Vowels and Consonants

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST
BENIFICENT,
THE MOST MERCIFUL

َ‫ص‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬َ‫ك‬ ٍ‫د‬َّ‫م‬َ‫ح‬ُ‫م‬ ِّ‫ل‬‫آ‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬َ‫و‬ ٍ‫د‬َّ‫م‬َ‫ح‬ُ‫م‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬ ِّ‫ل‬َ‫ص‬ َّ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬َّ‫الل‬ِّ‫ل‬‫آ‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬َ‫و‬ َ‫م‬‫ي‬ِّ‫ه‬‫ا‬َ‫ر‬ْ‫ب‬ِّ‫إ‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬ َ‫ت‬ْ‫ي‬َّ‫ل‬
ُ‫م‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬ َ‫ك‬ ِّ‫ار‬َ‫ب‬ َّ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬َّ‫الل‬ ،ٌ‫د‬‫ي‬ ِّ‫ج‬َ‫م‬ ٌ‫د‬‫ي‬ِّ‫م‬َ‫ح‬ َ‫ك‬َّ‫ن‬ِّ‫إ‬ ،َ‫م‬‫ي‬ِّ‫ه‬‫ا‬َ‫ر‬ْ‫ب‬ِّ‫إ‬َ‫ت‬ْ‫ك‬َ‫ار‬َ‫ب‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬َ‫ك‬ ٍ‫د‬َّ‫م‬َ‫ح‬ُ‫م‬ ِّ‫ل‬‫آ‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬َ‫و‬ ٍ‫د‬َّ‫م‬َ‫ح‬
ِّ‫ج‬َ‫م‬ ٌ‫د‬‫ي‬ِّ‫م‬َ‫ح‬ َ‫ك‬َّ‫ن‬ِّ‫إ‬ ،َ‫م‬‫ي‬ِّ‫ه‬‫ا‬َ‫ر‬ْ‫ب‬ِّ‫إ‬ ِّ‫ل‬‫آ‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬َ‫و‬ َ‫م‬‫ي‬ِّ‫ه‬‫ا‬َ‫ر‬ْ‫ب‬ِّ‫إ‬ ‫ى‬َ‫ل‬َ‫ع‬ٌ‫د‬‫ي‬
O Allah, bestow Your favor on Muhammad (‫)ﷺ‬ and on the family of Muhammad (‫)ﷺ‬ as
You have bestowed Your favor on Ibrahim (alayhi s-salām)and on the family of Ibrahim
(alayhi s-salām). You are Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.
O Allah, bless Muhammad (‫)ﷺ‬ and the family of Muhammad (‫)ﷺ‬ as You have blessed
Ibrahim (alayhi s-salām) and the family of Ibrahim (alayhi s-salām). You are
Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious.

PHONEME
Pronunciation:/ˈfəʊniːm/
Etymology: Greek phōnēma “sound”
Phoneme refers to any of the perceptually discrete
units of speech sounds in a language. It is because
of phonemes that we can differentiate one word
from another. Phonemes are divided into two
broader categories:
1. Vowels
2. Consonants

INCONSISTENCY BETWEEN SOUNDS AND
SPELLINGS IN ENGLISH
Some Examples:
The letter C is pronounced differently in words like cut,
cat, cotton, perception, receive, accent etc .
The letter g is pronounced differently in words like guess,
got, guide, gross, age, large, huge, etc. Sometimes, some
letters are not pronounced at all e.g: debt, subtle, doubt,
Plumb, dumb, muscle, scene, science etc. Similarly, there
are various variants of /ʃ/ sounds like in case of words:
Shop, ocean, machine ,brochure, section, special , etc.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is
an alphabetic system of phonetic notation devised
by the International Phonetic Association in the
late 19th century as a standardized representation
of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used
by lexicographers, learners of English as
L2, students, teachers, linguists, speech-language
pathologists and translators.

