VOWELS

A
[ɑ:], [æ] and [ʌ]

[ɑ:] --> It’s produced as if you were yawning or gargling. It’s a long vowel.
[fɑ:m] “farm” [kɑ:] “car” [stɑ:t] “start” [ˈfɑ:ðə] “father”

Common spellings:
“a” [blɑ:st] (blast) “ar” [ˈlɑ:də] (larder) “ah” [ʃɑ:] (shah)
“au” [lɑ:f] (laugh) “al” [sɑ:m] (psalm)

[æ] --> Sounds between the Spanish [a] and [e].

How to produce it? Make a Spanish [a] and in the middle change to [e] while keeping the mouth
opening as for [a].
[kæt] “cat” [sæd] “sad” [ˈmædəm] “madam” [pæk] “pack”

Common spellings:
“a” [bæd] (bad)

[ʌ] --> This is quite similar to the Spanish [a] but shorter.
[sʌn] “sun” [flʌd] “flood” [lʌv] “love” [lʌk] “luck”

Common spellings:
“u” [kʌt] (cut) “o” [kʌm] (come) “oo” [blʌd] (blood)

E
[e] and [ɜ:].

[e] --> This is a bit more open than Spanish [e].

How to produce it? Make a long Spanish [e] and then open your mouth a bit more by lowering the
jaw and the tongue.
[tel] “tell” [mes] “mess” [bred] “bread”
Extra help: This sound is similar to Catalan sound in pera or mel, or Galician sound in the words
terra or tes.

Common spellings:
“e” [let] (let) “ea” [ded] (dead) “ai” [sed] (said)

[ɜ:] --> This is longer than English [e].

How to produce it? Open your mouth a little, try to produce a sound without moving any of the
articulators.
[e] and [ɜ:] vowels are similar to the sound Spanish speakers produce when they think aloud
(eeehhh).
[ʃɜ:t] “shirt” [ˈɜ:li] “early” [lɜ:n] “learn”

Common spellings:
 “ir” [sɜ:] (sir) “ur” [fɜ:] (fur) “er” [ˈvɜ:dənt] (verdant) “ear” [pɜ:l]
(pearl)

I
[i:] and [ɪ]

[i:] --> It’s longer tan Spanish [i].

[pli:z] “please” [ni:s] “niece” [diˈgri:] “degree”

Common spellings:
“ee” [mi:t] (meet) “ea” [ri:d] (read) “ie” [pi:s] (piece)
“i” [məˈʃi:n] (machine) “e” [θi:m] (theme)

[ɪ] --> It’s shorter than [i]. Quality is nearer to Spanish [e] than to Spanish [i].
[mɪs] “miss” [bɪn] “bin” [sɪks] “six” [ˈrɪvə] “river”

Common spellings:
“i” [trɪp] (trip) “y” [hɪm] (hymn) “e” [rɪˈflekt] (reflect)

O
[ɔ:] and [ɒ]

[ɔ:] --> It’s similar to the Spanish [o] but it is much longer.
How to produce it? Spanish speakers can use a Spanish word such as col and produce it with a
longer vowel than usual.
[kɔ:l] “call” [nɔ:θ] “north” [ˈwɔ:tə] “water” [lɔ:] “law”

Common spellings:
“or” [nɔ:θ] (north) “a” [kɔ:l] (call) “ou” [θɔ:t] (thought)
“au” [frɔ:d] (fraud) “oa” [brɔ:d] (broad) “al” [tɔ:k] (talk)

[ɒ] --> It’s shorter than [ɔ:] and produced with a slightly more open mouth.
How to produce it? Start pronouncing a long Spanish [o] and in the middle open your mouth a bit
more by lowering the jaw and tongue.
Extra help: It’s similar to Catalan sound in the word Jordi or sola, or Galician sound in the word
ola or po. It also sounds like in Andalusian when the -s in plurals is dropped or pronounced as [h]:
lo(s) niño(s).
[bɒs] “boss” [lɒst] “lost” [wɒtʃ] “watch” [ˈhɒlədeɪ] “holiday”

Common spellings:
“o” [lɒt] (lot) “a” [wɒʃ] (wash) “ou” [kɒf] (cough)

U
[u:] and [ʊ]

[u:] --> It’s similar to Spanish [u] but it’s longer.

