UNIT 2 ENGLISH VOWELS - 1

Structure

Objectives
Introduction
The English Vowels
Vowels in British Received Pronunciation
2.3.1 Pure Vowels
2.3.2 Acceptable Indian Variants
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Some Useful Books
Answers

2.0-OBJECTIVES
- -

In this unit we shall begin our study of English phonology and take up the
vowel system first. We shall describe the 12 pure vowels of British Received
Pronunciation and illustrate their use. After completing this unit you should be
able to

distinguish between the different pure vowel sound in English, and

find out from the dictionary which vowel sounds are to be used in
particular words

Recording

An audio recording based on Units 2-3 is also available at the study centers of
the University.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

In Unit 1 we gave you a brief introduction to phonetics. We shall now

introduce you to phonology, by which we mean the sound system of a
language. Every language has a number of distinctive sound units called
phonemes, and it is possible to discover them in only one sound. We can say
that the phonemes are the smallest units in a language that can bring
about a difference in meaning. For example, a set of English words like pen,
ten, den, hen, men, wren, when gives us a list of seven distinctive consonant
phonemes /p t d h m r w/.

One or more phonemes form a syllable. Every syllable has a nucleus, that is, a
sound more prominent than the rest, which is usually a vowel or a consonant
used like a.vowel. Every language has its own patterns of syllable structure.
An English syllable has a vowel or a 'syllabic' consonant as the nucleus, and
it may have one or more consonants before and after the nucleus. For
Phonetics and example, the word street / s t r i : t / has the structure CCCVC, where V and C
Phonology-I
represent vowel and consonant elements. In the word cotton / ' kw-tn/, we have
two syllables with the structure CV - CV (- indicates syllable division). V in
the second syllable here is represented by the syllabic consonant In/.l'he mark
/ ' / indicates that the following syllable is stressed.)

Besides phonemes and syllable structure, we also study what are called
prosodic features, which include length, stress and pitch.

2.2 THE ENGLISH VOWELS

In the matter of vowels there are two slightly different systems used in thc
English-speaking world. In some varieties of English the consonant sound /r/
is used only before vowel sounds. (We shall use the ph'onetic symbols to
represent and put them within slanting lines / / to indicate that they represent
the sounds of the language and not the letters of the alphabet.) In this category
we have what is called Received Pronunciation of England. that is. the kind
of pronunciation that is well received or accepted as the standard in England.
It is the form of speech generally used by educated people i n the south of
England. We shall use the abbreviation R.P. to refer to this kind of
pronunciation.

Examples
The sound / r / does not occur in the pronunciation of the following words in
R.P. arm, born, force, serve, modern.

There are other varieties of spoken English in which the sound /r/ occurs in
all positions, that is before vowel sounds, before consonant sounds, and
finally. Most varieties of American and Indian English fall in this category. As
a result of this pattern of the occurrence of 11-1, these varieties can manage
with fewer vowel'sounds than R.P.

Example: shot and short are distinguished by using two different vowel
sounds in R.P., because 11-1 does not occur in short. In /r/-pronouncing
varieties the same vowel can be used in both words and the distinction is made
by the presence of / r / in short.

2.3 VOWELS IN BRITISH RECEIVED

PRONUNCIATION

English, according to British R.P., operates on a system of 20 distinctive

vowel units or phonemes. We can divide them into two broad categories -
pure vowels or monophthongs, that is, vowels that do not change in quality
even when they are made long and diphthongs, that is, vowels in the
production of which there is a glide from one quality to another within the
same syllable.
A list of these 20 vowel phonemes is given below. For each vowel phoneme English Vowels-1
we shall give a phonetic symbol and place it within oblique bars. Among pure
vowels, some are relatively long, and the symbols for them have mark /:/ to
indicate length.
The symbols for diphthongs consist of two letters each, one to indicatefhe
vowel quality at the beginning and the other the vowel quality towards which
the glide takes place. The symbols used for English (R.P.) vowel phonemes
vary from one book to another. In this course we shall use the symbol adopted
by two famous dictionaries that we have recommended for reference. These
are:
1. Longman Dictionay of Contemporary English
2. A.S. Hornby: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current
English, 3rdedition (revised).
Pure Vowels
1 SI. No. I Symbol 1 Key Word I Key Words in Phonetic 1
1 1 I I Transcriotion 1
I
1 /i:/ seat /si:t/
2 /I/ Sit /SI t/
3/el
--
4 I=/ Sat /saet/
5 /a:/ cart /ka:t/

-- - - -- - - -

2.3.1 Pure Vowels

Let's take up the pure vowels first. We shall divide them into three groups -
front vowels, back vowels, and central vowels.
The Front Vowels
The four front vowels in English, according to R.P. are /i:/as in seat, /I/ as
in sit, /el as in set and /se/ as in sat.

as in seal
/i:/
Phonetics and
Phonology-1
This vowel can be described as front, close vowel produced with spread lips..
It can occur at the beginning of a word, in the middle, and at the end.

