Today, we’re going to discuss the F-sound counterpart… The voiced labiodental fricative - V-sound /v/.

THE SOUND

The V-sound /v/ is produced when air is forced through a narrow turbulent passage made between the top teeth and lower lip. The tongue remains in neutral position and is not a focused target for the V-sound. Instead, you want to imagine you are trying to whistle but instead of pursed lips, you are trying to whistle with the top teeth lightly contacting the lower lip.

For the V-sound /v/, the sound is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate while producing it), and the the voiceless counterpart sound is the F-sound /f/.

Verbal cues

Exaggerate your /v/ sound at first. Try to lengthen the duration of the sound to ensure you are getting the fricative property correct. If you cannot hold the sound for a long time, you are not using the correct property.
using a mirror with be a visual to see if you can visually see you top teeth. The top teeth should be exposed and visualized making contact with your lower lip.
Again, not harshly - it should be a light contact point
However, if no visualization of the top teeth is demonstrated, then that needs to at first be demonstrated.

Visual Cues

The /v/ sound is a very visual sound and can easily be taught by pointing out how the mouth moves while the sound is made.
Use a mirror to see where you place your teeth to make the sound.
Pronounce it yourself a few times in the mirror, pointing to where your teeth are resting on your lips. Encourage him to do the same thing with his mouth in the mirror. The mirror will give him visual feed back to make sure the position of his mouth matches yours.

Tactile Cues

When the /v/ sound is produced correctly, a small puff of air is released from the mouth. You should be able to feel it if you hold your hand in front of your mouth. If you continue to hold the /v/ sound, you should feel a steady stream of air.

THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

Here's the sound in different positions of a word.

BEGINNING OF THE WORD - very, vain, volume, vinyl, view

MIDDLE OF THE WORD - tavern, universe, avid, lover

END OF THE WORD - have, give, five, nerve, behave

*NOTE - Notice how the V-sound can be represented by a F-letter or a V-letter

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

of - In this specific word, the F-letter is actually pronounced more like a V-sound. The V-sound is actually the voiced counterpart to the F-sound so they are not actually too different from a sound production standpoint but it does impact what sound you are actually making.

In actuality, the V-sound does not have silent-V situations so far, so feel confident that when you see a V-letter, the V-sound should be produced.

WHY IT MAY BE HARD

Some languages do not use the lower lip and upper teeth contact normally for sound production. Therefore, it can be awkward or uncomfortable. Some clients put too much emphasis on the contact and actually bite their own lip, applying too much pressure.

Remember, it should be light contact.

If you need practice on getting the right positioning, take your time with the V-sound. Extend how long you hold the sound so you can guarantee you have frication.

VVVVValue, VVVVVery, VVVVVIctory, VVVVVolume

behaVVVVVVVe, loVVVVVe, driVVVVVe

faVVVVVour, feVVVVVer, belieVVVVVVer

WHAT TO DO

So let's say you do have trouble with your V-sound. What can you do about it.

Well here are the features of the V-sound.

Place of articulation - Between your top teeth and your lower lip. Your lower lip can but doesn’t need to curl inward. Your top teeth should lightly contact your lower lip.
Manner of articulation - Frication. Airflow is turbulent but continuous - like a whistle. It is turbulent because airflow is passing through a narrow passageway. The sound keeps coming out as long as you have air from the lungs to continue the airflow.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiced (this means the vocal cords vibrate while producing the V-sound).

TIPS & EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

Some clients will put too much pressure in the contact between the upper teeth and lower lip. If you are forcing so much pressure, remember to think about the fricative nature of the sound. Are you building up pressure like a blocked garden hose or popping the cork off a champagne bottle or are you letting out a constant stream. For a fricative, it is more like a constant stream - no sudden build-up of pressure.

A good way to test if you are applying too much pressure is if you can sustain a constant sound. For fricatives, like the V-sound or F-sound, you can hold the sound continuously for 5-10 seconds.

For plosives/stops, like the B-sound or D-sound, the sound can only be heard for a split second or second before you need to recreate it.

If you have trouble with the positioning, work on the F-sound and V-sound in tandem. They both share the SAME mouth placement, lip contact, and manner of articulation (think whistling). The one difference between the two is that the F-sound is voiceless and the V-sound is voiced.

Some people mix up the W-sound and V-sound. If you find yourself in this position, pay attention to your lip contact. For the W-sound, your lips come together like you are going to kiss and then they spread outward like a smile., For the V-sound your top teeth contact your lower lip lightly. You do not need to pucker your lips together.

AND THAT’S IT.

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 V-Sound