Examples of short vowels sounds

Short vowels video — Pronuncian: American English Pronunciation

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Welcome to Seattle Learning Academy's video pronunciation series.

Of the 26 letters of the alphabet, 5 letters--a, e, i, o, and u--are considered vowels. Those 5 letters (a, e, i, o, and u--plus the letters w, y, and gh) are used in the spelling of the 15 vowel sounds of English.

To make the 15 vowel sounds easier to learn, we break them into the categories of

• long vowels
• short vowels
• and the "other" vowels

When talking about the sounds of English, I'll use a name (such as long a or short a), and the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol.

We're including the names for sounds because non-native English speakers often can't hear the difference between sounds. For instance, (long e) and (short i)--that was the long e sound and the short i sound--or (short e) and (short u)--the short e and short u sound--are easily confused. So we use the sound's name, long e, short i, short e, and short u, and not just the sound itself (long e, short i, short e, short u).

We include the symbols because that's what pronunciation dictionaries use, and those specialized dictionaries can be very helpful when talking about pronunciation.

Today, we're going to talk about the 5 short vowel sounds and the most common spelling pattern of those sounds.

Before we begin, let me clarify that short vowel sounds aren't said for less time than long vowel sounds, though it certainly would be convenient if that were the case. These are just names historically given to these sounds.

The 5 short vowel sounds are:

1. short a: /æ/ cat
2. short e: /ɛ/ bed
3. short i: /ɪ/ sit
4. short o: /ɑ/ top
5. short u: /ʌ/ sun

We begin the study of vowel sound pronunciation by using key words. The five words I just used as examples are key words for the short vowel sounds. All 5 of our short vowel key words--cat, bed, sit, top, and sun--follow the most common phonetic pattern for short vowel sounds.

Phonetics is the connection between letters and sounds. It's the relationship between a word's spelling and its pronunciation. Our short vowel key words follow the consonant-vowel-consonant phonetic pattern. When a vowel occurs alone between two consonants we can expect a short vowel sound.

In the word 'cat,' c-a-t, the vowel letter a is between two consonants, the 'c' and the 't.' It isn't surprising, then, that the word 'cat' is pronounced with a /æ/ sound (/æ/).

If a word begins with a vowel letter that's followed by one or more consonants, we can still expect a short vowel sound pronunciation. If I take the 'c' off of the word 'cat,' I get the word 'at,' still pronounced with a short vowel sound.

If there's only one consonant after the vowel, and that consonant is followed by the letter 'e,' the formula changes, and we can expect a long vowel sound instead. For instance, if I take the word 'hat' h-a-t, and add the letter e I'll get the word 'hate' instead. The change in pronunciation from the word 'hat' to the word 'hate' is caused by the addition of the letter 'e.'

While common phonetic patterns like consonant-vowel-consonant (as in the word 'hat') and vowel-consonant-e (as in the word 'hate') and can help learners understand the pronunciation of English words, individual spelling patterns often exist for each sound.

There are also words that aren't pronounced in a way that we'd expect based on their spelling. We call these non-phonetic words. Common phonetic patterns and non-phonetic words are covered in each sound's individual video lesson.

Now that you know what the five short vowel sounds are, and their common phonetic pattern, it's worth studying each sound individually.

Thank you for watching this Seattle Learning Academy video lesson.

EXIT: (short a, short e, short i, short o, short u) cat, bed, sit, top, sun.

Short Vowel Words | Short Vowel Sounds • 7ESL

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In the English language, there are different ways to pronounce vowels. One category of such vowel pronunciation is the short vowel sound — one that has many associated words. But what are some short vowel words and how do you identify them? This article will explore short vowel sounds, general rules for forming short vowel words, and examples of short vowel words for each vowel — a, e, i, o, and u.

Table of Contents

Short Vowel Words

Short vowel sounds are a type of pronunciation for the vowels in the English language — a, e, i, o, and u. This description is not literal (meaning that you would not pronounce the vowels in a short, quick, or abbreviated manner) but is only used in contrast to  long vowel sounds.

