ENGLISH PHONOLOGY

1. ENGLISH SHORT VOWELS

The symbols for these short vowels are: I, e, ӕ, ^, .o, U. 

Short vowels are only relatively short; as we shall see later, vowels can have quite different lengths in different contexts.

Example :

2. LONG VOWELS

Long Vowel is the vowels which tend to be longer than the short vowel in similar contexts, It’s necessary to say “in similar contexts” because, as we shall see later, the length of all English vowel sounds varies very much according to context (such as the type of sound that follows them) and the presence or absence of stress.

* The five long  vowels are i:, ɜ:,ɑ:, ɔ:, u:

Example :

The differences between long vowels and short vowel not only in length but also in quality.

3. DIPHTHONGS

A diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves during the pronunciation of the vowel.

The total number of diphthongs is eight :

 

1. i ə
2. e ə
3. əʊ
4. eɪ
5. aɪ
6. Ɔɪ
7. ə ʊ
8. a ʊ 

Example words :

4. TRIPHTHONG

The most complex English sounds of the vowel type are the triphthongs. A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption.

The triphthong can be looked on as being composed of the five closing diphthongs.    e ә ʊ ɔ

Triphthong Chart : 

eɪ + ә        =  eɪә  (layer, player)

aɪ + ә        =  aɪә   (liar, fire)

aʊ + ә       =  aʊә  (power, hour)

ɔɪ + ә        =  ɔɪә   (loyal, royal)

әʊ + ә       =  әʊә  (lower, mower)