Today I'm going to go over two words that often trip people up: work and walk. Let's
take a look at the IPA transcriptions. First, notice that the word walk, even though it
is spelled with an L, had no L sound in it. The word 'work' is written with four different
IPA symbols. The 'ur' as in 'her' vowel is always followed by the R consonant sound
[], and really they are the vowel and consonant concept of the same sound, rrr. So though
it's written with four different symbols, it's really just three sounds: ww, rr, kk.
And walk, ww, aw, kk. So the difference in these words is the middle sound, rrr, and
aw. For the rr sound, the tongue pulls up and back some. And the middle raises and stretches
wide, pressing against the insides of the top teeth. Rr, rr. The front of the tongue
then just hangs forward, comes down, but it's still up and back enough so that the tip of
the tongue isn't touching anything. Rr, rr. Also, notice the lip position. The corners
come in and the lips pucker a little bit. Rr. For the aw sound, the jaw drops a little
bit more. And the tongue is sort of raised slightly all over. Not more in one place than
in another. Aw. The tip of the tongue is forward. It can either be lightly touching behind the
bottom teeth, or just behind it. Aw. Notice the cheeks come in just a little bit on this
vowel sound. Aw. And the lips round a little bit. Ww, rr, kk, ww, aw, kk. Now, the first
sound in these words in the W sound. And notice that the lips do need to be in a tight circle
for that. And you make a sound with your vocal cords before opening into the vowel. The final
sound is the K consonant sound, kk, where the tongue will stretch up in the back, kk,
touch the soft palate back there, let a little bit of air build up, and then pull away. And
in that pull away, the sound is released. Kk. The two middle sounds really are pretty
different. Let's alternate them. Rr, aw, rr, aw, repeat with me. Rr, aw, rr, aw. The rr
sound feels further up in the face for me, rr, rr, right here. Aw, the jaw is dropped
a little bit more, the sound feels more in the middle of the face. Aw, rr. And now let's
put all the sounds together to make the words. Ww, rr, kk, ww, rr, kk, ww, rr, kk, ww, rr,
kk, work. Ww, aw, kk, ww, aw, kk, ww, aw, kk, ww, aw, kk, walk. Work, walk. That's it,