English Phonemes: Vowels

Main features and Spelling of Pure Vowels

 The RP Vowels

 In RP (Received Pronunciation) there is a set of vowels that are represented by the following phonemes. This chart
represents the mouth, the horizontal line shows the part of the tongue involved in the production of a particular vowel.
The vertical line shows the position of that part of the tongue. If the front of the tongue is in its high position, the
sound /i:/ is produced. It is impossible to produce this sound with, for example, the back of the tongue in its low
position.
front centre back
High

Mid high

Mid low

Low
/i:/

This long vowel (long vowels are represented by a length mark [:] ) is produced by the front of the tongue in its
high position (see chart). The lips are spread. This is its frequent spelling:
“ee” deep, sleep, meet
“e” in stressed syllables: complete, evening, these
“ea” sea, mean, lead
“ie” field, piece, siege
“ei, ey” seize, receive, deceive, key
Exceptions: people, quay, magazine, police
 /ɪ/

This is a short vowel. The part of the tongue between the centre and front is above mid high position. The lips are
loosely spread. It occurs in the following frequent spelling:

“i” pick, sick, tip, rich

“y” country, baby, rhythm
“e” pretty, needed, except
“ie” ladies, cities (unstressed syllables)
“-age” village, cottage
“-ate” private, certificate
“u” minute, busy, business, built

Exceptions: women, England, Sunday (days of the week)

 /e/

This short vowel is produced when the front of the tongue is between mid high and mid low position. The lips are
spread. The main spelling for this vowel is…

“e” bed, segment, went

“ea” head, breath, dead
“a” many, Thames

Exceptions: Geoffrey, says, said, bury, Leicester, friend, again, ate

 /æ/

This vowel is produced when the front of the tongue is in its low position. The lips are neutrally open.
Main spelling:

“a” thanks, man, have

Exceptions: plait, plaid,

 /ʌ/

The part of the tongue nearer the centre than to front is bellow mid low position. The lips are neutrally open.

Main spelling: Many words Americans pronounce with /o/ are pronounced with this spund in RP.

“u” cut, sum, dull

“o” money, monkey, one, colour, mother, love, comfortable, dozen
“ou” cousin, country, southern
“oo” flood, blood

Exceptions: does
Never in letter “a”
 /ɑ:/

The part bewteen the back and the centre of the tongue is in its low position. The lips are neutrally open.

Main spelling:

“ar” park, part, arm

“as” pass, class, ask
“al” half, calm, palm
“au” aunt, laugh
“ear” heart, heath
“er” Clerk, Derby, sergeant

Exceptions: French ending “oir” reservoir, memoir

 /ɒ/

The back of the tongue is in it low position. The lips are rounded. This sound occurs in the following frequent spelling:

“o” doc, sock, holiday

“a” (after “w”) was, wáter, swan, watch, quarrel
“ou, ow” cough, knowledge, Gloucester /’kwɒrəl/
“au” because, sausage, laurel, Austria, Australia,

Exceptions: yacht
 /ɔ:/

This long vowel is produced when the back of the tongue is between mid high and mid low position. The lips are
rounded. The main spelling for this sound is…

“ar” war, quart, warm

“or” cord, horse, born
“ore”more, score, bored
“our”court, course, resource
“oar, oor”board, floor, door
“au, augh” fault, cause, daughter
“a”all, talk, walk, water
“aw” saw, lawn, jaw, awesome
“ou”bought, cought, thought

Exceptions: pure, sure, broad

 /ʊ/

The part of the togue nearer the centre tan to back is raised above the mid high position. The lips are loosely
rounded. The main spelling for this sound is…

“u”butcher, put, full, cusion

“oo” cook, book, wood, wool
“o”bosom, wolf, woman
“ou” could, should, could

Exceptions: Worcester /w ʊstə/, worsted

 /u:/

The back of the tongue is raised to its high position. The lips are closely rounded. The main spelling for this sound
is…

“u” rude, June, Susan, crucial

“oo” food, son, moon, spoon
“o” do, who, move, lose
“ou” group, soup, wound
“ew” chew, flew, askew
“ue, ui, oe” blue, juice, shoe
/u:/ is in many cases preceded by /j/ music / ‘mju:z ɪk/ duke /dju:k/ beauty / ‘bju:t ɪ/
 /ɜ:/

The centre of the tongue is between mid high and mid low position. The lips are neutrally spread.

Main spelling:

“er, err” prefer, perfect, err

“ur, urr” fur, church, turn, nurse
“ir, yr” myrtle, bird
“wor” word, worm, worse
“ear” earth, heard
“our”journey, courtesy, scourge

Exceptions: colonel / ‘k3:nl/

 /ə/

The centre of the tongue is between mid high and mid low position., the lips are neutrally open.
The Schwa is the only sound in English that has a name. Schwa means “empty” in Hebrew. This may be related to the
fact that this sound only occurs in weak syllables (not stressed) and is very difficult to be pronounced in isolation. The
following list shows the most recurrent spelling:

“a” woman, England

“e”elephant, apartment
“i” possible, density
“o” oblige, today
“u”suppose, submit
“ar” particular
“er” teacher
“or” doctor
“ou” famous, color
“ure” picture
 References

Cruttenden, Alan. Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. Sixth Edition. 2001. OUP