Vowels Unlike consonants, a vowel sound is produced with an open passage of air in the mouth. Vowel sounds are articulated with a relatively free airflow. All vowel sounds are voiced. The shape of the mouth forms a cubic area or a tube-shaped cavity. The tongue influences the shape through which the air must pass. Graphically there are just 5 vowels symbols in British English alphabet, but there are 12 single vowels (monophthoughs) and 8 diphthongs. American English has 10 single vowels and 5 diphthongs. Vocal tract as a resonating tube How are vowels described?
1- Horizontal axis: Front vowels lie beneath the hardpalate [i, I ], back vowels [ u, a ] lie beneath the softpalate, and central vowels lie beneath the area betweenthe soft and hard palate. Front Central Back 2- Vertical axis:high vowels [ i , u ] are made with thefront part of the tongue is close to the palate. Low vowels[a, ] are made with the tongue is lowered from themouth and automatically entails the opening of themouth Close Mid Open 3- The position of the lips is a third dimension for describing vowelsounds, i.e., rounded or unrounded vowels. 4-A vowel is long or short The position of the highest point of the tongue
how front or back the tongues highest point in the mouth is how high or low the highest point of the tongue is EnglishVowels FRONT CENTRAL BACK CLOSE Half-CLOSE Half-OPEN OPEN [i]as in see is close, front, unrounded, long
Vowel Description [i]as in see is close, front, unrounded, long [I]as in sit is front, half-close, unrounded,short [e] as in get is front, half-open,unrounded, short [] as in cat is open, front, neutral, short [] as in father is open, back, slightlyrounded, long [] as in pod, cod is open, back, slightlyrounded, short Vowel Description 7. [] as in raw, all is half-open, back, rounded,long 8. [] as in book, put is half-close, back, rounded,short 9. [u] as in food is close, back, rounded, long 10. [] as in cut is open, central, neutral, short 11. [] as in shirt is half-close, central, slightlyrounded, long 12. [] as in ago, writer is half-open, central,slightly rounded, short pen said death mess mean meat steak weak theme green
Circle the word that has a different vowel sound. Then write the vowel symbol that represents the common sound in the remaining three. pen said death mess mean meat steak weak theme green sane pad fat chap mast hoot good moon viewsuit cup dub core some numb groom saw chore shore port Read the following words and group them in columns under their vowel symbol:
board two bored moth do through blue daughter crew cod dog cup some pause dull doll choose chores Paul true dove [] [] [u] [] Describe the vowel sound in each of the following words:
foot pot cut seed father soon bird, sad, about foot [] half-close, back, short, rounded
pot [ ] open, back, short, slightly rounded cut [] central open short neutral seed [i] close, front, unrounded, long father [] open, back, slightly rounded, long soon [u] close, back, rounded, long bird [] half-close, central, slightly rounded, long sad [] open, front neutral short about [] central half-open slightly rounded short Diphthongs Diphthongs involve a movement or glide from one vowelto another. A vowel which remains constant and does notglide is called a pure vowel. The total number ofdiphthongs in English is Eight. Diphthongs ending in a eI eI
Diphthongs involve a movement or glide from one vowelto another. The total number of diphthongs in English isEight. Diphthongs Centering closing ending in ending in ending in I a e eI eI aI aI Examples of Diphthongs
A diphthong is a tongue movement from one vocalicposition to another. Diphthongs in English include: // beer, fear /e/chair, stare //sure, tour , pour /eI/say, weigh , pay /aI/ high, buy , site //toy, joy, coy //go, hello , phone /a/ house, now, found Activity: Find the odd one out
1- phone load loud 2- say mind price 3- near square beer 4- house sure cure 5- coin choice fair 6- lay gray cry 7- hear bear pair 8- no now brown Decide which diphthongs you pronounce in the following words:
/e/ // // // // /e/ // spy great destroy noise pound note pair fear plain aisle grow loud pear beard prey pie coin shout low their dear notepound great growdestroy pairfear plain low dearspy noise pearaisle preycoinloudbeard theirshoutpie Triphthongs A triphthong is a glide from one vowel toanother and then to a third, all producedrapidly and without interruption. Triphthongs eI layer,player aI liar ,fire I loyal ,royal lower, mower a hour , power Triphthongs Transcribe the following words: liar lower power royal
higher giant shower widower flour laI(r) l(r) pa(r) rIl haI(r) daInt a(r) wId(r) fla(r)