, we’ll have easier sounds and sometimes we’ll have harder sounds.

If you’ve grasped this sound, then great! But if you’ve got a tip that might work for others, or you took a while to produce this sound correct but something clicked for you, let me know down below in the comments. My goal is to have a community know what to do when they’re stuck!

The AI-Sound

SYMBOL

SOUND

FEATURES

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

LISTENING

The OY-Sound

The OW-Sound