Vowels of the English alphabet. Vowel english letters

It is believed that reading on english language - a rather difficult skill for the simple reason that there is no strict system of reading rules in English and letters, in particular, vowels, can be read differently depending on their position in a word or in a syllable.

In this post I will cover the rules for reading vowels in English with examples.

English vowels and reading features

In total english alphabet there are 6 vowels. But the sounds they transmit are many times more - there are 20 of them (including long vowels).

Vowels:

A - hey
E - and
I - ay
O - oh
U - u
Y - wye

The English language is characterized by the presence of diphthongs.

Diphthongs - these are sounds, when pronouncing which one vowel sound passes into another, that is, in fact, they are pronounced as two sounds.

For example, a word within a word home vowel o reads like “ oU", that is, it essentially forms two sounds [əʊ]. The same with the word house, where the letter combination « ou " reads like "Ay" and gives a double sound.

Do not confuse diphthongs with two letter combinations. For example, in the word headthere are two vowels in a row, but the combination of letters « ea " reads like "Eh"that is, we get a single sound [e].

Thus, vowels in English can be read as in the alphabet, and convey a number of other sounds.

Rules for reading English vowels and vowel combinations

For convenience, I will give tables for each letter with examples, descriptions and reading in Russian. In Russian, of course, it is impossible to convey the exact reading of this or that sound, but I will write approximately.

For correct reading, it is important to know such concepts as closed and open syllables.

Closed syllable in English, this is the syllable that ends in a consonant letter... For example ma p, pe n, ba g, bea d etc.

Open syllable - a syllable that ends in a vowel letter... For example tak e, pa y, bik e etc.

Please note that the syllable must end with a vowel or consonant, not a sound. That is, if in English at the end of a word there is e mute, then the syllable is considered open.

Letter A

Letter E

Sound in transcription and reading it in Russian	Examples of
In a closed syllable - [ e] - e	Red, vet, set, tell
In an open syllable - - and long	Meter, complete
At the end of words e is not readable in English, but affects the reading of the word	Table, plate, take For example, the words cap and cape - in the first case we read "cap", since the syllable is closed, in the second case, "cape", since the syllable is open
In short monosyllabic words, mainly these are service parts of speech, e at the end of a word is read if it is the only vowel in the word and gives i.e and long	He, she, we, me, be
In an open syllable followed by r - diphthong - ua	Here, sphere, sev ere

Letter I

Letter O

Letter U

Letter Y

These are the basic rules for reading vowels in English. But remember that there are many exceptions to each of these rules.

In subsequent publications, I will cover the rules for reading consonants and combinations of vowels and consonants.

The English speech is proclaimed interethnic. Citizens living in all parts of the world communicate with it. The vowels of the English alphabet are a significant phonetic branch that helps to acquire skills in the formation of speech units. The alphabet contains 26 characters, 6 of which are vowels.

They are easily distinguished among consonants. First, the vowels are the components of the alphabet that stretch and chant. They are pronounced smoothly, without hindrance.

Formation of foreign speech units

Despite the fact that the vowel components are in the minority in the English alphabet, they give rise to more than two dozen sound variations. The sound that a symbol gives rise to when reading is due to its position in the word. The sound can vary, based on the combination of characters that include a vowel. Reading is influenced by the type of syllable in which the vowel is placed - open or closed. In Russian speech, every element emits one sound. In a foreign alphabet, the components give rise to a double sound. For a rational, accurate reading of them, it is necessary to resort to transcription.

The vowel characters of the English alphabet are: a, e, i, o, u. The y symbol belongs to both categories.

Vowel transcription in the English alphabet

Symbols are reproduced in different ways, based on the type of syllable in which the combinations of elements are placed. To determine how it reads, concentrate on the transcription. This is a rational sounding in square brackets.

*Symbol*	*Pronunciation*	*Russian version*
a		hey
e		stringy and
i		ah
o		oU
u		viscous
y		ah

Criteria for sounding vowels of the English alphabet

In English, the principles of reading differ from the Russian-language principles.

Principles

The impact on the sound is expressed by the symbol "r" and the variation of part of the words.

In the open parts, the vowels of the English alphabet in conjunction with "r" create an indifferent pronunciation. In the closed parts, they are pronounced in length.

If the part in which the vowel is located falls under the onslaught, it turns into a very short one, it may not sound at all.
If the part is not shock, then the length is shortened when pronouncing.

English vowels in open syllables

The foreign language "a" is in the form of an independent speech unit - the article.

In this case, the symbol is located in the open part, chanting [hey].

Symbols located in open parts are pronounced as indicated in brackets.

Consonant symbols of the English alphabet, their connections can radically change the reading of vowels.

Vowels in closed parts

Closed is a syllable ending with a consonant. The vowel particle of the alphabet, which is located under the onslaught, is followed by one or two consonant symbols. In the closed parts, the vowels are pronounced abruptly.

Characteristic features of reading vowels in foreign speech

There are fewer vowels in the English alphabet. The variant of reading them is formed by some indicators.

The location in the word of the character "r".

If it is in the open part, then it is not spoken, or a connection occurs with adjacent consonants. The resulting pronunciation is consonant with the Russian pronunciation of "e". If it is located in closed parts, it affects the length of the vowels: either lengthens or shortens them.