[mu:n] “moon” [blu:] “blue” [kru:] “crew” [ˈru:lə] “ruler”

Common spellings:
“oo” [gu:s] (goose) “ue” [klu:] (clue) “wo” [tu:] (two)
“ew” [skru:] (screw) “u” [ˈru:mə] (rumour) “ui” [fru:t] (fruit)

[ʊ] --> It’s shorter in duration than [u:]. Its quality is between a [u] and [e] in Spanish.
How to produce it? Try to produce a long Spanish [u] and in the middle open your mouth a bit and
slightly relax your lips.
[gʊd] “good” [wʊlf] “wolf” [pʊt] “put” [ˈwumən] “woman”

Common spellings:
“oo” [kʊk] (cook) “u” [pʊt] (put) “ou” [could] (kʊd)

ENGLISH WEAK
VOWEL: [ə]
It’s called schwa and it only occurs in unstressed syllables. It can only occur in stressed syllables
when it’s part of a diphthong as in [ɪə], [eə] and [ʊə], or a triphthong as in [aɪə], [eɪə], [ɔɪə], [aʊə]
and [əʊə].
How to produce it? It’s similar to [ɜ:] but shorter with a narrow opening of the mouth but without
changes in the articulators. Spanish speakers use a similar sound when they think aloud as in
eeehhh.
Extra help: [ə] is close to Catalan vowel at the end of hola or mare.

Common spellings:
1. All five vowels letters: “a” [əˈləun] (alone) “e” [ˈbrəukən] (broken)
“i” [imˈpɒsəbəl] (impossible) “o” [prəˈdjus] (produce) “u” [səsˈpekt] (suspect)
2. Combination of two vowel letters: “io” [ˈneɪʃən] (nation) “ai” [ˈvɪlən] (villain)
“ou” [ˈglæmərəs] (glamorous) “eo” [ˈdʌndʒən] (dungeon)
3. Vowel letters + “r”: “ar” [pəˈtɪkjulə] (particular) “er” [ˈfa:ðə] (father)
“or” [ˈdɒktə] (doctor) “ur” [ˈa:θə] (Arthur)
4. Combination of two vowel letters + “r”: “our” [ˈkʌlə] (colour)
“eur” [ˈæmətə] (amateur) “ure” [ˈpleʒə] (pleasure)

ENGLISH WEAK VOWELS: [i]

and [u]
These vowels can occur in unstressed syllables.

[i] --> This occurs in unstressed word final syllables: [ˈhæpi] “happy”. The final [i] remains the
same when a morpheme is added: [ˈhæpiə] “happier”. [i] is also found in unstressed syllables
when the next sound is a vowel: [mi:diə] “media”. It’s the same quality as Spanish [i].

Common spellings:
“y” [ˈlori] (lorry) “ie” [ˈmærid] (married) “i” [ˈtəʊni] (Toni)
“e” [əˈpɒstrəfi] (apostrophe)
[u] --> This occurs in unstressed syllables, especially after [j]: [ˈsɜ:kjulə] “circular”. Sometimes
[u] is also found after [tʃ], when [tʃ] is the result of a merging process between a [t] and the
following [j]: “situation” [sɪtjuˈeɪʃən] or [sɪtʃuˈeɪʃən]. English [u] has the same quality as Spanish
[u].

Common spellings:
“u” [ˈsɜ:kjuləɪt] (circulate)

DIPHTHONGS ENDING WITH [ɪ]: [aɪ]

[eɪ] [ɔɪ]
These diphthongs are similar in quality to Spanish ones in the words “hay”, “ley” and “voy”. The
main difference between the two languages is that in English the [ɪ] sound is between a Spanish [i]
and [e]. Spanish speakers should try to produce the second part of the diphthong with a less tense
and more relaxed [i] sound.