VOWEL PHONEMES/ VOWELS:
Pronunciation: /vaʊəl/
Etymology: Latin vocalis “vocal”
Vowels are the speech sounds that are produced when the
mouth is open in its position and the stream of breath is
not obstructed by tongue, teeth, or lips. Vowels are further
divided into following categories:
i. Monophthongs (Single vowels)
ii. Diphthongs (Combination of two vowels)
iii. Triphthongs (Combination of three vowels)

Monophthongs / Simple or Pure Vowels
Pronunciation:/mɒnəfθɒŋ/
Etymology: Greek monos “single” + phthongos “sound”
Monophthong refers to a simple or pure vowel phoneme
that is single in its phonetic existence (i.e. it has an
independently perceived auditory attribute). During the
production of monophthong, a speaker may observe a
fixed articulation at the beginning and end as there is no
glide or movement from one phonological position towards
another. In case of other kinds of vowel phonemes, (i.e.
diphthongs and triphthongs) the glide of the kind
performs a prominent role. Monophthongs are divided
into short and long vowels.

S.
N.
SHORT
VOWELS
EXAMPLES PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
1. /ɪ/ as in 'his' /hɪz/
2. /e/ as in 'selling' /selɪŋ/
3. /æ/ as in 'fan' /fæn/
4. /ʌ/ as in 'such' /sʌtʃ/
5. /ɒ/ as in 'rod' /rɒd/
6. /ʊ/ as in 'wood' /wʊd/
7. /u/ as in ‘actual’ /ˈæktʃuəl/
8. /ə/ as in ‘around’ /əˈraʊnd/
9. /i/ as in ‘happy’ /ˈhæpi/
SHORT VOWELS

S.N. LONG VOWELS EXAMPLES PHONETIC
TRANSCRIPTION
1. /i:/ as in 'bee' /biː/
2. /a:/ as in 'far ' /fɑː(r)/
3. /ɔː/ as in 'more' /mɔː(r)/
4. /u:/ as in 'boot' /buːt/
5. /ɜː/ as in 'earn' /ɜːn/
LONG VOWELS

Diphthongs
Pronunciation: /dɪfθɒŋ/
Etymology: Greek diphthongos, from di- “twice” +
phthongos “voice, sound”
Diphthongs refer to the combination of two vowel
phonemes. During the production of diphthongs, there is a
glide or movement from one vowel towards another; the
first part (i.e. the sound of the first vowel) is pronounced
with an emphasis as compared to the second part.
Diphthongs are eight in number.

S. No Diphthongs Examples
Phonetic
transcriptions
Descriptions
1.
2.
3.
/eɪ /
/aɪ/
/ɔɪ/
as in ‘cake’
as in ‘my’
as in ‘toy’
/keɪk/
/maɪ/
/tɔɪ/
Closing
Diphthongs
ending in /ɪ/
4.
5.
/əʊ/
/aʊ/
as in ‘go’
as in ‘town’
/gəʊ/
/taʊn/
Closing
Diphthongs
ending in /ʊ/
DIPHTHONGS

6.
7.
8.
/ɪə/
/eə/
/ʊə/
as in ‘near’
as in ‘fair’
as in ‘sure’
/nɪə(r)
/feə(r)/
/ʃʊə(r)/
Centring
Diphthongs
ending in /ə/
DIPHTHONGS
S. No Diphthongs Examples
Phonetic
transcriptions
Descriptions

TRIPHTHONGS
Pronunciation: /ˈtrɪfθɒŋ/
Etymology: Ancient Greek: triphthong “having three
voices”
Triphthongs refer to the combination of three vowel
phonemes that are pronounced in one syllable; (the three
vowel phonemes in triphthongs are composed of five
closing diphthongs with a central vowel schwa (ə) added
to the end). Triphthongs are the most complex English
sounds of the vowel type ; they can be rather difficult to
pronounce and very difficult to recognize (Roach, 2009).

S.No. Triphthongs Examples
Phonetic
transcriptions
1 /eɪə/ as in ‘player’ /ˈpleɪə(r)/
2
/aɪə/ as in ‘hire’ /ˈhaɪə(r)/
3 /ɔɪə/ as in ‘royal’ /ˈrɔɪəl/
TRIPHTHONGS

4 /əʊə/ as in ‘lower’ /ˈləʊə(r)/
5 /aʊə/ as in ‘power’
/ˈpaʊə(r)/
TRIPHTHONGS
.

