Different sounds of vowels

What you need to know. 

– English diphthong vowels have two IPA symbols because they are made up of two mouth position.
– in other words, diphthong vowels are two short vowels joined together, they are also called double vowels.
– many non-native speakers make some English diphthong vowels as single vowels

Vowel Phonetic Symbol   &    IPA Examples in Words

/eɪ/     place /pleɪs/, late /leɪt/, dangerous /ˈdeɪn. dʒə.rəs/
/oʊ/    home /hoʊm/, phone /foʊn/, global /ˈɡloʊ.bəl/
/aʊ/    mouse /maʊs/, brown /braʊn/, accountant /əˈkaʊn.t̬ənt/
/ɪə/    clear /klɪə/, fear /fɪə/,  career /kəˈrɪə/
/eə/   care /keə/, wear /weə/, declare /dɪˈkleə/
/ɔɪ/    boy /bɔɪ/, toy /tɔɪ/, enjoyable /ɪnˈdʒɔɪ.jə.bəl/
/aɪ/    find /faɪnd/, bite /baɪt/, tiger  /ˈtaɪ.ɡə/
/ʊə/   tour /tʊə/, pure /pʊə/,  mature /məˈtʃʊə/

What are English Diphthong Vowels in the IPA? There are 8 IPA symbols for English Diphthong vowels. The IPA for English Diphthong vowels are: /eɪ/, /oʊ/, /aʊ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ɔɪ/, /aɪ/, /ʊə/.  

More English Vowels Examples -IPA Diphthong Vowels

Use the boxes below to revise and practise each of the English vowels phonetics for double vowels in English.

See the phonetic symbol for each vowel sound at the top of each box, see IPA vowel examples of it in 4 common English words, click to hear it pronounced and record your own pronunciation. 

ACHTUNG!

As you listen to the IPA examples, listen carefully to hear the two vowel sounds in each.  

Can you hear the two vowels?

Many people make a single vowel, instead of a double vowel. This happens because the English double vowel doesn’t exist in their first language. 

This makes many of their words unclear. For example, when they say ‘coat’ it sounds more like ‘cot’, when they say ‘note’ it sounds more like ‘not’, when they say ‘won’t’ it sounds more like ‘want’ – Video on pronouncing ‘won’t’ vs ‘want’. 

As you go through, feel the two positions in each double vowel.   

Click to below to hear English vowels exercises on double / diphthong English vowel pronunciation with English vowel phonetics. 

/aɪ/
light /laɪt/ like /laɪk/
rice /raɪs/  ripe /raɪp/

/eɪ/
late /leɪt/ lake /leɪk/
race /reɪs/ train /treɪn/

/ɔɪ/
boy /bɔɪ/
join /dʒɔɪn/ choice /tʃɔɪs/ 
noise/nɔɪs/

/aʊ/
about /əˈbaʊt/
 found /faʊnd/ house /haʊs/ down /daʊn/

/oʊ/
note /noʊt/ coke /koʊk/ hose /hoʊs/ phone /foʊn/

/ɪə/
hear /hɪə/ near /nɪə/
fear /fɪə/ beer /bɪə/

/eə/
hair /heə/ share /ʃeə/
pear /peə/ chair /tʃeə/

/ʊə/
 tour  /tʊə/ lure /lʊə/
cure /kʊə/ pure /pʊə/

in the dictionary.  

See an example of how diphthong vowels or double vowels are shown in dictionaries in the diagram below.
This IPA example is from the free Cambridge Online Dictionary. The Cambridge Online Dictionary is a reliable and free site that you can use to check the pronunciation of English words. 

It shows the IPA for American English and British English and you can click to hear the word pronounced in both American and British accents. 

See a screen shot of how English diphthong and double vowels are shown in the IPA in the dictionary below. I’ve labelled the marker for Word Stress in the IPA and also schwa, the most important weak vowel in English. 

Here is a clear English Vowel Sounds Chart with IPA Symbols. 

Many ESL speakers find this English Vowel Sounds Chart extremely helpful. 

English Vowels Sounds Chart pdf. 

Download English Vowel Sounds Chart PDF here

After your English vowels practice from today, you might be wondering why certain vowels are more difficult than others. Which vowels you find challengings depends on your first language. You can find out more about which vowels speakers of your first language find difficult and continue your English vowels practice with our free 5 day English Pronunciation Course, 

You’ll receive 5 emails full of excellent English pronunciation videos. Learn priority areas for clearer, better spoken English, record a clear professional voicemail greeting, English vowels exercises, improve your word stress, correct lots of commonly mispronounced words.