Examples:

eat /i:t/ Word-initial /i:/

each /i:tS/
seed /si:d/ Word-medial /i:l
seat 1si: t /
bee hi:/ Word-final /i:/
tea /ti:/

This vowels is represented by various spelling in English.

Examples: com'plete, green, beat, chief, seize, ma'chine, key, and 'people.

/I/ as in sit

This is a fiont vowel between close and half-close. It can occur word-initially
and medially, but in the final position it can occur only in an unstressed
syllable.

Examples

inn /~n/ Word-initial /I/

if /~f/
bid h~d/ Word-medial /I/
pitch /p~tS/ Word-final /I/
city / ' s 1 t 11

In British R.P /I/ is a very common vowel in unstressed syllables.

Examples

Stressed: rich, 'system, 'busy, 'build, be'gin, 'city, ' village, 'parties.

Unstressed: 'minute, 'coffee, 'money, 'carriage, 'captain, 'useless, 'wanted,

'James 's, 'foreign.
/el as in set
This is a front vowel between half-close and half-open. It does not occur in
the final position.
Example

egg leg/ Word-initial /el

any /'en11
men /men/ Word-medial /el
ten /ten/
This vowel can be represented by various spelling: English Vowels-l

e.g., set, head, ' any, ' bury, friend, ' leisure, said.

'I'his is a front vowel between open and half-open. It does not occur in the
final position

Example

ant /=nt/ Word-initial I=/

act /=kt/
cat k t / Word-medial /ad
bat /b= t /

It is very important to make a distinction, in your speech, between these four

vowels. Apart from the differences in quality, notice that /i:/ is relatively long
compared to /I/. There are a number of words, in which if we replace /i:/ by
/I/ and keep the other sounds the same, the meaning of the word changes
completely. Similarly, if we replace /I/by /el, or /el by /ae/ in certain words,
the meaning of the word changes. Some examples are give below.

beat / bi:t/ and bi h ~ t / The replacement of /i:/ by

bean /bi:n/ and bin h ~ n / /I/changes the meaning of the words.
deed /di:d/ and did / d ~ d
ease /i:d and is 11d

bit / b ~/ tand bet / bet / The replacement of /I/ by /el changes

bid / b ~ dand
/ bed /bed/ the meanings of the words.
sit /sit/ and set /set/

bed /bed/ and badhaedl The replacements of /el by /ae/ changes

pen /pen/ and pan /paen/ the meanings of the words.
ten /ten/ and tan /tien/
said /sed/ and sad Isaed

In fact there are sets of four words each, which are different only in one
vowel sound. Take the word deed, for example; if we replace the vowels in
this word by the short vowel /I/ and keep the other sounds the same, we get
the word did. Similarly, if we replace /I/by /el we get the new word dead. If
we replace /el by /ae/ we get yet another new word dad. A few such sets of
words are given below.
'Table 1
Words contrasting four front vowels

/i:/,/I/,/el and /ae/

Phonetics and S.No /i:/ /I/ /e/
Phondqy- I
1 seat Sit set
/si:t/ /sI~/ /set/
2 bead bid bed
/bi:d/ /b~d/ /bed/ /baed/
3 I neat I knit I net I

The Back Vowels

The back vowels in R.P. are /a:/, lo/, /a:/, /u/,and /u:/.

/a:/ as in cart

This is a long back vowel produced with the mouth wide open.

Examples:

ask /a:sk/ Word-initial /a:/

aunt /a:nt/
past /pa:st/ Word-med ial /a:/
fast / fa:st/
car ka:/ Word-final /a:/
bar ha:/

(In R.P. /r/ does not occur in the final position, except when a word beginning .
with a vowel follows immediately. This vowel can be represented by various
spelling, e.g., hard, ask, calm, laugh, clerk, heart.)

/D/as in cot
This back vowel is almost open and is produced with the lips sliglitly
rounded. It does not occur in the final position.
Examples

odd / od/ Word-initial /o/

on / on/
not / not/ Word-medial /o/
cot / kut/

This vowel can be represented by various spelling, e.g., want, cough,

know ledge.

/a:/ as in caught, horse, court

This is a back half-open vowel and the lips are rounded.

Examples:

ought /a:t/ Word-initial /a:/

order ra:da/
 caught / k ~ : t / Word-medial /a:/ English Vowels-1

taught /ta:t/
saw / s d Word-final ID:/
law /la:/
This vowel can be represented by various spelling, e.g., all, horse, court,
more, bought, door, law, cause, talk, warm, board, caught, broad.

