Pronunciation of the “OR“ sound in English

In this lesson, I will give you a list of words that have different spellings but all contain the same vowel sound: “or”. I will go over the pronunciation of words like “born”, “court”, “law”, “pore”, “tourist”, “yawn”, and more. I will demonstrate every word, and you will get a chance to practise your British English pronunciation with me. Listen closely to British and American English, and you will notice that, even though they are the same language, there are many pronunciation differences between them. In British English, for example, we tend to make the R sound much less pronounced, even if it is in the spelling of the word. Also, the syllable “or” is pronounced more like “aw”. So these words sound very different in British English and American English. Find out how well you understand this lesson by taking the quiz: NEXT, watch these three other pronunciation lessons: 1. Pronunciation – How to say words ending with -OW: 2. Pronunciation – TH & THR: 3. Pronunciation – The 2 ways to pronounce ’THE’: TRANSCRIPT Hello. I’m Gill at engVid, and today’s lesson is on the pronunciation of a vowel sound, and what it sounds like is: “or“, and this is a British English vowel sound. If you’re listening to American speakers or Canadian speakers, the words will be a little bit different. And also, depending on whether there is an “r“ in the spelling, Americans and Canadians do pronounce those words differently from the ones that don’t have an “r“, because they make the “or“ sound in their pronunciation; but in the UK, in Britain, we don’t make the “r“ sound so much, even if it’s in the spelling. So, we have a lot of words here which all have different spellings, but they’re all pronounced in British English with one vowel sound, which is: “or“, “or“. So, it’s like the word: “or“, and you can see I’m pushing my mouth forward when I’m saying it: “or“, “or“, and it’s just a round shape; I’m not making any “r“ sound with it. It’s just: “or“, “or“. So... and a lot of people get distracted, really, by the spellings and try to say the word according to the way that it’s spelt; when, in fact, sometimes that produces the wrong sound. So, a word like this, for example... Well, with “ght“, of course that makes it even more difficult. But that’s just: “caught“, “caught“. You don’t have to try to make “au“, “co-... coat“. Some people try to say: “coat“, but it’s not. It’s “caught“. Okay? Just like that spelling of “caught“, it’s just the same; no different. So, that’s the case for all of these words, even if they have double “l“ in them - it’s “or“, like that. Even if they have a “w“ at the end, it’s still “or“. So, let’s go through the words, and also there may be some words you’re not familiar with and I’ll explain the meaning as we go along. So, let’s have a look. So: “all“, “all“. You probably know this word - everything; all. This one: “awful“, “awful“. So, there’s a “w“ there but we don’t say “wa“, “awa“, “awa“, “wa“ like that; it’s just “or“ - it’s an open, circular shape. “Awful“, “awful“. So, people use the word “awful“ if something is bad. If they’re eating something and they’re not liking the taste, they say: “Oh, this sandwich. Oh, it’s awful. Awful.“ So, that’s “awful“. And “awkward“ is similar. If you feel awkward, you don’t feel comfortable. You feel a bit shy or unhappy. If you feel awkward... At a party for example, if you don’t know anybody and nobody’s talking to you, you sort of feel awkward. Okay? Right. So, next line: “ball“. So, “ball“ - I’m sure you know that word; sports, football. Ball. And “bald“. So, this “bald“ is when someone has no hair; they are bald. Okay? And a “bore“, this “bore“ is when someone isn’t very interesting. You’re talking to them. Maybe you’re at that party and then you do find somebody to talk to, but the person you’re talking to is really a bore - what they’re talking about isn’t very interesting and you’re doing your best to look interested, but it’s very difficult. A bore. Okay. And “born“. When a baby is born on a certain date, then that’s their birthday. “When were you born?“ Usually someone will ask: “What year were you born?“ Okay. So that’s that one. So, you notice by now I’m making the same shape with my mouth for every word. So, next line: “call“, to call someone. “Call“, shout out to them. Call. Or just simply the name of somebody: What do you call them? You call them by their name. Okay? “Core“, “c-o-r-e“, “core“ is the middle of something. Like, if you have an apple and you eat the apple, but there’s a bit left in the middle, that’s the core; that’s the inside part - the core. […]