vowel discription

1. Vowel and Consonant
(Voiced & Voiceless)

2. Classification of English Phonemes
44
phonemes
20 vowels
24
consonants

3. Vowel and Consonant?
• Consonant are defined as the
sounds articulated by
temporary or completely
obstruction in the air stream
which passes through the
mouth.
• /m/ or /d/ or /t/
• Vowels are the sounds that are
produced with an
approximation without any
obstruction in the air passage.
• /u/, /a/, /ai/

4. Why use phonemic symbols?
English has 26 letters but (British) English has 44 sounds, inevitably:
• Some letters have more than one sound, e.g goat and gel
• Sometimes letters are not pronounced at all, e.g head, sign
• The same sound may be represented by different letters, e.g cake,
bee, book
• Sometimes syllables indicated by the spelling are not pronounced at
all, e.g Chocolate, business.

5. 24 Consonants
• Voiced = vibration in vocal cords /
no push of air.
• Voiceless / unvoiced = NO vibration
in vocal cords / push of air.

6. 3 Classification of Vowels
20 Vowels
7 short
vowels
5 long
vowels
8
diphthongs

7. Short Vowels
• Short vowels are vowel sounds that are pronounced briefly and do
not have an extended duration
• /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /ə/ /e/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ /æ/
• /ɪ/ = ‘I’ (e.g., sit, hit) and occasionally by ‘y’ (e.g., gym, symbol)
• /æ/ = ‘a’ (e.g., cat, hat) and occasionally by ‘ai’ (e.g., rain, said)
• /ʌ/ = ‘u’ (e.g., bus, sun) and occasionally by ‘o’ (e.g., come, love)
• /ɒ/ = ‘o’ (e.g., dog, hot) and occasionally by ‘a’ (e.g., watch, want)
• /ʊ/ = ‘o’ wolf, ‘oo’ look, ‘u’ bush, ‘ou’ would
• /e/ /ɛ/ = ‘e, ea, u, ie, ai, a, eo, ei, ae’: end, bread, bury, friend, said,
many, leopard, heifer, aesthetic
• /ə/ = ‘a’ about, ‘er’ ladder, ‘i’ pencil, ‘ar’ dollar, ‘our’ honour,

8. Long Vowels => (/i/ /u/ /ɑ/ /ɔ/ /ɜ/)
• Long vowels are vowel sounds that are pronounced for a longer
duration.
• /i/ = ‘ee’ (e.g., bee, tree) and ‘ea’ (e.g., sea, heat). => /ī/
• /u/ = ‘u’ (e.g., mule, music) and ‘oo’ (e.g., moon, soon). => /ū/
• /ɑ/ = ‘a’ (e.g., name, gate) and ‘ai’ (e.g., rain, paint). => /ā/
• /ɔ/ = ‘o’ (e.g., go, hope) and ‘oa’ (e.g., boat, coal). => /ō/
• /ɜ/ = ‘er’ (e.g., her, term) and ‘ir’ (e.g., bird, firm). => /ē/

9. Diphthong
• a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable.
• also known as a gliding vowel, compound vowels, complex vowels,
or moving vowels.
• Gliding is the process of moving from one vowel sound to another
called
• /eɪ/ /aɪ//ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/

10. Diphthong
• /eɪ//ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/
• /eɪ/ = “great” letter combinations include /ey/, /ay/, /ai/ and /a/.
Examples: break, rain, weight
• /ɔɪ/ = “boy” letter combinations /oy/ and /oi/ : oil, toy, coil
• /əʊ/ = “boat” letter combinations /ow/, /oa/,/o/: slow, moan, though
• /aʊ/= “ow!” letter combinations /ou/ and /ow/ : brown, hound, now
• /ɪə/ = “ear” letter combinations /ee/, /ie/ and /ea/ : beer, near, pier
• /eə/ = “air” letter combinations /ai/, /a/, and /ea/: lair, stair, bear
• /ʊə/ = “sure” letter combinations /oo/, /ou/, /u/, and /ue/: lure, pure,
fur