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And there you have it!

All the English Vowel Sounds IPA, clearly shown with each International Phonetic Alphabet Symbol. 

These English vowels exercises have hopefully helped you become more aware of which English vowel sounds you need to improve on for clearer, better spoken English. 

I hope the images and information in this article will help you understand the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for English Vowels and how to use the IPA to improve your pronunciation of vowel sounds in English.

The IPA is a powerful tool that can be seriously helpful to learners. 

Georgie's Tips For Using The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) To Improve Your Pronunciation:

Remember that even if you don't know every symbol you should still use the IPA for important information such as:  

- the /:/ tells you when there is a long vowel
- two symbols means it's a double or diphthong vowel 
- /'/ is for word stress and tells you the next syllable is stressed

All the best.  

x

Georgie 

by Georgie

Georgie Harding has assisted thousands of people from all over the world with improving their clarity and spoken English skills. A Speech Pathology degree (BAppSc(SpPath) and CELTA qualifications and over 15 years of experience providing 1:1, group and online training make Georgie a leader in her field.  

Georgie is the creator the world's leading English Pronunciation online courses that are tailored to the language background of the student and presents regularly at Universities.

If you've ever met Georgie or completed her award winning courses you'll know how passionate she is about helping people move forward with better spoken English and more confidence. 

Email: [email protected]
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Learn How to Pronounce the 15 Vowel Sounds of American English — Pronuncian: American English Pronunciation

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.

Vowel sounds are divided into the following three categories:

• Long vowels (vowels that sound like the letter name)
• Short vowels (the most common sound for a single vowel spelling)
• Other vowels (the remaining vowel sounds)

The

It is important for ESL/ELL/EFL students to realize that the terms "long" and "short" are not describing the length of time a vowel sound is said. These archaic terms are still in popular use in American classrooms and online. They are used here to give a name to a vowel sound so when the sound is discussed, the name and not the sound (which many beginner students cannot yet hear correctly) is used.

The vowel chart shows the key word, or quick reference word, for each English vowel sound. Key words are used because vowel sounds are easier to hear within a word than when they are spoken in isolation. Memorizing key words allows easier comparison between different vowel sounds. 

Phonics is the link between the spelling of a word and its pronunciation. Since English has more sounds than letters, a combination of letters is often necessary to represent a single sound. 

At their simplest, short vowel sounds are usually spelled with a single letter, while long vowel and other vowel sounds are generally spelled with combinations of letters. This should not be taken as a strict rule when learning English pronunciation, however, as there are a large number of exceptions. In addition, many spelling patterns of English pronunciation have the possibility of two or more pronunciations using that single spelling. For example, the letters 'e-a' have a different pronunciation in the words team (long e /i/) and dead (short e /ɛ/). It is helpful to learn the common spellings for each vowel sound along with knowing all the possible pronunciations for each spelling.

The English language also has a large number of words that are not pronounced the way their spelling suggests. These are called non-phonetic words, and must be memorized individually.

Vowel sounds and syllables are closely related. Syllables are naturally occurring units of sound that create the rhythm of spoken English. Words with multiple syllables always have one syllable that is stressed (given extra emphasis).

Unstressed syllables may contain schwa /ə/, and can have almost any spelling. In addition, three consonant sounds, the n sound, l sound, and r sound (called 'schwa+r' /ɚ/ when it is syllabic) can create a syllable without an additional vowel sound. These are called syllabic consonants.

Vowel sounds and letters. How many are there in Russian?

Free introductory lesson in Russian

Enroll

Correct pronunciation of words is one of the components of beautiful and literate speech. To achieve this, you will first have to study the sounds themselves. In this article, we will figure out together what vowel sounds are, how many vowels are in the alphabet of the Russian language, and what sounds they can represent.

What are vowels and sounds

Vowel sounds are those sounds that we freely convey with our voice. Hence their name comes from: voice means "voice". When pronouncing, air exits through the mouth and does not create noise, and the position of the tongue and lips determines which vowel sound we will pronounce.

There are much fewer vowels in Russian than consonants. There are 6 of them in total: [a], [o], [i], [s], [y] and [e]. To understand whether a vowel sound is in front of you or not, try to sing it. For example:

• a-a-a ,

• woo

• s-s-s .

