VOWEL S

OUNDS

CONSONANTS A

ND BLE

NDS

BY

PH

I LI P

A. L

UJ A

N

VOWEL SOUNDS

A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any ['eni].

Open and closed syllables

Open syllable: Kate [keit], Pete [pi:t], note [nout], site [sait], cute [kyu:t].

Closed syllable: cat [kæt], pet [pet], not [not], sit [sit], cut (the neutral sound [ə]).

VOWELS AND VOWEL COMBINATIONS

The vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y alone, in combination with one another or with R, W represent different vowel sounds. The chart below lists the vowel sounds according to the American variant of pronunciation.

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

[i:]e, eeeaie, ei

be, eve, see, meet, sleep,meal, read, leave, sea, team,field, believe, receive

been [i];bread, deaf [e];great, break [ei];friend [e]

[i]iy

it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner,system, busy, pity, sunny

machine, ski,liter, pizza [i:]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrnifRtWxI

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

[e]eea

let, tell, press, send, end,bread, dead, weather, leather

meter [i:]sea, mean [i:]

[ei]

aai, ayei, eyea

late, make, race, able, stable,aim, wait, play, say, day,eight, weight, they, hey,break, great, steak

said, says [e];height, eye [ai]

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

[æ] a

cat, apple, land, travel, mad;AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half

[a:]ara

army, car, party, garden, park,father, calm, palm, drama;BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half

war, warm [o:]

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds

Letters

Examples Notes

[ai]i, iey, uy

ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die,my, style, apply, buy, guy

[au]ouow

out, about, house, mouse,now, brown, cow, owl, powder

group, soup [u:]know, own [ou]

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

[o] onot, rock, model, bottle, copy

[o:]

oroaw, auoughtal, wa-

more, order, cord, port,long, gone, cost, coffee,law, saw, pause, because,bought, thought, caught,hall, always, water, war, want

work, word [ər]

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

SoundsLetters

Examples Notes

[oi] oi, oyoil, voice, noise, boy, toy

[ou]ooa, ow

go, note, open, old, most,road, boat, low, own, bowl,

do, move [u:]how, owl [au]

[yu:]

ueweuue, ui

use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune,few, dew, mew, new,euphemism, feud, neutral,hue, cue, due, sue, suit

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

[u:]

uo, ooewue, uiou

rude, Lucy, June,do, move, room, tool,crew, chew, flew, jewel,blue, true, fruit, juice,group, through, route;AmE: duty, new, sue, student

guide, quite [ai];build [i]

[u]oouou

look, book, foot, good,put, push, pull, full, sugar,would, could, should

neutral sound [ə]

u, ooua, eo, i

gun, cut, son, money, love,tough, enough, rough,about, brutal, taken, violent,memory, reason, family

AMERICAN VARIANT OF PRONUNCIATION

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

neutral sound [ə]

u, ooua, eo, i

gun, cut, son, money, love,tough, enough, rough,about, brutal, taken, violent,memory, reason, family

[ər]

er, ur, iror, arear

serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir,work, word, doctor, dollar,heard, earn, earnest, earth

heart, hearth [a:]

THE LETTER Y

The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant.

As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i], [ai].

As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.

[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;

[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;

[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.

DIPHTHONGS

A diphthong is one indivisible vowel sound that consists of two parts. The first part is the main strong component (the nucleus); the second part is short and weak (the glide).

A diphthong is always stressed on its first component: [au], [ou].

A diphthong forms one syllable. American linguists usually list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].

Diphthongs[ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou]ray – ride – how – boy – no;The sound [ei] as in RAYrate – late – Kate – fate – race – base – place – same – name – take – ache – lake – rage –

age – wage – save – cave – wave;dictate – educate – decorate – celebrate – concentrate – investigate;cable – table – able – cradle – range – change – strange – taste – waste;baby – bacon – paper – April – danger – angel – stranger – basis – lazy – crazy;patient – racial – nation – nature – fatal – patriot – radio – vacant;ray – gray – play – lay – day – may – say – way – pray – stay – stray – delay;hey – prey – they – convey – obey;rain – main – aim – brain – drain – train – stain – remain – explain – complain;fail – mail – sail – rail – raise – raid – afraid – wait – straight – faint – paint;weight – weigh – eight – vein – neighbor;break – great – steak;betrayal – portrayal – layer – player – conveyor – surveyor;saying – staying – playing – laying – praying – delaying – conveying – obeying – archaic.

