Lessons Unit 1, lesson 9
ɔː as in law
One long vowel, on its own page. The ː mark means hold it — hear it alone, then in the words, then say them yourself.
What do the marks mean?
Want the full walkthrough? Read the map explains every mark, with practice.
ɔːthe aw in law
Open your mouth, round your lips a little, and hold: law. Deeper and longer than the short o in cot.
Now say it yourself
Read each word from its sheet, out loud, three times. Where there's a play button, listen first and copy what you hear. Slow is fine — speaking clearly matters more than speaking fast. Tap a word's microphone to record yourself and see which sounds landed.
Check your pronunciation, on this device. The first use downloads a small AI listener (about 40 MB, one time, then it's cached). Your voice is analyzed here in your browser — it never leaves your device.
The great American merger
Many American speakers today don't distinguish this vowel from the ɑ in cot at all — for them, law and "lah" sound identical. If your goal is General American, either way is acceptable, but keeping them separate is still common in parts of the country. If you do keep them apart, this vowel needs rounder lips and a slightly higher tongue than the vowel in cot.
A self-test
Say saw and sock. If you round your lips for saw and leave them relaxed for sock, you're making the traditional distinction. If they come out the same, that's fine too — just be consistent across similar words.
Common spellings
Watch for aw (law, saw, draw), all (all, ball), o before certain consonants (dog, long, song, off), and a after w (water) — the same pattern that sometimes points to the vowel in cot instead, depending on the word and the speaker.