Pronunciation (Vowel)

1. PRONUNCIATION
(VOWEL SOUND)

2. WHAT ARE VOWELS?
In the English language, the letters “a,” “e,” “i,”
“o,” “u” and sometimes “y” are called vowels.
When you speak, you let out air through your
mouth. Vowels make the sounds that come when
the air leaving your mouth isn’t blocked by
anything (like your teeth or your tongue). They
are formed by moving your lips to different
shapes.

3. WAYS TO PRONOUNCE ENGLISH VOWEL
SOUNDS
1. When a word or syllable ends in a consonant and has only one vowel, that vowel is short.
Examples: cat, bed, fish
2. When a word ends in “e,” the “e” is silent (not read out loud), and the vowel that comes before it is long.
Examples: bake, file, rope
3. When a syllable has two vowels next to each other, the first is usually long and the second short.
Examples: pain, boat, grow
4. When a syllable ends in one vowel, that vowel is usually long.
Examples: open, unit, paper
5. Many times, these rules don’t work! There are many exceptions (times when the rules are broken).
Sometimes the only way to learn something is to practice and memorize it.

4. LONG AND SHORT ENGLISH
VOWELS
The English vowels are A, E, I, O, & U.
(Sometimes Y is a vowel, pronounced as if it
were I, and sometimes W substitutes for U.)
Each can be pronounced in several ways.This
page explains when each sound is commonly
used.

5. SHORT VOWELS
The most common sound for each vowel is its
“short” sound:
• ă, pronounced /æ/ as in apple, pan, or mat,
• , pronouncedĕ / / ɛ as in elephant, pen, or met,
• , pronouncedĭ / / ɪ as in insect, pin, or mitt,
• , pronouncedŏ / /ɒ as in octopus, ostrich, upon,
or motto,
• and , pronouncedŭ / /ʌ as in umbrella, pun, or
mutt.

6. LONG VOWELS
The alphabet sounds (when the vowel “says its name”) are
called “long vowels.”
We call them ‘long’ because we hold them longer than the
short sounds, but they are completely different sounds-- not
a longer version of the same sound.
•Long A ( ), pronouncedā /e /ɪ as in ate or mate,
•Long E ( ), pronouncedē /i /ː as in eat or meat (or meet or
mete-- all pronounced the same),
•Long I ( ), pronouncedī /a /ɪ as in mite or might,
•Long O ( ), pronouncedō /o /ʊ as in oats, mote or moat, and
•Long U ( ), pronouncedū /ju /ː in mute.

9. OTHER ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
(SCHWA OR R-CONTROLLED)
Any vowel in an unaccented syllable has a
neutral or“schwa”/ / sound:ə Examples: the ‘a’ in
above, or approve, the ‘e’ in accident, camera or
mathematics, the ‘i’ in family or officer, the ‘o’ in
freedom or purpose, or the ‘u’ in industry or succeed.
if a vowel is followed by R, it changes in quality, and
is neither long nor short. (ER, IR, and UR are often --
though not always--the same sound.)

10. Examples with phonetic symbols:
•/ r/ɑ -- arm, car, charge, dark, farm,
start
•/ r/ɛə -- air, bare/bear, hair, there
•/ r/ɪə -- beer, ear, hear/here, near
•/ r/ɜ -- bird, burn, fur, herd, earth,
service, sir, turn, urgent
•/ r/ə -- baker, doctor, letter, summer

11. LONG & SHORT
VOWEL

13. What are vowel sounds?
English has fifteen vowel sounds represented
by the letters a, e, i, o, and u. The letters
y, w and gh are also commonly used in vowel
sound spellings. Vowel sounds are
produced with a relatively open vocal
tract. Consonant sounds, in contrast, are
created by pushing air through a small opening
in the vocal tract or by building up air in the
vocal tract, then releasing it.

14. WHAT IS A LONG VOWEL SOUND?
Long vowel is the term used to refer to
vowel sounds whose pronunciation is the
same as its letter name. The five vowels of
the English spelling system ('a', 'e,' 'i,' 'o,' and 'u')
each have a corresponding long vowel sound
/e /ɪ , /i/, / /ɑɪ , /o /ʊ , /yu/. Long vowels are
generally the easiest vowels for non-native
English speakers to distinguish and pronounce
correctly.