With long vowel sounds, you pronounce the vowels “by name” — meaning “a” would be pronounced like the letter “a” as in “lake”, “e” would be pronounced the letter “e” as in “cheese”, “i” would be pronounced like the letter “i” as in “like”, and so on.

Long vowel sounds are generated mainly by repeating vowels (like the letter “e” in “free” or “meet”), or by vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) word spellings (like the letter “a” in “make”, the letter “i” in “time”, the letter “o” in “joke”).

Short vowel sounds, in contrast, are the pronunciation of vowels as they generally appear in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word spellings. Examples of this include the letter “a” in “hat” or “bag”, the letter “u” in “cup” or “tug”, or the letter “i” in “big” or “tin”.

Short vowel words can include longer words than simple CVC words — like “snack”, “jump”, or “plot”.

There are different short vowel pronunciations for each vowel, as explained below.

Short “a” words are pronounced like the “a” vowel is in “cat” or “tag”.

Short “a” words include:

• Ab
• Apt
• Fab
• Cab
• Tab
• Jab
• Gab
• Lab
• Nab
• Dab
• Crab
• Slab
• Fad
• Dad
• Lad
• Pad
• Sad
• Mad
• Rad
• Tad
• Bad
• Gas
• Cap
• Lap
• Tap
• Map
• Gap
• Rap
• Nap
• Zap
• App
• Slap
• Clap
• Fan
• Van
• Man
• Tan
• Ran
• Pan
• Ban
• Glass
• Mass
• Class
• Sass
• Fast
• Mast
• Past
• Ramp
• Stamp
• Lamp
• Damp
• Hand
• Band
• Stand
• Snack
• Shack
• Lack
• Knack
• Hack
• Slack
• Pack
• Rack
• Back
• Tack
• Stack
• Smack
• Quack
• Rat
• Mat
• Pat
• Fat
• Hat
• Cat
• Chat
• Slat

Short “e” words are pronounced like the “e” vowel is in “beg” or “led”.

Short “e” words include:

• Red
• Med
• Led
• Fed
• Sled
• Bed
• Head
• Tread
• Jet
• Met
• Net
• Wet
• Set
• Yet
• Tent
• Cent
• Pent
• Lent
• Rent
• Dent
• Scent
• Men
• Hen
• Ten
• Lense
• Sense
• Dense
• Defense
• Spend
• Lend
• Mend
• Tend
• End
• Defend
• Trend
• Send
• Fell
• Smell
• Tell
• Well
• Yell
• Hell
• Web
• Vest
• Test
• West
• Jest
• Rest
• Pest
• Chest
• Lest

Short “i” words are pronounced like the “i” vowel is in “bit” or “din”.

Short “i” words include:

• Rid
• Mid
• Lid
• Id
• Kid
• Hid
• Bid
• Lip
• Clip
• Sip
• Rip
• Tip
• Nip
• Dip
• Whip
• Big
• Wig
• Pig
• Hit
• Bit
• Writ
• Lit
• Fit
• Sit
• Pit
• Nit
• Mitt
• Silk
• Milk
• Win
• Tin
• Twin
• Pin
• Lint
• Glint
• Flint
• Mint
• Fill
• Pill
• Till
• Hill
• Gill
• Dill
• Mill
• Bill
• Chill
• Sill
• Will
• Nil
• Rim
• Dim
• Whim
• Trim
• Fib
• Rib
• Sib
• Whip
• Thick
• Quick
• Sick
• Stick
• Pick
• Lick
• Trick
• Slick
• Quit

Short “o” words are pronounced like the “o” vowel is in “hot” or “job”.