Common spellings:
[aɪ]--> “i” [maɪn] (mine) “igh” [laɪt] (light) “ie” [taɪ] (tie)
“uy” [baɪ] (buy) “y” [kraɪ] (cry)
[eɪ] --> “a” [beɪk] (bake) “ai” [peɪn] (pain) “ay” [beɪ] (bay)
[ɔɪ] --> “oi” [sɔɪl] (soil) “oy” [kɔɪ] (coy)

DIPHTHONGS ENDING WITH [ʊ]:

[aʊ] [əʊ]
The production of [aʊ] as in “now” is similar to Spanish sound [au] in pausa. The [ʊ] quality is a
bit more relaxed.
Spanish speakers tend to produce the [əʊ] diphthong as [ou]. In GA is acceptable.

Common spelling:
[aʊ] --> “ou” [aʊt] (out) “ow” [naʊ] (now)
[əʊ] --> “oa” [əʊt] (oat) “ow” [ləʊ] (low) “o” [bəʊn] (bone)

DIPHTHONGS ENDING WITH [ə]: [ɪə]

[eə] [ʊə]
The first vowel qualities of the 3 diphthongs correspond to English [ɪ], [e] and [ʊ] vowels. Pay
attention to the final part of the diphthong. Sometimes words containing the [ʊə] diphthong can be
pronounced in RP English with an [ɔ:] vowel instead: “poor” [pɔ:] instead of [pʊə].

Common spellings:
[ɪə] --> “ear” [dɪə] (dear) “eer” [dɪə] (deer) “ier” [tɪə] (tier) “ere” [hɪə] (here)
“ea” [aɪˈdɪə] (idea)
[eə] --> “are” [meə] (mare) “air” [peə] (pair) “eir” [ðeə] (their) “ere” [ðeə]
(there)
[ʊə] --> “oor” [pʊə] (poor) “ure” [pjʊə] (pure) “our” [ˈtʊərɪst] (tourist)

TRIPHTHONG
S
English has 5 triphthongs which are:
 [aɪ] + [ə]= [aɪə] “liar”/”hire” [aʊ] + [ə]= [aʊə] “our”/”flower”
[eɪ] + [ə]= [eɪə] “player”/prayer [əʊ] + [ə]= [əʊə] “slower”/”mower”
[ɔɪ] + [ə]= [ɔɪə] “coyer”/”employer”
Sometimes in RP, especially in fast speech, the vowel in the middle of the triphthong ([ɪ] and [ʊ])
is not produced.
“fire” [fa:ə] --> [aɪə] > [a:ə] “our” [a:ə] --> [aʊə] > [a:ə]
“prayer” [pre:ə] --> [eɪə] > [e:ə] “slower” [slɜ:ə] --> [əʊə] > [ɜ:ə]
“employer” [ɪmˈplɔ:ə] --> [ɔɪə] > [ɔ:ə]

Common spellings:
[aɪə] --> “ire” [ʃaɪə] (shire) “yre” [taɪə] (tyre) “ier” [draɪə] (drier) “iro” [aɪən]
(iron)
“oir” [kwaɪə] (choir)
[eɪə] --> “ayer” (layer) “eyer” [greɪə] (greyer) “eyor” [kənˈveɪə] (conveyor)
[ɔɪə] --> “oya” [rɔɪəl] (royal) “oyer” [mɔɪə] (Moyer) “oyou” [dʒɔɪəs] (joyous)
[aʊə] --> “ower” [paʊə] (power) “our” [saʊə] (sour) “owar” [kaʊəd] (coward)
[əʊə] --> “ower” [rəʊə] (rower)

VOWELS: A THEORETICAL APPROACH

Parameters to describe vowels

Vowels are produced:

1. with no obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity
2. with vocal fold vibration
In order to articulate a vocalic sound, the front, the centre or the back of the tongue raises towards
some part of the palate without causing friction, so that the air coming from the lungs is not
obstructed and escapes freely. Additionally, the vocal folds are slightly together causing vibration.
Thus, vowels are produced with an open approximation of the articulators and they are always
voiced. The soft palate is raised so that the air escapes through the oral cavity.