How can we analyze vowel phonemes?
We can analyze vowels in terms of the way the shapes of
the vocal tract changes during their production. There are
three factors that we have to take into account while
specifying how the shape of the vocal tract changes during
the production of different vowels:
1. The vertical difference between the upper surface of
the tongue and the roof of the mouth
2. The part of the tongue raised
3. The shape of the lips

1. The vertical difference between the upper
surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth
If we compare the pronunciation of vowels in the words
bee and far , we can see how the position of our tongue
changes . When we produce the vowel phoneme in bee, the
tongue is raised high, so that the surface of the tongue is
very close to the roof of mouth. This position of the tongue
is called close and the vowels produced with the tongue
raised close to the roof of mouth are called close vowels:
EXAMPLES OF CLOSE AND OPEN VOWELS
1. /i:/ as in 'bee’ /biː/
2. /a:/ as in 'far ‘ /fɑː(r)/

While pronouncing the long vowel /a:/, as in 'far ‘
/fɑː(r)/ , the mouth is open and there is greater distance
between the surface of the tongue and the roof of mouth,
this position is termed open and the vowel produced is
called an open vowel .
In the same way, we can have above half close vowels, for
example: /ɪ/ as in 'his‘ /hɪz/, and /ʊ/ as in 'wood’ /wʊd/.
We can have the following positions as well in the same
manner:
Between half close and half open vowels: /e/, /ɜː/, /ɔː/
Below half open vowels:/ə/, /æ/
Above open vowels: /ʌ/, /ɒ/

2. The Part of the Tongue Raised
The part of the tongue which is raised marks the
second criterion used to distinguish between vowels.
Vowels which are pronounced when the front of the tongue
is raised high, are called Front Vowels. For Example: / i: /
as in beat, / e / as in bet, / ɪ / as in sit, / æ / as in cat
Vowels which are pronounced when the back of the
tongue is raised high, are called Back Vowels. Examples:
/uː/ (as in boot), /ʊ/ as in wood , /ɔ:/ (as in law), /ɒ/ (as in
got)

Vowels which are pronounced when the central part of the
tongue is raised high, are called Central Vowels. Examples:
/ɜː/, as in bird, /ʌ/, as in shut, and /ə/, as in attract

3. The shape of the lips
The shape of the lips is the third criterion used to
distinguish between vowels.
Thus we can have two types of vowels on the basis of the
shape of lips:
Rounded vowels: (produced when lips are rounded)
Examples: /uː/ (as in food), /ʊ/ as in good, /ɔ:/ (as in door), /ɒ
(as in rot)
Unrounded vowels: (produced when lips are spread)
For Example: / i: / as in beat, / e / as in bet, / ɪ / as in sit, / æ
as in cat

CARDINAL VOWELS
Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used by
phoneticians in describing the vowel phonemes of any
language. For instance, the vowel of the English word
“keep " can be described with reference to cardinal vowel
1, [i], which is the cardinal vowel closest to it. Because of
the difficulty of observing the precise tongue positions that
occur in vowels, a set of eight cardinal vowels has been
devised to act as reference points. The current system of
Cardinal Vowels has been devised by Daniel Jones (1881 –
1967), a London-born British phonetician.

Vowel Quadrilateral / vowel trapezium showing
English short & long vowels

CONSONANTS
Pronunciation: /ˈkɒns(ə)nənt/
Etymology: Latin consonare “to sound together”
Consonants refer to the speech sounds that are produced
when the stream of breath is completely or incompletely
obstructed / blocked through the articulators like tongue,
teeth, or lips. There are twenty four consonants in English,
produced according to the airflow restriction that shapes
the oral cavity in various ways.

S.N
CONSONANTS EXAMPLES PHONETIC
TRANSCRIPTIONS
1 /p/ as in ‘past’ /pɑːst/
2 /b/ as in ‘bank’ /bæŋk/
3 /t/ as in ‘try’ /traɪ/
4 /d/ as in ‘door’ /dɔː(r)/
5 /k/ as in ‘crow’ /krəʊ/
6 /g/ as in ‘gift’ /ɡɪft/
7 /f/ as in ‘further’ /ˈfɜːðə(r)/
CONSONANTS

10 /ð/ as in ‘this’ /ðɪs/
11 /s/ as in ‘soft’ /sɒft/
12 /z/ as in ‘zealous’ /ˈzeləs/
13 /ʃ/ as in ‘ship’ /ʃɪp/
14 /ʒ/ as in ‘joy’ /dʒɔɪ/
15 /h/ as in ‘host’ /həʊst/
16 / l / as in ‘linger’ /ˈlɪŋɡə(r)/
CONSONANTS