Short “o” words include:

• Cod
• Rod
• God
• Bod
• Pod
• Nod
• Odd
• Off
• Jot
• Pot
• Cot
• Rot
• Tot
• Dot
• Hot
• Not
• Lot
• Got
• Clot
• Trot
• Blot
• Nob
• Job
• Mob
• Rob
• Sob
• Lob
• Cob
• Box
• Ox
• Pox
• Rock
• Sock
• Mock
• Knock
• Lock
• Dock
• Log
• Dog
• Bog
• Hog
• Cog
• On
• Pond
• Con
• Don
• Stop
• Shop
• Drop
• Cop
• Mop
• Hop
• Bop
• Sop
• Top
• Plop
• Mom

Short “u” words are pronounced like the “u” vowel is in “bug” or “rut”.

Short “u” words include:

• Sub
• Tub
• Pub
• Rub
• Dub
• Cub
• Hub
• Nub
• Mud
• Dud
• Sud
• Bud
• Cut
• Rut
• But
• Gut
• Nut
• Jut
• Mutt
• Rum
• Chum
• Bum
• Gum
• Lump
• Jump
• Pump
• Plump
• Trump
• Rump
• Dump
• Bump
• Cuff
• puff
• Hug
• Mug
• Rug
• Tug
• Dug
• Bug
• Gun
• Bun
• Sun
• Fun
• Pun
• Run
• Crust
• Rust
• Dust
• Must
• Lust
• Trust
• Cuss
• Muss
• Fuss
• Bus
• Runt
• Punt
• Hunt
• Fund

Short Vowel Words | Picture

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Long and short vowels in English

Longitude is one of the characteristics of a vowel sound, which shows the relative duration of its sound compared to other sounds.

Longitude can be positional and phonemic. In the first case, the duration of the vowel depends on the position in the word and stress, while this characteristic does not affect the meaning. The phonemic length of a vowel has a semantic function, that is, depending on the length of the sound, the meaning of the word changes.

In Russian, the length of vowel sounds does not affect the meaning of words and changes only depending on stress. In English, vowels differ not only in positional but also in phonemic length. This means that long and short sounds, similar in other characteristics, represent different phonemes. Words that differ only in these phonemes have different meanings: ship - sheep , fit - feet , pull - pool . Therefore, it is so important to pronounce long and short sounds correctly.

In transcription, long vowels are indicated with a colon: [i:], [α:], [ɔ:], [u:], [ә:]. In some cases, long vowels in an unstressed position are reduced and become semi-long, which in transcription is indicated by one dot from above: [α ].

The long vowels listed above are opposed to short vowels, forming the following pairs in English:

• [i:] - [ı]
• [uː] - [u]
• [ɔ:] - [ɒ]
• [α:] - [ʌ]
• [ә:] - [ə]

The pronunciation of long and short English vowels often causes difficulties for Russian learners of English, since in Russian vowels do not have phonemic longitude, and we are not used to distinguishing the length of a vowel sound by ear. We often do not hear the difference between long and short vowels when listening to English speech. It is still not clear how long you need to draw a sound when speaking, so very unnatural, or almost inaudible, or too long vowels are obtained. It is impossible to correctly pronounce short and long sounds so that a native speaker hears the difference, even if you diligently shorten short vowels and stretch out long ones.

Sometimes it seems that native speakers themselves do not know the difference between short and long sounds, they seem to pronounce them the same way - but they themselves understand each other. But it's not. Let's see what are the differences between long and short English vowels, how to learn to hear them and how to train their pronunciation.

It is logical to assume that if vowels are called long or short, they differ in sound length. This is the main difference between them, but not the only one. It is important to understand that long and short sounds have other differences, which consist in articulatory features. This means that the sounds are not just of different lengths, they are also different in sound. And most often it is these articulatory features that determine the length of the vowel sound: the duration of the sound depends on the position of the tongue and the tension of the vocal apparatus.

Long and short English vowels differ in such a characteristic as tension. Long vowels are tense, in English they are also called tense . When they are pronounced, the root of the tongue seems to be tense, under tension. The sound is pronounced, bright, rich, clear.

Short vowels are called lax – relaxed. The tongue in the region of the root is relaxed, the vowel sound is articulated quickly, easily, without additional effort, as if bursting. It turns out short, inconspicuous, faded and fuzzy.

