Understanding Vowel Sounds in American English

Hadar discusses the importance of understanding vowel sounds, especially for non-native speakers of English. She explains that speakers of languages with fewer vowel sounds often merge English vowel sounds into their existing categories. To help learners map out the vowel sounds in American English, Hadar provides examples of minimal pairs, words that differ by only one sound, such as 'sheep' and 'ship' or 'bed' and 'bat'. She categorizes the vowel sounds into front vowels, back vowels, and central vowels, explaining how the placement of the tongue and the openness of the mouth change for each sound category.