The sound [ai] as in RIDE

ride – nice – ice – life – file – smile – line – fine – quite – rise – wise – prize – hi;

polite – combine – arrive – surprise – despise – organize – modernize;

private – library – final – minus – crisis – climate – bicycle – horizon – item – Ida;

idea – ideal – identity – identical – biology;

find – kind – mind – blind – child – mild – wild – climb – rifle – trifle – title – idle;

high – sigh – sign – right – fight – night – light – sight – height;

lie – die – tie – dye – rye – bye – eye – buy – guy – alibi;

cry – dry – fry – try – by – my – sky – style – type – hype;

nylon – cycle – cyber – hybrid – dynamite – dynamic – hyperactive;

rely – reply – apply – deny – satisfy – modify – signify – analyze – paralyze;

buying – lying – flying – frying – trying – drying – crying – dying – denying – replying;

diet – client – quiet – riot – giant – lion – violet – dial – diary – diagram – denial – trial – science – society – pioneer;

buyer – flyer – dryer – higher – iron – liar – prior;

fire – hire – dire – wire – tire – tired – entire – aspire – expire – desire – require – acquire – empire.

The sound [au] as in HOW

how – cow – now – allow – owl – brown – down – town – clown – drown – crown – crowd – powder – browse – browser;

loud – proud – cloud – out – shout – about – doubt – foul – noun – house – mouse – mouth – south – couch;

found – ground – around – pound – sound – count – amount – mountain – announce – bounce;

allowing – plowing / ploughing;

towel – bowel – Powell;

power – tower – flower – shower – coward – Howard;

hour – our – sour – flour.

The sound [oi] as in BOY

noise – voice – avoid – poison – join – coin – point – boil – foil – oil – spoil – toil – exploit;

joy – toy – boy – annoy – employ – destroy;

toying – employing – destroying – annoying;

loyal – royal – voyage – annoyance – oyster – destroyer – employer.

The sound [ou] as in NO

role – bone – phone – stone – close – note – notice – lonely – home – hope – open – ocean – remote – suppose;

go – ago – no – so – toe – hero – zero – veto – ego – echo – radio – studio – Mexico – potato – tomato – logo – motto;

solar – polar – modal – total – motor – moment – bonus – focus – vogue – social – soldier – coworker;

cold – gold – hold – old – bold – sold – told – roll – poll – control – bolt – colt – folk – yolk – comb – don't – won't;

most – post – host – hostess – ghost – both;

road – load – boat – coat – oat – oak – soak – goal – coal – coach – approach – roast – toast – boast – coast;

soul – shoulder – though – although – dough;

OK – obey – omit – hotel – motel;

low – know – mow – snow – show – tow – owe – own – bowl – blow – blown – grow – grown – growth – throw – thrown;

follow – borrow – narrow – sparrow – window – yellow;

knowing – going – growing – throwing – showing – sewing – towing – blowing – owing – flowing;

following – borrowing – narrowing – zeroing – echoing;

heroic – stoical – poet – poetry;

lower – slower – mower – borrower – follower – widower.

THE SOUND [O]

The sound [o] is short in British English. In the same words in American English, the sound [o] is a long sound colored as [a:]. This sound is often listed as [a:] in American materials for ESL students. In some words, there are two variants of pronunciation in AmE: [o:] or [o].

[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment, document, modern, popular, respond, John, Tom;

[o:] or [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry, loss, lost, want, wash, water.

THE NEUTRAL SOUND

Transcription symbols for the neutral sound are [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables (fun, son) and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables (about, lesson). In American ESL materials, the neutral sound is often shown as [ə] (schwa) in both stressed and unstressed syllables.

VOWELS: HTTP://WWW.ABCFASTPHONICS.COM/LONG-SHORT-VOWELS.HTML

Vowel Rules

http://www.abcfastphonics.com/vowel-rules.html

http://www.abcfastphonics.com/vowel-rules/one-vowel-not-at-end.html

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7yREETwdmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKzf1GMLUkU

PDF to practice:

http://www.recitfga.qc.ca/english/projects-before-after/pages_0607/before/ann_before.pdf

Blends: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/letter-blends.html

Consonants: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/consonant-letters.html

Common words: http://www.abcfastphonics.com/common-words.html