This back vowel is between half-close and close, and is produced with the lips
rounded. It does not occur in the final position. It occurs only in the weakform
of to.
Examples

put /put/ Word-medial /u/

book lbuW
This vowel can be represented by various spelling, e.g., good, woman, bush
/u:/as in fool
'This is a long back, close vowel and is produced with the lips rounded.
Examples:

ooze /u:z/ Word-initial /u:/

boon /bu:n/ Word-medial /u:/
moon /mu:n/
two /tu:/ Word-final /u:/
shoe /Su:l

This vowel can be represented by various spelling e.g., rude, food, move,
group, fruit, shoe, two.

Look at the following tables in which words contrasting the vowels /a:/, 101,
/a:/, and the vowel /ul and /u:l are given.
Table 2
Words contrasting the back vowels

1 a:/, I'D/,and 1 a:/

1 I I cart
/ka:t/ 1 cot
k~t/
12 I card I cod I cord 1
Phonedm and Table 3
PhondogV-l
Words contrasting the back vowels
/u/ and /u:/

S. No. /u/ /u:/

1 pull /pull pool /pu:l/
2 full /ful/ fool /fu:l/
3 hood k u d who'd /hu:d/

The Central Vowels

The central vowels in English (R.P) are /A/, Is:/, and /el.

ld as in cup
This is a central vowel, between open and half-open. It does not occur in the
final position. Examples .
up /~p/ Word-initial /A/
uncle /~rjkl/
cut lkhtl Word-medial /A/
cup /hp/

This vowel can be represented by various spelling, e.g., cup, come, country,
blood, does.

/3:/ as in bird
This is a central vowel between half-close and half-open and occurs only in
stressed syllables. Examples

earn I ' s:n/ Word-initial /3:1

early /s:nl
learn /Is:nl Word-medial /3:/
bird /bs:dl
fur /f3:/ Word-final /3:/
cur k3:l

This vowel can be represented by various spellings, e.g., serve, bird, bum,
word, 'early, 'journey.

/e/ as in the first syllable of the word a'go

This is a central vowel between half-close and half-open. In R.P. it never

occurs in a stressed syllable, but is the most frequently occurring vowel in
unstressed syllables. A few examples of words in which /a/ occurs are given
below:

ago Ia'gaul Word-initial /a/

above /albhv/
purpose / 'ps:pas/ Word-medial /a/
command / keqma:nd/
father / 'fa:bal Word-final /a/
clever / 'kleve/

This vowel can be represented by various spelling, e.g. 'human, 'backward,

'problem, 'liberty, 'terrible, con'dition, 'effort, 'famous, suc'ceed, sur'prise,
'drama, father, 'actor, 'colour, 'thorough, 'nature, 'centre.

Check Your Progress 1

1. Write down the phonetic symbol for the vowel sound represented by
the underlined letter(s) in each of the following words (according to
R.P.). Use your dictionary, if you like.
For example: re 'late - /I/
-
Check your answers with those given by us at the end of the unit. Then say
each word correctly. You can also listen to these words on the audio
recording.

i) took .................................................................
ii) fool ...................................................................
iii) cqm'pare ..................................................................
iv) pg'lice ...............................................................

vi) mse ..................................................................

vii) 'cucum be^ ..................................................................
viii) 'c~lmr ..................................................................
ix) 'c~m
rade ..................................................................

xi) 'common ..................................................................

xii) b m h t ..................................................................
xiii) t w h t ..................................................................
xiv) 'gpper'tunity .....;............................................................
xv) grange ..................................................................
, ...

xvi) pgrpgn'djcglar ..................................................................

xvii) 'music ..................................................................
xviii) cgm'pgte ..................................................................
xix) 'rather ..................................................................
XX) 'party ..................................................................
2. The following pairs of words are distinguished by the vowel sounds in
them. Write down the symbols for the vowels that bring about the
distinction. Check your answers with those given by us at the end of
Phonetics and the unit. After you have checked your answers, say each pair of words,
Phonology- l making a clear distinction between the vowel sounds. You can also
listen to the words on the audio recording.

i) (a) heal (b) hill

i i) (a) lift (b) left
iii) (a) said (b) sad
iv) (a) cap (b) CUP
v) (a) cut (b) cart
vi) (a) bus (b) boss
vii) (a) heart (b) hot
viii) (a) Pot (b) Port