17 /m/ as in ‘mouth’ /maʊθ/
18 /r/ as in ‘roll’ /rəʊl/
19 /n/ as in ‘nice’ /naɪs/
20 /j/ as in ‘yield’ /jiːld/
21 /ŋ/ as in ‘king’ /kɪŋ/
22 /w/ as in ‘wizard’ /ˈwɪzəd/
23 /tʃ/ as in ‘chair’ /tʃeə(r)/
24 /dʒ/ as in ‘jug’ /dʒʌɡ/
CONSONANTS

CONSONANTS
The nature of consonantal phonemes can be analyzed on
the basis of the degree of obstruction to the flow of air in
the vocal tract. Different degrees of obstruction result
because of:
1. Difference in the place of production with different
articulators moving in different ways (i.e. Places of
Articulation)
2. Difference in the manner of production of the sound
(i.e. Manner of Articulation)

PLACES OF ARTICULATION
(Places of articulation refer to the location at which two
speech organs approach or come together in producing a
speech sound)
1. Bilabials [p], [b], [m]
The consonantal phonemes articulated by bringing both
lips together are called bilabial sounds or bilabials. English
bilabial sounds include [p], [b], and [m].
2. Labio-dentals [f] , [v]
Consonants articulated with the lower lip touching the
upper front teeth are called labio-dentals, e.g. [f] , [v]

3. Inter-dentals [ð], [θ]
Consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue inserted
between the upper and lower front teeth
e.g. [ð], [θ]
4. Alveolars [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l]
Consonants articulated when the blade of the tongue
touches the alveolar ridge. For Example: [t], [d], [n], [s],
[z], [l]

5. Palato-alveolars [tʃ], [dʒ], [j], [ʃ], [ʒ]
The sounds produced when the tip of the tongue is raised
to the point on the hard palate, just behind the alveolar
ridge. For example: /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /j/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/
6. Velars [k], [g], [ŋ]
The sounds produced by raising the back of the tongue
against the soft palate or velum.
For Example: [k], [g], [ŋ]

7. Glottal
The opening at the top of the windpipe between the vocal
cords is called glottis. The sound produced by the flow of
air through the open glottis without any obstruction, is
called glottal consonant. If the air is stopped completely by
the closed glottis (by tightly closed vocal cords), and then
released, the sound produced is termed glottal stop. This is
the sound that is sometimes produced instead of [t] ,
during the pronunciation of words like Latin, button,
mutton, bottle , etc. Glottal stop is represented by a symbol
[ʔ] and is considered a socially stigmatized variant of [t].

MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Speech sounds vary in the way the airstream is affected as
it flows from the lungs up and out of the mouth and nose,
thereby giving rise to diverse manner of articulation. Some
of them are mentioned as follows:
1. Voiceless and Voiced Consonants
When the vocal folds are apart during articulation, the air
flows freely through the glottis and the supra-glottal
cavities (i.e. the part of the vocal tract above the glottis).
The sounds produced in this way are called voiceless
sounds , for example: [p],[t], [k], [s], etc.

Voiceless sounds fall into two classes, depending on the
timing of the vocal tract closure:
1. Aspirated voiceless sounds
2. Unaspirated voiceless sounds
In English, when we pronounce the word plan, there is a
brief period of voicelessness immediately after the [p]
sound is released. That is after the lips come apart, the
vocal cords remain open for a short duration of time. Such
voiceless sounds are called aspirated voiceless sounds,
because the extra puff of air escapes through the open
glottis. All initial voiceless sounds are aspirated.

However, when we pronounce the phoneme [p] in spirit,
the vocal folds start vibrating as soon as the lips open.
Such sounds are called unaspirated voiceless sounds. [t] in
star and [k] in skill are the examples of unaspirated
voiceless consonants. When we whisper, we produce
voiceless speech sounds.
2. Voiced Consonants
When the vocal folds are together, the airstream forces its
way through them, thus causing vibration of vocal
folds. The sounds produced in this way, are called voiced
sounds. If we put a finger in each ear and pronounce the
voiced [z], we can feel the vibration of vocal folds. However,
if we pronounce the voiceless [s], we shall not feel any
vibration.