If it works, then the sound is a vowel. You can't do that with consonants.

There are more vowels than sounds - there are 10 of them: a, i, u, u, o, e, e, e, i, s . This difference is due to the fact that some of these letters can represent two sounds and are pronounced using a combination of a vowel and a consonant [y']. For example, in the word spruce the letter e two sounds are expressed - [y '] and [e]. Let's look at the table all the vowel sounds and the letters that represent them.

Demo lesson in Russian

Take the test at the introductory lesson and find out what topics separate you from the "five" in Russian.

How vowel sounds are related to syllables

Vowel sounds form syllables - sound segments of words that we pronounce with one breath. One syllable can be either a vowel with one or more consonants, or a vowel alone. There is even a rule by which syllables can be counted: how many vowels in a word - so many syllables.

For example, in the word journey there are 5 vowels: [u], [i], [e], [i] and [e]. This means that it has 5 syllables: p-te-she-stv-e .

Test yourself!

Count the number of syllables in the words: try on, tanner, well-groomed, care, prefix, capital, wet, invitation, orange .

Vowel sounds and stress

Now let's see what groups vowel sounds are divided into. Sometimes their pronunciation depends on whether the stress falls on them, that is, whether we single them out with our voice. So vowel sounds are divided into stressed and unstressed. Here are some examples:

Stress in Russian can fall on any of the existing vowel sounds. However, only 4 of them can be unstressed - these are [a], [i], [y] and [s]. In this position, we pronounce sounds weaker than under stress, because of which they can change qualities and sound differently.

Interestingly, the vowels [o] and [e] can only be stressed. There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule: for example, in words cocoa and canoe sounds [o] and [e] in an unstressed position.

How unstressed vowels are related to consonants

How an unstressed vowel sounds depends on the consonant that precedes it. Or rather, from its hardness or softness. If it is a hard consonant, it can be followed by unstressed vowels [y], [a] and [s]. When we talk about a soft consonant, it is followed by unstressed vowels [y] and [and].

Test yourself

It's time to find out if you now understand well what vowel sounds are in Russian. To do this, we have prepared tasks for self-examination.

Task 1

List all the vowels in these words:

Task 2

Name 5 words each in which the sounds [a], [i], [y] and [s] would be stressed.

Task 3

Name 5 words in which an unstressed vowel would come after a hard consonant, and 5 more words where it would follow a soft consonant.

Task 4

Count the number of syllables in the words below (don't forget to use the rule you learned at the beginning of the article!):

• weightless,

• sunrise,

• adventure,

• painter,

• perpetuate,

• pleasant,

• image,

• category,

• exciting,

• melting,

• snowflake.

The rules of phonetics help us to speak correctly, so it is important to master the topic of vowels well and avoid gaps in knowledge. If even after reading the article you still have questions on the topic, you can figure them out in the Russian language course at Skysmart. In online lessons, the teacher will help the student work out the theory and consolidate the result on non-boring tasks. So the student will be able to improve the quality of knowledge, and fall in love with the subject.

Russian cheat sheets for parents

All the rules for the Russian language at hand

Vowels and vowel sounds of the Russian language - diagram, table

In Russian there are 10 vowels, 6 vowels. e, e, o, u, s, e, u, i. Vowel sounds: [a], [o], [y], [e], [i], [s]. In the school curriculum, vowel sounds are indicated in the diagrams in red. In elementary grades, they explain: vowels are called so because they “voice”, they are pronounced “voiced”, while consonants got such a name because they “agree” with vowels.

Stressed and unstressed vowels

There are vowel sounds:

unstressed: in about yes [a], from y dak [y], l e juice [i].

It is correct to say "stressed syllable" and "unstressed syllable". Instead of "stress falls on a vowel" say "stress falls on a syllable with a vowel." However, in the literature there are formulations "stressed vowel" and "unstressed vowel".

Stressed vowels are in a strong position, they are pronounced with more force and intonation. Unstressed vowels are in a weak position, they are pronounced with less force and may be subject to change.

Note. The designation of the letter e in a weak position differs in different school programs. Above we showed the sound [and], in other school programs the designation [e] is found, in the institute program - [e ^and ] (e with an overtone and).

In Russian there are compound words with primary and secondary stress. In them, with a strong intonation, we highlight the main stress, with a weak intonation - a secondary one. For example, in the word foam blocks, the main stress falls on the syllable with the letter o, the secondary stress on the syllable with the letter e.

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