an and en, an and ang

Question

Please explain how to pronounce the following words correctly that are similar to each other.

1, an and en : can / ken, tan/ ten, man/ men, pan/ pen

2. an and ang: fan/ fang, ban/ bang, tan/ tang, pan/ pang

I'm very confused.

Many thanks!!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

1. When a sheep makes its "Baaaa" sound, it's the sound of "a" in can, tan, man, and pan -- leaving off the B, of course! There is no sound in the English language that requires the speaker to drop the jaw as much as the "lax a" of can, tan, etc. The jaw is not extended downward anywhere near as much for the "lax e" sound of ken, ten, etc.
Listen and imitate! That's always the first and best method.
Then, be aware of the position of your jaw. Don't open too wide for the "e" in ken. Open very wide, in comparison, for the "a" in can.

2. This difference is another matter. Provided you can produce the "a" as described above, the problem now is how to continue into either "n" or "ng". Here the difference is not related to jaw position, but to tongue position. To finish the word with "n", the blade (front part) of the tongue must move up to touch the interior of your mouth just above your upper teeth. In contrast, to finish the word with "ng", the blade of the tongue must not touch any surface in your mouth. Instead, the back part of the tongue must be drawn back (towards the throat - to block off the air coming through) and touch the back of your mouth.

Another thought: Supposing you can get the sound of the "ing" ending correctly -- as in doing, saying, finding, ... , then practice saying "fa" as in fan followed by "ing": fa---ing, and so on, through the various words you mentioned: fa-~~ing, ba~~-ing, ta---ing, ... (Be sure to use the "lax a" with wide open jaw on these.). Now as you say the two parts faster, going from fa----ing to fa---ing to fa--ing to fa-ing, you can close the gap to faing and then to fang. There is actually extremely little difference between fa-ing and fang.

I hope this helps.
CJ

Davidrock65 · Answer

TKS A LOT!!

I have a question here. What's lax a and lax e??

CalifJim · Answer

Lax a is the sound of a in man, cat, sad, ...
Lax e is the sound of e in men, set, red, ...

Some teaching methods use the words long and short; others use the words tense and lax in describing vowel sounds.

CJ

Marvin A. · Answer

0 In progressive speakers of my dialect, they would be pronounced thusly:02br
02br
00can [ keɘn ]02br
00ken [ kæn ]02br
00fan [ feɘn ]02br
00fang [ feŋ ] 0-

Conchita57 · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10CalifJim12cite101. When a sheep makes its "Baaaa" sound, it's the sound of "a" in 11i10can, tan, man12i10, and 11i10pan12i10 12blockquote

10An English speaking, that is, bleating sheep, you mean!0-

CalifJim · Answer

0No, not English.  I'm certain that sheep bleats are all in international sheep language.  050010id1

Marvin A. · Answer

0 >> An English speaking, that is, bleating sheep, you mean! 02<<
02br
00And they must be British or Australian English speaking sheep, as most North American dialects tend to raise [ æ ] before nasals. 0-

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