Today, we’re going to discuss the voiced labial-velar approximant - the W-sound.

THE SOUND

The W-sound /w/ is produced when air is forced through a narrow passage made between the back of the tongue and the roof of your mouth - at the velum. It’s a narrow passage but less narrow than a fricative so the air is not turbulent.

For the W-sound /w/, the sound is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate while producing it). There is NO voiceless labial-velar approximant counterpart in standard English so just be aware.

There are some regions such as Southern USA, Scotland, and Ireland where the voiceless labial-velar approximant [ʍ] is pronounced like HW-sound. The rest of the English speaking world cut that HW-sound option out and simply use the W-sound instead.

Verbal cues

Exaggerate your /w/ sound at first. Because it is an approximant sound, the /w/ is a continuous consonant and can be held for several seconds. Try holding the W-sound for 5 seconds.

There’s two key focuses for this sound.

One - the velar part where the back of the tongue narrows towards the roof of the mouth.

Two - the lips round together at the front of the mouth before spreading apart.

Visual Cues

From a visual perspective, the labial component can be easily seen. Your lips must bunch up in the front middle of your face like you are going to kiss someone or try to whistle. Then during the W-sound, they spread apart during the sound production.

The tongue component you cannot rely on visual cues to help.

Tactile Cues

There are a few tactile cues you can rely on to help you find the correct W-sound placements. First, the point of narrowing between the back of the tongue and the roof of the mouth is further back in the mouth. Instead of the tongue tip which is used for sounds like the S-sound or T-sound, the velum is the location of the K-sound or G-sound.

So if you feel lost, start with the K-sound. Now the K-sound is a plosive/stop where airflow is cut off. Remember, that an approximant is a narrowing so the narrowest part is between the back of the tongue and the roof of the mouth at the spot known as the velum. No touching, but narrowing.

Secondly, for the lips bunching up and then spreading. Imagine a wall or use a piece of tissue paper about 1 inch in front of your lips. Without moving your head, try to use your lips to touch the paper or imaginary wall. You will automatically bunch your lips forward. That’s the starting position of the W-sound. As you produce the sound, you retract your lips backward and spread them outward like in a smile.

THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

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

BEGINNING OF THE WORD - wind, week, woke, while,

MIDDLE OF THE WORD - awkward, Ottawa, away, quick, square, request

END OF THE WORD -

*NOTE - Notice how the W-sound can be represented by a single W-letter, a -QU-letter combination. Also, notice how there are no final W-sound words.

SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T

ow, now - In this situation, the W-letter is not pronounced. Instead, there is a vowel that is similar in mouth shape but is represented positionally in a word at vowel locations whereas the W-letter appears in typical consonant locations. I won’t go into the details (and yes, there are linguistic rules of what letters appear at what positions in a word to denote syllable boundaries and the main part of word).
who, whose, whole - There are some words where WH-letter combinations followed by an O-vowel letter result in a silent W sound. But, there are also examples like ‘whopping’, ‘whoppers’, ‘whoa’, and ‘whoopee’ where the W-sound is made.
two, sword - There are some words that have old English roots. Between Old English & Middle English, a sound change took place that applied to words in which the W was preceded by S or T-letter and followed by a back vowel like [ɔ o ɑ u].
wrench, write, wraith, wrinkle, wrong - For WR-letter combinations, the W-letter is silent. You pronounce these as simple initial R-sound words.

WHY IT MAY BE HARD

As an approximant, the W-sound is a ‘glide’ type which communicates or emphasizes a movement characteristic to the The mouth shape glides from the the /u/ vowel position (a rounded lip shape to the subsequent vowel position (that would follow next). For example, ‘wee’ and ‘wah’ have different subseqent vowels (the ‘E’ sound versus the ‘Ah’ sound).

WHAT TO DO

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

Well here are the features of the W-sound.

Place of articulation - There are two focal points to the place of articulation. One, You are rounding your lips. Two, you are creating a narrowing in the back of your mouth between the back fo the tongue and back top of the mouth. The place of narrowing is similar to the focal position of the K and G sound but those are plosives (full obstruction) whereas for the W-sound, it is simply a narrowing.
Manner of articulation - Approximant or Approximation. Airflow is continuous through a narrowed passage. Not narrow enough for turbulence. If you notice the airflow is turbulent, widen that narrowing slightly.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiced (this means the vocal cords vibrate while producing the W-sound).

TIPS & EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

The important consideration for the W-sound is knowing when to produce the W-sound. There are many examples where the W-letter is silent even though in similar situations the W-letter does in fact produce the W-sound.

Whopper vs. Whom

Twin vs. Two

Sword vs. Sworn

Answer vs. unsweetened

There are many exceptions as you can already tell, depending on when a word joined the English language and whether its origin is English or a borrowed word from another language. Most native English speakers only know the pronunciation intuitively from years of learning and use rather than actually knowing the rules theoretically (i.e. They won’t be able to tell you when Middle or Old English words were derived or the merger of sounds like the HW-sound and the W-sound).

Neither can I.

I think the take-away is that you will need to learn it for yourself slowly but surely. Keep a running list to remind yourself. Actively recall words where the W-letter is silent versus when it is not. Be an active part of your English learning journey.

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 W-Sound