Pr.

Louriz

Spoken English (File 5)

Sounds of English (3): Long vowels

[1] Long vowels are produced with longer duration than short vowels. In other words, the
time it takes to produce a long vowel is double the time it takes to produce a short one. Length
is marked by two dots next to the vowel. That is, instead of writing the vowel twice, the two
dots do the job (e.g. /uu/=/u:/).

[2] When you say the letters of the alphabet, ‘E’ has the long vowel sound /i:/. You hear this
sound in the word meet. But the letter ‘E’ can also be pronounced as the short vowel sound
/e/, as in the word met.

The sound /i:/ is pronounced with the front of the tongue in the front upper part of the mouth
and lips wide open. The following video provides more explanation and demonstration:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation/longvowel1

Listen to the target vowel in the following words and repeat them as pronounced in
Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/. The pronunciation you hear is what
you read in IPA symbols.

Orthography IPA Orthography IPA Orthography IPA

meat mi:t least li:st scene si:n
meet mi:t bee bi: key ki:
feet fi:t piece pi:s cheese ʧi:z
seat si:t sneeze sni:z Steve sti:v

When there is an /i:/ sound before the letter ‘R’ at the end of a word, many speakers add the
vowel /ə/ and do not pronounce the /r/, Compare the vowels in these words : knee – near,
pea-pier. Many dictionaries give this vowel before ‘R’ as /ɪə/. This will be covered in the next
file.

[3] The vowel sound /u:/ is produced with the back of the tongue raised up and the lips
rounded. The following video provides more explanation and demonstration:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation/longvowel2

Listen to the target vowel in the following words and repeat them as pronounced in
Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ . The pronunciation you hear is what
you read in IPA symbols.

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Orthography IPA Orthography IPA Orthography IPA

fool fu:l shoot ʃu:t soup su:p
rude ru:d shoes ʃu:z new nju:
boot bu:t lose lu:z few fju:

These examples further stress the idea repeated before: there is no one-to-one matching
between letters (in bold) and sounds (in red).

[4] In many accents of England, the letter ‘R’ is not pronounced after a vowel. In other
places, the R is pronounced as in most parts of North America. The former are referred to as
non-rhotic dialects, whereas the latter are called rhotic dialects.

In most dialects of England, the sound /ɑ/ followed by /r/ are produced [ɑ:]. That is, the sound
/r/ is deleted and the vowel takes its place and becomes long /ɑ:/ (same happens in [6] and [7]
below). Sometimes, /ɑ:/ is produced when the letter ‘A’ is followed by the letter ‘L’. This
vowel sound is produced with the back of the tongue down and the jaw down (mouth open).
The following video provides more explanation and demonstration:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation/longvowel3

Listen to the target vowel in the following words and repeat them as pronounced in
Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ . The pronunciation you hear is what
you read in IPA symbols.

Orthography IPA Orthography IPA Orthography IPA

far fɑ: card kɑ:d calm kɑ:m
bar bɑ: starve stɑ:v half hɑ:f
heart hɑ:t star stɑ: talk tɑ:k
march mɑ:ʧ start stɑ:t palm pɑ:k

Listen to these words again as pronounced in different varieties of English. Pay attention to
whether they are rhotic or non-rhotic.

[5] The letter ‘R’ can also change the preceding vowel into the sound /ɔ:/ (as in [5]). This is
not the only environment, though. This vowel is produced with the lips very rounded and
forward and the front of the tongue down. The following video provides more explanation and
demonstration: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation/
longvowel4

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Listen to the target vowel in the following words and repeat them as pronounced in
Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ . The pronunciation you hear is what
you read in IPA symbols.

Orthography IPA Orthography IPA Orthography IPA

short ʃɔ:t ball bɔ:l cause kɔ:z
door d ɔ: daughter dɔ:tə war wɔ:
four f ɔ: caught kɔ:t bought bɔ:t
for f ɔ: walk wɔ:k bored bɔ:d

[6] The letter ‘R’ can also change the preceding vowel into the vowel /ɜ:/. This is the vowel
you hear in the word ‘shirt’. The following video provides more explanation and
demonstration: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation/
longvowel5

Listen to the target vowel in the following words and repeat them as pronounced in
Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ . The pronunciation you hear is what
you read in IPA symbols.

Orthography IPA Orthography IPA Orthography IPA

shirt ʃɜ:t worse wɜ:s sir sɜ:
were wɜ: birth bɜ:θ skirt skɜ:t
burn bɜ:n word wɜ:d bird bɜ:d
heard hɜ:d her hɜ: nerd nɜ:d

[7] So far, we have covered the short and the long vowels of English. Most of these vowels do
not exist in Moroccan Arabic and Tamazight. This is why, one should practice these sounds as
much as possible and make sure the right vowel is pronounced. This is because vowels are
contrastive in English; they create minimal pairs as explained. For example,
mispronouncing /i:/ instead of /e/ or vice versa can change meaning (and hence
misunderstanding in the conversation). Consider the following examples and check their
pronunciation in Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Minimal pair /e/ and /i:/

said sed seed si:d
bet bet beat bi:t
met met meat mi:t
set set seat si:t

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These words constitute minimal pairs. A minimal pair is a pair of words that vary only by a
single sound and have distinct meaning. Let’s illustrate with more examples from other pair
sounds:

Minimal pair /ɪ/ and /i:/

sit sɪt seat si:t
bit bɪt beat bi:t
fit fɪt feet fi:t
fill fɪl feel fi:l

Minimal pair /æ/ and /ɑ:/

ban bæn barn bɑ:n
match mæʧ march mɑ:ʧ
hat hæt heart hɑ:t
ham hæm harm hɑ:m

Minimal pair /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/

far fɑ: fur fɜ:
par pɑ: purse pɜ:s
bath bɑ:θ birth bɜ:θ
farm fɑ:m firm fɜ:m

Minimal pair /æ/ and /ʌ/

bat bæt but bʌt
bad bæd bud bʌd
match mæʧ much mʌʧ
cat kæt cut kʌt

These examples show not only that there is no one-to-one mapping between letters and
sounds, but also mispronouncing sounds can result in a change of meaning, and, hence,
misunderstanding which consequently affects the message meant to convey. More vowels
form minimal pairs. You can listen to more minimal pairs in the following link:
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs-ar-ir.htm