15. long a /e /: cake /ke k/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)ɪ ɪ
intro-to-long-vowel-sounds.jpg
long e /i/: keep /kip/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)
long i / /: bike/b k/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)ɑɪ ɑɪ
long o /o /: home /ho m/ (pronounce it, spell it, practiceʊ ʊ
it)
long u /yu/: cute /kyut/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)

17. INTRODUCTION TO TWO-SOUND
VOWELSA two-sound vowel is a vowel sound that includes a 'y
sound' /y/or a 'w sound' /w/ in the pronunciation. Often, the
/y/ or /w/ is only a minor part of the sound, but must be
included for the sound to be pronounced fully. Two-sound
vowels are known linguistically as diphthongs (pronounced as
dip-thong or dif-thong).
In North American English, four of the five long vowel sounds
are pronounced as two-sound vowels.
long a /e /ɪ , ends in a brief /y/
long i / /ɑɪ , ends in a brief /y/
long o /o /ʊ , ends in a brief /w/
long u /yu/, begins with a brief /y/

18. THE VOWEL-CONSONANT-E (VCE)
PATTERNA spelling pattern that is true for all long vowel sounds is the
Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) pattern. The VCe pattern states that
when a single vowel is followed by a single consonant, then the
letter 'e', the first vowel is pronounced as a long vowel sound
and the letter 'e' is silent.
Vowel-consonant-e spelling examples
long a /e /ɪ : late /le t/ɪ
long e /i/: delete /d lit/ə
long i / /ɑɪ : kite /k t/ɑɪ
long o /o /ʊ : note /no t/ʊ
long u /yu/: cute /kyut/

19. INTRODUCTION TO SHORT
VOWELSWhat makes a sound a short vowel?
The term short vowel is used to refer to the sounds that most
often correspond to the letters 'a,' 'e,' 'i,' 'o,' and 'u' when the
vowel occurs individually between consonants (Consonant-
Vowel-Consonant, or CVC pattern). It is important to note
that the term short is not referring to the length of time
the vowel sound is pronounced—it is merely a label.
When learning the common spellings of vowel sounds, note that
long vowels--not short vowels--often have a silent 'e' at the end
of a word (see the long vowel VCe pattern).

20. Listen to the following sounds and words for to
become familiar with pronouncing these challenging
sounds.
short a /æ/: cat /kæt/ (pronounce it, spell it,
practice it)
short e / /ɛ : bed /b d/ɛ (pronounce it, spell it,
practice it)
short i / /ɪ : sit /s t/ɪ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)
short o / /ɑ : top /t p/ɑ (pronounce it, spell it, practice
it)
short u / /ʌ : sun /s n/ʌ (pronounce it, spell it, practice

22. CONSONANT-VOWEL-CONSONANT (CVC)
PATTERNAll of the short vowel key words use the Consonant-Vowel-Consonant
(CVC) pattern. The CVC pattern states that when a single vowel is
between two consonants, the vowel is pronounced as a short vowel
sound (if the letter 'e' follows the second consonant, the vowel will be
pronounced as a long vowel sound due to the Vowel-Consonant-e
pattern).
Additionally, when a vowel is pronounced with a short vowel sound, it
may be followed by two consonants. Both consonants are not
necessary for short vowel identification purposes, but do often offer an
additional clue that the particular sound in that instance is a short
vowel sound.
The CVC pattern still applies when a word begins with a vowel sound
and is followed by one or more consonants.

23. Consonant-vowel-consonant
spelling examples
short a /æ/: back /bæk/, at /æt/
short e / /ɛ : bend /b nd/ɛ , end / nd/ɛ
short i / /ɪ : sick /s k/ɪ , it / t/ɪ
short o / /ɑ : lock /l k/ɑ , opt / pt/ɑ
short u / /ʌ : such /s /ʌʧ , us / s/ʌ