Here we discuss about English Vowel and its characteristics

1. English Vowel
Every language possesses vowel sounds that play an inevitable role in producing speech.
‘Vowel’ is one of the two general categories used for the classification of speech sounds. This
type of sound is articulated with the air from the lungs passing through the vibrating glottis and
the vocal tract without any interruption.
Monophthongs
‘Monophthongs’ is a term used in phonetic classification of vowel sounds on the basis of their
manner of articulation. That is, a monophthong is a simple or pure vowel articulated without any
obstracles in the vocal tract. The English language has twelve monophthongs as listed below:
1. / i: / as in the words see, unique, feel
2. / ɪ / as in the words wit, mystic, little
3. / e / as in the words set, meant, bet
4. / æ / as in the words pat, cash, bad
5. / ʌ / as in the words bus, come, but
6. / ɑ: / as in the words half, part, father
7. / ɒ / as in the words not, what, cost
8. / ɔ: / as in the words port, caught, all
9. / ə / as in the words alone, butter
10. / ɜ: / as in the words beard, word, fur
11. / ʊ / as in the words wood, could, put
12 / u: / as in the words you, music, rude
The twelve monophthongs can be shown in a diagram as follows:
Figure: Monophthong Diagram

2. Let us now study the characteristics or properties of the twelve monophthongs as shown in the
diagram above.
1) The first monophthongs / i: / as in the words bean, leap, sheep etc is pronounced in the
front part of the vocal tract with the lips in a relatively close and spread position. This is a
long vowel.
2) The second monophthongs / ɪ / as in the words bin, lip, ship, it, etc is produced in the
front-centralized part the vocal tract with the lips in a half close and spread position. This
is a short vowel.
3) The third monophthong / e / as in the words men, pen, ten, etc is articulated in the front
part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mid and spread position. This is a short vowel.
4) The fourth monophthong / æ / as in the words man, pan, tan etc is pronounced in the front
part of the vocal tract with the lips in a half open and spread position. This is also a short
vowel.
5) The fifth monophthong / ʌ / as in the words cut, nut, shut, etc is articulated in the central
part of the vocal tract with the lips in a half open position. It is short vowel.
6) The sixth monophthong / ɑ: / as in the words bards card, farm etc is produced in the back
part of the vocal tract with the lips with their completely open and spread position. It is a
long vowel.
7) The seventh monophthong / ɒ / as in the words dog, pot, fog etc is articulated in the vocal
tract with the lips in a half open and rounded position. It is a short vowel.
8) The eight monophthong / ɔ: / as in the words lord, cord, short etc is produced in the back
part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mind rounded position. It is a long vowel.
9) The ninth monophthong as / ə / in the words ago, today, perhaps etc is pronounced in the
part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mid position. It is the shortest vowel in the
English lanague.
10) The tenth monophthong as / ɜ: / in the words bird, girl, shirt etc is produced in the central
part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mid position. It is a long vowel.
11) The eleventh monophthong as / ʊ / in the words book, look, cook, etc is articulated in the
back-centralized part of the vocal tract with the lips in their half-close and rounded
position. It is a short vowel.

3. 12) The twelfth monophthong as / u: / in the words fool, cool, tool etc is pronounced in the
back of the vocal tract with the lips in their close and pround position. It is a long vowel.
Diphthongs
A diphthong is a speech sound that is usually considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular
language. But, in fact, it involves two pure vowels or monophthongs, with one vowel gliding into
the other.
The English language has eight diphthongal
phonemes:
1. / eɪ / as in the words lady, make, may
2. / aɪ / as in the words my, time, hi
3. / ɔɪ / as in the words boy, noise, joy
4. / ɪə / as in the words here, beard, deer
5. / ɛə / as in the words fair, scarce, care
6. / ʊə / as in the words pure, your, poor
7. / əʊ / as in the words go, home, so, no, go
8. / ɑʊ / as in the words now, round, how,
cow
We can categorize the diphthongs as demonstrated below:

4. Now we can put the centering and closing diphthongs on a diagram according to their
articulation:
Figure: Diphthong Diagram
The centering diphthongs glide towards / ə /:
1) / ɪə / (e.g. beard, near, etc): The glide of / ɪə / begins with a tongue position approximately as
that used for /t/ i.e. centralized, front, half-close, and moves in the direction of the more open
variety of / ə / when / ə / is final in the word, e.g. in ‘near’ in non-final position ‘ beard’
the glide may not be so extensive, the quality of the / ə / element being of a mid type.
The lips are neutral throughout, with a slight movement from spread to open.
2) / ɛə /: (e.g. air, share, etc.) : The glide of / ɛə / begins in the /e/ position, and moves in the
direction of the more open variety of / ə /, especially when the diphthong is final; where / ɛə /
occurs in a syllable closed by a consonant, the [ə ] element tends to be of a mid [ə ] type. The
lips are neutrally open throughout.
3) / ʊə /: (e.g. poor, pure, etc.): RP / ʊə / glides from a tongue position similar to that used for / ʊ /
toward the more open type of / ə / , and a somewhat closer varity of / ə / when the
diphthong occurs in a closed syllable.
Three closing diphthongs glide towards / ɪ / and the remaining two towards / ʊ /:
Glide towards / ʊ /:
1) / eɪ /: (e.g. day, fail): The glide starts from the tongue position of that used for /e/, and moves in
the direction of RP / ɪ /, there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw, and the
lips being spread.
2) / aɪ /: (e.g. time, die, by, etc.): The RP glide begins at a point slightly behind the front open
position, and moves towards the position associated with RP / ɪ /. The lips change from a
neutral to a loosely spread position.

5. 3) / ɔɪ /: (e.g. boy, toy, etc): For RP
and moves towards the position of
changing to neutral for the second.
4. The closing diphthongs glide towards /
1) / əʊ /: (e.g. so, no, go, etc): The glide of RP
the direction of RP / ʊ /, there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips
are neural for the first element, but ha
2) / ɑʊ /: (e.g. how, town, house, etc): The glide of RP
front open positions, and moves towards the position for RP
neutrally open to a weakly rounded position.
Each of some complex vowels id found to be made up of three monophthongs. The English
language has such vowels that are very difficult to recognize and pronounce. However, a
triphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the
first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into
the third one.
For example / a: / glides into / ʊ
triphthong:
• Triphthong : 5 closing diphthongs with ‘
eɪ + ə = / eɪə /. as in layer, player
aɪ + ə =/ aɪə / . as in lire, fire
ɔɪ + ə =/ ɔɪə /, as in loyal, royal
əʊ + ə =/ əuə /, as in lower, mower
aʊ + ə =/ auə /, as in power, hour.
Now we can put the centering and closing
articulation:
: (e.g. boy, toy, etc): For RP / ɔɪ /, the tongue glide begins at a point associated with
and moves towards the position of / ɪ /; the lips opening rounded for the first element,
changing to neutral for the second.
glide towards / ʊ /:
: (e.g. so, no, go, etc): The glide of RP / əʊ / begins at a mid-central position, and moves in
there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips
are neural for the first element, but have a tendency to round on the second element.
: (e.g. how, town, house, etc): The glide of RP / ɑʊ / begins at a point between the back and
front open positions, and moves towards the position for RP / ʊ /. The lips change from a
neutrally open to a weakly rounded position.
Triphthongs
Each of some complex vowels id found to be made up of three monophthongs. The English
language has such vowels that are very difficult to recognize and pronounce. However, a
triphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the
first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into
ʊ / and then / ʊ / preceded by / a:/ glides into /
• Triphthong : 5 closing diphthongs with ‘ə’ added on the end.
Now we can put the centering and closing Triphthongs on a diagram according to their
Figure: Triphthongs Diagram
, the tongue glide begins at a point associated with / ɔ: /,
/; the lips opening rounded for the first element,
central position, and moves in
there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips
ve a tendency to round on the second element.
begins at a point between the back and
The lips change from a
Each of some complex vowels id found to be made up of three monophthongs. The English
language has such vowels that are very difficult to recognize and pronounce. However, a
triphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the
first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into
/ ə /, and thus the
on a diagram according to their