British English Vowels

(RP)
LAX VOWELS

TENSE VOWELS
LAX VOWELS
 close

front back

open 4
 KIT FOOT

DRESS

STRUT
LOT
TRAP

5
CLOSE (HIGH)

BACK
OPEN (LOW) 6
 preview:

• The 6 lax vowels are ALWAYS SHORT

• fen fen
• bit bit
• not not
• very veröld
• clever klefi
 preview:

• The 6 lax vowels are ALWAYS SHORT

• fen fenn
• bit
• not
• very verry
• television tellevision (“telly”)
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 preview:

• The 6 lax vowels are ALWAYS SHORT

• fen fenn
• bit bitt.....?
• not nott....?
• very verry
• television tellevision (“telly”)
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 preview:

• English vowels MUST NOT BE

PREASPIRATED
• not nott (noht)
• bit bitt (biht)
• stop stopp (stohp)
• better better (behter)
• supper supper (söhper)

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TENSE VOWELS
 CLOSE (HIGH

FLEECE GOOSE
KIT FOOT

BACK
DRESS NURSE
THOUGHT
STRUT
TRAP LOT
PALM
OPEN (LOW) 12
CLOSE (HIGH

BACK
OPEN (LOW) 13
English Diphthongs

δι-ϕθογγος
di-phthong
.... fþong
 English Diphthongs

• “pure” vowels
• diphthongs
 English Diphthongs

• how "pure" are the "pure"

vowels?
CLOSE (HIGH

BACK
OPEN (LOW) 17
1 Rising to KIT

18
2 Rising to FOOT

19
3 Centring to Schwa

20
21
22
SQUARE words are spelled
-air- -are-
fair fare
chair care
stair mare
cairn stare

23
NEAR words are spelled
-eer- -ier-
beer fierce
engineer pier
queer

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But words spelled with -ear-, –ere-, -eir-
are variable -
SQUARE NEAR
bear pear wear fear clear rear
heir their weir
where there here
they’re we’re
idea
hero
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Vowels - summary
 CLOSE (HIGH

FLEECE GOOSE
KIT FOOT

BACK
DRESS NURSE
THOUGHT
STRUT
TRAP LOT
PALM
OPEN (LOW)
CLOSE (HIGH

BACK
OPEN (LOW) 28
CLOSE (HIGH

BACK
OPEN (LOW) 29
 Vowels - summary
Learn chart positions:
• front – central - back
• close (high) – mid – open (low

Learn symbols and keywords for

• 6 lax vowels + “schwa”
• 5 tense vowels
• 8 diphthongs (diphthongs are also tense
vowels)
Difference between lax and
tense vowels

• lax vowels are short

• tense vowels are long but are
subject to clipping

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 Clipping

A tense vowels (or

diphthong) is
CLIPPED (shortened)
when a fortis
consonant immediately
follows it.
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Preview:
FORTIS and LENIS consonants
16 consonants occur in PAIRS, fortis
and lenis

FORTIS consonants are unovoiced

LENIS consonants are often (but not
always) voiced

(This is not the only distinction between fortis

and lenis. We’ll discuss this later.)

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Preview:
FORTIS and LENIS consonants

fortis:
lenis:

pie, buy church, judge

tie, die mission, vision

key, gay ice, eyes

fine, vine think, this

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