the word 'order'.

This week's Word of the Week is 'order'.  Thanks so much to the user who suggested it! 

It begins with the AW as in LAW vowel, but because the next sound is an R, which can

affect the vowel before, it's not really a pure AW vowel, the lips will round more than

they would if the R wasn't there.  Or-, or-.  Then my tongue will pull back and up from the

middle, kind of like this, orr-, rr-.  The front part isn't touching anything; it can

be pointing up a little bit or pointing down a little bit.  I have a contact point here,

or-, where the middle of the tongue is touching the roof of the mouth lightly, or it might

be touching the bottom or insides of the teeth.  Or-der. Now we have the D, schwa/R sound.

So the tongue is going to make a quick motion for the D, then come right back to where it

is for the ending. It's pulled like this, or-der, the tongue tip comes forward and bounces

against the roof of the mouth, order, and comes right back into position for the R.

You don't need to worry about bringing the tongue down to make a schwa sound, the ending R takes

it over. So just one quick movement for the D. Keep in mind the second syllable should

be as fast as you can make it, since it's unstressed, -der, -der, -der. Order, order.

What are you going to order?

Here it is in slow motion.

If there's a word you find difficult to pronounce, suggest it in the comments. That's it, and

thanks so much for using Rachel's English.