Types of English vowels

Introduction

Vowel sounds present a considerable challenge to non-native speakers. Spoken English has an unusually high number of vowel sounds - from 5 written vowels (a, e, i, o, u) we produce 19 vowel sounds (see chart below).

Do you know how many vowel sounds your language has? If it has less than English, you will need to learn the new sounds.

Types of Vowel Sound

A vowel sound is made by shaping the air as it leaves the mouth. There are four types of vowel in English:

Short monothongs (2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12 in the diagram)
Long monothongs (1, 6, 8, 9, 11 in the diagram)
Diphthongs (13 - 19 in the diagram)
Weak vowels (1, 2, 5 , 9 in the diagram)

English Vowel Sounds

A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any ['eni].
(Одна гласная буква может передавать разные гласные звуки: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any ['eni].) The same vowel sound is often represented by different vowel letters in writing: [ei] they, weigh, may, cake, steak, rain.
(Один и тот же гласный звук часто представлен разными гласными буквами на письме: [ei] they, weigh, may, cake, steak, rain.) Open and closed syllables

(Открытые и закрытые слоги) 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.
(Гласные A, E, I, O, U, Y по отдельности, в комбинации друг с другом или с R, W передают различные гласные звуки. В таблице ниже указаны гласные звуки согласно американскому варианту произношения.) Sounds Letters Examples Notes
[i:]
e, ee ea ie, 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]
i y it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, system, busy, pity, sunny machine, ski, liter, pizza [i:]
[e]
e ea let, tell, press, send, end, bread, dead, weather, leather meter [i:] sea, mean [i:]
[ei]
a ai, ay ei, ey ea late, make, race, able, stable, aim, wait, play, say, day, eight, weight, they, hey, break, great, steak said, says [e]; height, eye [ai]
[æ] a cat, apple, land, travel, mad;
AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half [a:] ar a army, car, party, garden, park, father, calm, palm, drama;
BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half war, warm [o:]

[ai] i, ie y, uy ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die, my, style, apply, buy, guy [au] ou ow out, about, house, mouse, now, brown, cow, owl, powder group, soup [u:] know, own [ou]
[o] o not, rock, model, bottle, copy
[o:]
or o aw, au ought al, wa- more, order, cord, port, long, gone, cost, coffee, law, saw, pause, because, bought, thought, caught, hall, always, water, war, want work, word [ər]

[oi] oi, oy oil, voice, noise, boy, toy
[ou]
o oa, ow go, note, open, old, most, road, boat, low, own, bowl do, move [u:] how, owl [au]
[yu:]
u ew eu ue, ui use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune, few, dew, mew, new, euphemism, feud, neutral, hue, cue, due, sue, suit [u:] u o, oo ew ue, ui ou 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]
oo u ou look, book, foot, good, put, push, pull, full, sugar, would, could, should neutral sound [ə] u, o ou a, e o, i gun, cut, son, money, love, tough, enough, rough, about, brutal, taken, violent, memory, reason, family
Also:
stressed, [ʌ]; unstressed, [ə].
[ər]
er, ur, ir or, ar ear serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir, work, word, doctor, dollar, heard, earn, earnest, earth heart, hearth [a:] Note 1: 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.
Примечание 1: Буква Y
Буква Y может функционировать как гласная или согласная. Как гласная, Y имеет гласные звуки [i], [ai]. Как согласная, Y имеет согласный звук [y] (т.е. полугласный звук), обычно в начале слова и только в слоге перед гласной.
[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;
[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;
[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you. Note 2: 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].
Примечание 2: Дифтонги
Дифтонг это один неделимый гласный звук, который состоит из двух частей. Первая часть главный сильный компонент (ядро); вторая часть короткая и слабая (скольжение). Дифтонг всегда имеет ударение на первом компоненте: [au], [ou]. Дифтонг образует один слог. Американские лингвисты обычно приводят пять дифтонгов: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou]. Note 3: 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.
Примечание 3: Звук [o]
Звук [o] краткий в британском английском. В тех же словах в американском английском, звук [o] долгий звук, окрашенный как [a:]. Этот звук часто дается как [a:] в американских материалах для студентов ESL. В некоторых словах два варианта произношения в AmE: [o:] или [o].
[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment, document, modern, popular, respond, John, Tom;
[o:] или [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry, loss, lost, want, wash, water. Note 4: 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.
Примечание 4: Нейтральный звук
Символы транскрипции для нейтрального звука: [ʌ] (caret) в ударных слогах (fun, son) и [ə] (schwa) в безударных слогах (about, lesson). В американских материалах ESL нейтральный звук часто дается как [ə] (schwa) и в ударных, и в безударных слогах.