English Vowels and Combinations
English Vowel Sounds
Compiled By:
Muhammad Babar Qureshi
Department of English Language and
Translation
Buraydah Private Colleges
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English Vowels and Combinations
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.
Sounds Letters Examples Notes
been [i];
bread, deaf
e, ee be, eve, see, meet, sleep,
[e];
[i:] ea meal, read, leave, sea, team,
great, break
ie, ei field, believe, receive
[ei];
friend [e]
i it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, machine, ski,
[i]
y system, busy, pity, sunny liter, pizza [i:]
e let, tell, press, send, end, meter [i:]
[e]
ea bread, dead, weather, leather sea, mean [i:]
a late, make, race, able, stable,
ai, ay aim, wait, play, say, day, said, says [e];
[ei]
ei, ey eight, weight, they, hey, height, eye
ea break, great, steak [ai]
cat, apple, land, travel, mad;
[æ] a AmE: last, class, dance,
castle, half
army, car, party, garden,
war, warm
park,
ar [o:]
[a:] father, calm, palm, drama;
a
BrE: last, class, dance, castle,
half
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English Vowels and Combinations
[ai] i, ie ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die,
y, uy my, style, apply, buy, guy
group, soup
out, about, house, mouse,
ou [u:]
[au] now, brown, cow, owl,
ow know, own
powder
[ou]
[o] o not, rock, model, bottle, copy
or more, order, cord, port, work, word
o long, gone, cost, coffee, [ər]
[o:] aw, au law, saw, pause, because,
ought bought, thought, caught,
al, wa- hall, always, water, war, want
[oi] oi, oy oil, voice, noise, boy, toy
O go, note, open, old, most, do, move [u:]
[ou]
oa, ow road, boat, low, own, bowl how, owl [au]
use, duty, music, cute, huge,
U
tune,
ew
[yu:] few, dew, mew, new,
eu
euphemism, feud, neutral,
ue, ui
hue, cue, due, sue, suit
U rude, Lucy, June,
o, oo do, move, room, tool,
ew crew, chew, flew, jewel,
[u:] guide, quite
ue, ui blue, true, fruit, juice,
[ai];
ou group, through, route;
build [i]
AmE: duty, new, sue, student
Oo look, book, foot, good,
[u] u put, push, pull, full, sugar,
ou would, could, should
neutral sound u, o gun, cut, son, money, love,
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English Vowels and Combinations
[ə] ou tough, enough, rough,
a, e about, brutal, taken, violent,
o, i memory, reason, family
er, ur, serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl,
ir sir,
[ər] heart, hearth
or, ar work, word, doctor, dollar,
[a:]
ear heard, earn, earnest, earth
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.
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English Vowels and Combinations
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], late, make, race, able, stable, aim, wait, play, say,
day, eight, weight, they, hey, break, great, steak
[ai], ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die, my, style, apply, buy,
guy
[au], out, about, house, mouse, now, brown, cow, owl,
powder
[oi], oil, voice, noise, boy, toy
[ou]. go, note, open, old, most, road, boat, low, own, bowl
Vowels and diphthongs
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English Vowels and Combinations
This chart shows the vowels and diphthongs used in standard varieties of
English spoken in the USA, Australia, England, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Wales. There is significant
variation in the vowel sounds used within most of these countries, and in
other countries where English is spoken.
Key
AmE = American English (General American), AuE = Australian
English, BrE = British English (RP), CaE = Canadian English, IrE =
Irish English, NZE = New Zealand English, SAE = South African
English, ScE = Scottish English, WeE = Welsh English
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English Vowels and Combinations
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