Vowels are described according these parameters:

1. Tongue position: According to the part of the tongue that raises, vowels are classified as:
- front: the front of the tongue raises towards the front of the (hard) palate
- back: the back of the tongue raises towards the back of the palate (soft palate)
- central: the centre of the tongue raises towards the middle of the (hard) palate

2. Tongue height: According to the degree of tongue raising, vowels are classified as:
 - close (or high): the tongue raises towards the palate (no friction)
- half-close (or high-mid): the tongue raises (less than for close vowels)
- half-open (or low-mid): the tongue raises (less than for half-close vowels)
- open (or low): the tongue does not raise

English has more vowels with a single quality than Spanish (12 English monophthongs as opposed
to 5 Spanish monophthongs). The distribution of English vowels in the vowel quadrilateral is:

3. Lip posture: Lips can have the following positions:

- rounded: the lips have a round position, as for the production of English [uː]
- unrounded: the lips are not rounded. They can be:
- neutral (with no movement, as for the production of English [ə])
- spread (with a slight smile, as for the production of English [iː])
For the description of vowels, we will only use the terms rounded vs. unrounded, no matter
whether the lips are neutral or spread. Spanish rounded vowels are [u] and [o]. English rounded
vowels are [uː], [ʊ], [ɔː] and [ɒ].

4. Duration:
English has series of vowels, such as [ɒ], [e] or [ɪ], whose duration is shorter than that of other
English vowels, such as [iː], [ɑː] or [uː]. Long vowels are signalled by the presence of [ː].
Even though English exhibits differences in vowel duration, it is important to note that duration
alone is not enough to show vocalic contrasts. For example, the contrast between [iː] and [ɪ] does
not only depend on vowel quantity (or duration) but also on vowel quality: [iː] is a close vowel
and [ɪ] is a half-close vowel.

Types of vowels

1. Monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs

Vowels produced with only one quality are known as monophthongs. However, in English, vowels
can change in quality and they can have two qualities (as in diphthongs) or three qualities (as in
triphthongs).
English diphthongs can be closing or centring depending on the direction of the quality change.
Closing diphthongs move from a more open position to a closer one and centring diphthongs
move from a more external position to a more central one. English closing diphthongs end with [ɪ]
([aɪ] [eɪ] [ɔɪ]) or [ʊ] ([aʊ] [əʊ]). English centring diphthongs end with [ə] ([ɪə] [eə] [ʊə]).

English triphthongs are composed of one of the closing diphthongs followed by [ə].
[aɪ] + [ə]= [aɪə]
[eɪ] + [ə]= [eɪə]
[ɔɪ] + [ə]= [ɔɪə]
[aʊ] + [ə]= [aʊə]
[əʊ] + [ə]= [əʊə]

Sometimes the middle vowel of English triphthongs ([ɪ] or [ʊ]) is not entirely produced. When this
happens, the perceptual impression is that the second vowel of the triphthong is dropped and the
first one is lengthened so as to compensate for the loss of the middle sound. This phenomenon is
known as smoothing: fire [faɪə] > [fa:ə]

2. Weak and strong vowels

English has two kinds of vowels: strong vowels and weak vowels. Strong vowels mainly occur in
stressed syllables although they can also occur in unstressed syllables. Strong vowels are all the
vowels included in Figure 3 (except for [ə]), all the diphthongs and all the triphthongs. An
example of a strong vowel both in a stressed syllable (indicated with the symbol [ˈ]) and in an
unstressed syllable (with no symbol) is provided below for [e].
better [ˈbetə] (strong vowel [e] in a stressed syllable)
codex [ˈkəʊdeks] (strong vowel [e] in an unstressed syllable)
The English weak vowel system contains the following vowels: [ə], [ɪ] ([i]), and [ʊ] ([u]). Weak
vowels [ə], [i] and [u] can only occur in unstressed syllables, as in the following words. The vowel
[ə] (called schwa) is the most frequently used vowel in English words.
better [ˈbetə] happy [ˈhæpi] curator [kjuˈreɪtə]