Qualitative differences in sounds in different pairs of English vowels range from pronounced to almost imperceptible. It is easy to notice the difference between long and short sounds a: pay attention to how the words cart and cut are pronounced, they differ not only in duration, but also in sound. But the differences between long and short u are almost imperceptible: pool and pull sound very similar, only slightly different in length. The Scots generally pronounce them the same way, differing only in context.

In addition, the duration of the pronunciation of vowels is also affected by positional longitude - for example, stressed or unstressed position in a word. As a result, a short vowel sound in one word may sound longer than a long sound in another word.

Thus, it is not enough to rely only on the subjective duration of a vowel sound. All the features of short and long vowels described above must be taken into account when learning English. It remains to understand how to master the pronunciation of long and short sounds in practice.

The main mistake foreigners make when pronouncing long and short English sounds is focusing only on duration. But with this approach, it is intuitively incomprehensible where the boundary between a long and a short sound passes: you can’t measure the length of a sound with a stopwatch. When trying to artificially lengthen or shorten a vowel, the sounds are unnaturally short or drawn out.

To learn how to pronounce long and short English sounds, you need to forget about the usual terminology "long" and "short". Try not to think about the duration of the sound at all. To correctly pronounce long and short vowels, you need to focus on their articulation, and not on duration. If we correctly reproduce the pronunciation of the vowel, then the duration will turn out to be correct automatically. Remember that long vowels require more tension at the root of the tongue, while short ones are pronounced without additional effort, easily and without tension.

Pay attention to how native speakers pronounce vowels - don't watch how long they draw them out, but watch the pronunciation, the articulation, the quality of the sound. Repeat, imitate, practice. For practice, it is best to use video lessons or a conversation with a native speaker, since audio materials do not make it possible to see articulation.

It is best to train long and short sounds not separately, but as part of words. First, this way you will note the influence of positional longitude on the duration of the sound in specific examples. Secondly, just as words are best learned in context, sounds are also best learned in the environment.

Practice pronunciation of long and short vowels in pairs of words to notice the difference between sounds, for example:

• Sport – hot
• Arm-cut
• See-hit
• Food-put
• Fur – ago

When you learn how to pronounce long and short vowels correctly in English, it will become easy to distinguish between them in speech. When listening to speech, forget about the differences in duration, pay attention to the qualitative differences in sounds - how intensely the vowel is pronounced, how bright or faded it sounds, how pairs of sounds differ from each other, except for duration.

English vowels ‹ engblog.ru

Unlike the Russian alphabet, which has 33 letters ( letters ), English contains only 26. However, even with this number of letters, there are 44 sounds in English ( sounds ). All English letters are divided into two groups: vowels ( vowels ) and consonants ( consonants ). Quantitatively, the first group is much smaller than the second. There are 20 consonants and only 6 vowels. This article is about vowels in English. Here are the letters that represent vowels: a , e , i , o , u , y . It should also be remembered that a sound is what we hear, and a letter is a sign by which we represent a certain sound. To record how a particular word or letter is read, there is a phonetic transcription. This is a system of signs, each of which expresses one sound.

The English vowels are pronounced with an open mouth and can be sung. Also, vowels in English can be long ( long vowels ) and short ones ( short vowels ). There are five short vowels, five long vowels, and eight more diphthongs ( diphthongs ). A diphthong is a combination of two vowels in one syllable. In English, it is very important to observe the brevity and longitude of vowel sounds, since the meaning of the word may depend on the length of the sound. For example: ship - sheep . In the first word, the sound i is short, and in the second the combination of vowels ee is also a sound i , long only. The translation of the first word is a ship, and the second is a sheep.

Short vowels in English are truncated stressed vowels. Long vowels in English are monophthongs. They are pronounced with constant articulation. In diphthongs, one of the sounds is stressed and forms a syllable. And the second is only its brief element.

Examples of short vowels in English:

• pot
• cup - mug
• pencil - pencil
• map - map
• mother