POSTURE
I invite you to first MUTE this video, and see what you notice about Henry’s posture – perhaps even play with some mouth listening!…
JAW
- Closed: not a lot of jaw height, jaw tends to remain fairly closed
- Protrusion: jaw tends to be advanced – not an underbite, but bottom teeth sit close behind top teeth
I invite you to play with our friend’s jaw posture in this clip:
A closer look at that jaw height + protrusion:
LIPS + LIP CORNERS
- Lip corner pinning – not much lateral movement. A friend of mine, when trying this accent, said “it seems like my lip movement is coming from the corners of my mouth, rather than my lips themselves”, and I thought that was a brilliant description! (all credit to Cayleigh Rogers)
- Top lip bracing/pursing – top lip is much less mobile than bottom lip, while the bottom lip has both trumpet and pursing moments
I invite you to play with our friend’s lip + lip corner posture in this clip:
A closer look at the lips/lip corners:
TONGUE
- Tongue tip and blade feel very active
- Dorsum tends to sit mid/forward in mouth, with a cup in the front of the dorsum – lending itself to our hesitation sounds for this accent.
Note the front of dorsum cupping at the start of this hesitation sound – [ɛ̈m]:
I invite you to play with and listen to some of the hesitation sounds for this accent:
Hesitation Sound 1: [ɛ̞̈m]
Slowed down . . .
Hesitation Sound 2: [ɛ̈m]
Slowed down . . .
Hesitation Sound 3: [a]
Slowed down . . .