Vowels [i] and [u] are not included in the vowel quadrilateral of Figure 3 because they actually
represent a neutralization of the contrast [ɪ]/[i:] and [ʊ]/[u:]. A neutralization process means that
in certain contexts it is not possible to distinguish whether the speaker produces [ɪ] or [i:] and [ʊ]
or [u:]. [i] mainly occurs in unstressed word-final syllables, as in happy [ˈhæpi]. [u] occurs in
unstressed syllables, especially after [j], as in curator [kjuˈreɪtə].
Finally, vowels [ɪ] and [ʊ] can be both strong and weak. For example, in the word biscuit [ˈbɪskɪt],
the first vowel is strong and the second one is weak.

Related phenomena

1. Nasalization
Vowels are usually produced with the velum or soft palate raised so that the air escapes through
the oral cavity. Thus, vowels are classified as oral sounds. However, sometimes it is possible to
produce vowels with a lowered velum which makes the air escape through the nasal cavity. In this
case, vowels are nasalized, that is, they are produced with air going out through the nose. The only
difference between an oral vowel and a nasalized vowel is the position of the velum.
In English and in Spanish, nasalized vowels only occur next to nasal consonants. For example, in
English the vowel of the word mum is nasalised [mʌ̃m]. The symbol to indicate nasalization is [ ].

2. Voiceless vowels and aspiration

Vowels are always produced with vocal fold vibration. It is possible, though, to utter vowels with
no vocal fold vibration (that is, voiceless vowels) when we whisper.
It is interesting to interpret the phenomenon of aspiration in English as a partial devoicing of
vowels, that is, as the loss of a complete voicing in vowels. Aspiration is a process which involves
a delay in the vocal fold vibration for the production of a vowel after the release of consonants [p],
[t] and [k]. Vowels are most of the time voiced. Thus, for example in the English word “sea” the
consonant is voiceless and the vowel voiced. The voicing of the vowel starts as soon as the vowel
starts. The English word “pea”, on the other hand, is produced with aspiration of the [p], which
means that the voicing of the vowel does not start immediately after the release of the [p] but is
delayed. Thus, part of the vowel is devoiced or voiceless. Aspiration in marked with the symbol
[h].

3. Pre-fortis clipping and rhythmical clipping

English vowels vary in duration and therefore the English vowel inventory for monophthongs
includes both short vowels (such as [ɒ], [e] or [ɪ]) and long vowels (such as [iː], [ɑː] or [uː]). Apart
from the intrinsic duration of each vocalic sound, English vowels may also vary in duration
depending on the voicing condition of the consonant that follows or on the rhythmic structure of
the word.
Vowels that precede a voiceless sound (also known as fortis) are shortened or clipped, as opposed
to vowels preceding voiced sounds (or lenis). This phenomenon is known as pre-fortis clipping
and it mainly occurs when the consonant following the vowel occurs word-finally. For example, in
the following pair of words, the vowel [ɒ] is going to be shorter when it is followed by [t] than
when it is followed by [d].
cot [kɒt] (shorter duration of the vowel due to the presence of [t])
cod [kɒd] (longer duration of the vowel due to the presence of [d])
The other aspect which triggers differences in the duration of vowels is the rhythmic structure of
the word which has to do with the amount of unstressed syllables that follow the stressed one. In
that case, the higher the number of unstressed syllables the shorter the duration of the vowel in the
stressed syllable. An example is provided below for the vowel [iː] which will be longer in the
word lead (since no unstressed syllables follow), shorter in leader (with one unstressed syllable
after the stressed one) and even shorter in leadership (since two unstressed syllables appear after
the stressed one). This phenomenon is known as rhythmical clipping.
lead [ˈliːd] leader [ˈliːd-ə] leadership [ˈliːd-ə-ʃɪp]