3. Nasal Consonants
When the velum (i.e. soft palate) is not in the raised
position, the air escapes through both the nose and the
mouth . The sounds produced this way, are called nasal
consonants. For example: [m], [n], [ŋ].
4. Oral Consonants
The speech sounds produced with the velum up, blocking
the air from escaping through the nose are called Oral
Sounds . Since the air can escape only through the oral
cavity, therefore these sounds are called oral sounds. All of
the phonemes, other than nasals, are termed orals.

5. Stops
The speech sounds that are stopped completely in the oral
cavity for a short period of time, are called stops. Non Nasal
or oral stops are also called plosives because the air blocked
in the mouth , is suddenly released as soon as the closure is
released. The plosives that are produced with more force ,
e.g. voiceless plosives like [p], [t], [k], are called Fortis
(Latin fortis; Strong), while the plosives that are produced
with less force, e.g. [b], [d], [g], are called Lenis (Latin:
mild/ weak)

Categories of English Stops:
1. Bilabial Stops [p], [b], [m]
2. Alveolar Stops [t], [d], [n]
3. Velar Stops [k], [g], [ŋ]
4. Glottal Stops [ʔ]
6. Fricatives
Sometimes, the airflow is so severely obstructed that it
causes friction. The sounds produced in this way are termed
fricatives.

Categories of Fricatives:
1. Labio-dental Fricatives: [f], [v]
2. Inter-dental Fricatives: [θ], [ð]
3. Alveolar Fricatives: [s], [z]
4. Post- alveolar Fricatives:[ʃ], [ʒ]

7. Affricates
Some phonemes are produced by a stop closure, followed
immediately by a gradual release of that closure; such kinds
of phonemes are termed affricates . Some phoneticians
define affricates as sounds that begin as Plosives and end as
Fricatives. [tʃ] and [dʒ] are the examples of fricatives.
8. Laterals
Lateral sound is produced with a partial closure between
the centre of the tongue and some part of the hard palate,
and the air escaping along the sides of the tongue. [l] is an
example of lateral consonant in English.

9. Approximants
Approximants are the sounds that are produced with the
articulators approaching each other but not close enough
to produce any closure or friction so that the air escapes
freely through the gap between the articulators. [w], [j], and
[r] are the three approximants in English.

ALLOPHONES
While the phoneme is the abstract unit or sound
type (‘in the mind’), there are different versions of
that sound type, regularly produced in actual
speech (‘in the mouth’).We can describe those
different versions as phones. Phones are phonetic
units and appear in square brackets. When we have
a group of several phones, all of which are versions
of one phoneme, we refer to them as allophones of
that phoneme.

MINIMAL PAIRS
Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested
via pairs and sets of words. When two words such
as pat and bat are identical in form except for a
contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same
position, the two words are described as a minimal
pair. More accurately, they would be classiﬁed as a
minimal pair in the phonology of English. Other
examples of English minimal pairs are fan–van,
bet–bat, site–side.

Such pairs have traditionally been used in the
teaching of English as a second/ foreign language to
help students develop the ability to understand the
contrast in meaning based on the minimal sound
contrast. When a group of words can be
differentiated, each one from the others, by
changing one phoneme (always in the same position
in the word), then we have a minimal set. For
example, one minimal set based on vowel of English
could include feat, ﬁt, fat, fate, fought, foot, and
another minimal set could include big, pig, rig, ﬁg,
dig, and wig.

Phonotactics
The type of exercise involving minimal sets also
allows us to see that there are specific patterns in
the types of sound combinations permitted in a
language.
In English, the minimal set does not include forms
such as lig or vig. According to the dictionary, these
are not English words, but they could be viewed as
possible English words. That is, our phonological
knowledge of the pattern of sounds in English
words would allow us to treat these forms as

acceptable if, at some future time, they came into
use; such kinds of words hence represent
‘accidental’ gaps in the vocabulary of English. It is,
however, no accident that forms such
as[fsig]or[rnig]do not exist or are unlikely ever to
exist. They have been formed without obeying some
constraints on the sequence or position of English
phonemes. Such constraints are called the
phonotactics (i.e. permitted arrangements of
sounds) in a language and are obviously part of
every speaker’s phonological knowledge.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology
A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Yule, G. (2006). The Study of Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Vowels and Consonants

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