2.3.2 Acceptable Indian Variants

1 The vowels /a:/ and /3:/ do not exist in most varieties of lndian
English. Nor are /A/and /e/ kept distinct. As a result:

i) The distinction between words like cot k ~ t and

/ caught /ka:t/ is not
maintained, the same vowel /PI being used in both. It suggested that,
in words like caught, a longer variety of /u/ may be used to
distinguish them from words like cot.
R.P. Suggested lndian Variants
cot kut/ kut/
caught ka:t/ /ku:t/

ii) The distinction between words like shot /Sut/ and short /Sa:t/, is
made not by using two different vowels, but by using /u/ in both and
retaining the /r/ sound in words like short.
R.P. Acceptable Indian Variants
shot /S ~ t . 1 /Jut/
shortt IS a:t/ /S:urt/

This is quite acceptable so long as /r/ is retained in words like short.

iii) In words like court and force, where R.P. has /a:/, most lndian
speakers used the vowel /o:/(the one they use in words like coat) with
lrl after it. This is quite acceptable.
R.P. Acceptable Indian Variants
court /ka:t/ ko:rt/
force Jf a:sl /fo:rs/

iv) The same vowel is used for both /A/ and /el. This does not matter so
long as the correct stress pattern is maintained.
 The distinction between words like shut lShtl and shirt IS 3:tl is made E
- Vow&-1
v)
not by using two different vowels but by using /a/ in both and
retaining the /r/ sound in words like shirt.
*
R.P. Acceptable Indian Variants
shut /ShV IS et/
shirt IS3:tl /S ertl

Check Your Progress 2

1. Listen to the following sentences on the audio recording and then say
them with the correct vowel sounds. The stressed syllables have been
marked for you.
He 'couldn't 'prove it.
He 'acted very 'well.
'Are you the 'captain?
It is 'not 'worth the 'trouble.
His 'honesty has been re'warded.
'What 'courses are you 'studying?
Can you 'come at 'half 'past 'seven?
It's been a :busy 'week for me.
Did she 'marry the 'man she 'loved?
I'm 'sorry I 'can't ac'cept your sugg'estions.
2. Listen to the following dialogue on the audio recording and then read it
aloud with the correct vowel sounds. The stressed syllables been
marked and some sentences have been divided into groups.
Can I 'speak to Mister 'Gopinath, 'please?
1 'think he 'isn't 'in, I'll 'check.
'Hold on a 'minute, 'please. (After a few seconds)
He's 'gone 'outland will be 'back at 'four in the after'noon.
Can you 'take a 'message, 'please?
'Certainly. 'Wait a 'second/till I 'get some 'paper and 'pencil.
'Yes. 'Who's 'calling1 and 'what's the 'message?
My 'name is Ra'mesh, Ra'mesh 'Chandran, from 'K.G. 'F.
'Yes?
'Actually he 'asked me to 'call him this after'noon, in
con'nection with an 'interview.
'Oh! 'Why didn't you 'tell me be'fore? 'I have a 'message for
'you .
A: What 'is it?
B: 'The 'interview's at 'half past 'four to'day. And 'please bring 'all
your cer'tificates with you.
A: 'Thank you.
B: You are most 'welcome.

2.4 LET US SUM UP

Phonology is a study of the sound system of a language. It includes a study of

(i) distinctive sound units in the language, called phonemes, (ii) the way
phonemes combine into syllables, and (iii) prosodic features like length, stress
and pitch.
Phonefics and R. P. has 20 vowel phonemes - 12 pure vowels and 8 diphthongs. In this unit
Phonology-1 we have concentrated on the pure vowels. We have also described the
acceptable Indian variants.

2.5 KEY WORDS

back vowel: a vowel produced by raising the back of the

tongue, e.g., the vowel in too.
diphthong: a vowel sound in which there is glide from one
vowel quality to another within the same
syllable; e.g., the vowel in my. /ma11
front vowel: a vowel produced by raising the front of the
tongue; e.g., the vowel in see.
monophthong: a vowel sound of unchanging quality, e.g., /I i:
u el
Received Pronunciation: the generally accepted standard of pronunciation
in British English.
vowel: a speech sound in which (i) the air from the
lungs comes out without any stoppage, (ii) there
is no narrowing of the air-passage to cause
audible ftiction, and (iii) the vocal cords vibrate
to produce voice.

2.6 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

Balasubramanian, T. (1 98 1, 1987).A Textbook of English Phoneticsfor Indim

Students, Macmillian India Limited.
Bansal, R.K. and J.B. Harrison (1983). Spoken English for Indin. Orient
Longrnan (Second Edition)
CI EFEL. Exercises in Spoken English: Part 3: Vowels, Oxford University
Press, 1 98 1.

2.7 ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1

i)
i i)
iii)
iv)
v)
v i)
vii)
viii)
ix)
 x) English Vowels-1
xi)
xii)
xiii)
xiv)
xv)
xvi)
xvii)
xviii)
xix)

2, i)
i i)
iii)
iv)
v)
v i)
vii)
viii)