Stress.

If the letters "o", "u", "a" come under stress, then they do not sound when reading, or are pronounced blurred, indistinct. If the letters "e", "i", "y" are stressed, they are pronounced like "and".

Strong and weak variations.

Abbreviated vowels are called weak, they are not stressed, but in conjunction with other symbols they give rise to new sounds. Weak variations exist in additional particles, pronouns, articles. There are powerful variations in nouns and verbs.

Consonants of the English alphabet

The consonants of the English alphabet are divided into two categories: voiced, voiceless. Voiced voices are spoken in speech units, both self-sufficient sounds, and in combinations with some other symbols. For example, when (when), combination wh. The voiced category includes: sz, b, d, j, l, m, n, ng, r, th.

Deaf are recognized: ch, f, k, p, s, sh, t, th.

Interesting facts about English symbols

The alphabet element x generates two sounds - [x], [s].
The English alphabet is 7 characters less than the Russian one.
The most commonly used elements in foreign words are e and t. The least commonly used element of the alphabet is q.
Dot i is called tittle, which means "miniature droplet".
The element of the English alphabet "y" is both a vowel and a consonant.

The vowels and consonants of the English alphabet have distinctive features... To rationally pronounce foreign words, it is necessary to consider phonetic requirements, transcription. She demonstrates how vowels are pronounced in syllables, bundles of symbols.

There are fifteen vowel sounds in English, which are conveyed by the letters a, e, i, o, u. The letters y, w and gh are also used for vowel sounds. They are divided into short vowels and long vowels. However, their names do not mean that short ones are pronounced short, and long ones are drawn out. The differences between them lie in articulation, not in the duration of the pronunciation. The names "short" and "long" are only for English learners who still have a hard time distinguishing the differences by ear.

There are also sounds that are not short or long. They are conveyed by a combination of different letters, including consonants. For example, the consonant letter w in some situations can denote a vowel sound.

Short vowels

The term "short vowel sound" is used to refer to the sounds conveyed by the letters a, e, i, o, u, which stand between two consonants or at the beginning of a word:

A - / æ / (for example, in the words apple, pan, mat)

E - / ɛ / (for example, in the words elephant, pen, met)

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I - / ɪ / (e.g. insect, pin, mitt)

O - / ɒ / (for example, in octopus, ostrich, upon, motto)

U - / ʌ / (for example, in the words umbrella, pun, mutt)

Long vowels

Long sounds are not a drawn-out version of short ones. Long vowel sound is the term used to refer to vowel sounds that are pronounced the same way as a letter is read in the alphabet. Five English vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) have corresponding long vowel sounds / eɪ /, / i /, / ɑɪ /, / oʊ /, / yu /.

A - / eɪ / (for example, in the words ate, mate)

E - / iː / (for example, in the words eat, meat)

I - / aɪ / (for example, in the words mite, might)

O - / oʊ / (for example, in oats, mote, moat)

U - / juː / (for example, in the word mute)

The rule of the dumb letter "e". When in a word after a vowel and a consonant there is the letter e, it is in almost all cases dumb, that is, it cannot be read. In addition, it makes the vowel in the previous syllable long, even if it stands between two consonants. For example, as in the words ate, plane, bite, nine, rope, note, cube, flute.

Comparison table for short and long vowels

Other vowels

The remaining five sounds - / ʊ /, / u /, / ɔ /, / ɔɪ /, / aʊ / - can not be attributed to either short or long. Most of them are conveyed using a few letters.

U - / ʊ / (for example, in put)

Oo - / u / (for example, in the word soon)

Aw - / ɔ / - (for example, in dog)

Oi - / ɔɪ / - (for example, in join)

Ow - / aʊ / - (for example, in the word down)

The sounds that represent are 44 English phonemes, which are divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. Since sounds cannot be recorded, graphemes (letters or combinations of letters) are used to convey sounds in writing.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in English. Standard starts with a and ends with z.

When classifying alphabetic characters, there are:

5 pure vowels: a, e, i, o, u;
19 pure consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z;
2 semi-vowels: y, w.

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Features of English consonants

A consonant combination is a set of two or three consonant letters that, when pronounced, retain the original sound. Such sets occur either at the beginning or at the end of a word. For example, the word brave, where both "b" and "r" are pronounced, is an initial combination. In the word bank "-nk" is the final combination.

Classification:

Initial combinations are classified into sets with "l", "r", and "s". In "l" the combination ends in "l". An example would be the letters "bl" in blind. Likewise, the final sound in "r" combined with "r" when "br" and "cr", for example, in bridge, crane. In contrast, "s" starts with s, "st" and "sn" - stap, snail.
The final combinations are grouped into sets with "s", "l" and "n": -st, -sk, -ld, -nd, -nk. Examples, first, desk, gold, sand, sink.

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs refer to a set of consonants that form one sound. Some digraphs appear both at the beginning and at the end of a word - "sh", "ch" and "th". There are also strict initial and final digraphs - "kn-" and "-ck".

Examples of digraphs:

Ch-	- ch
Kn-	- ck
Ph-	-sh
Sh-	-ss
Th-	-th
Wh-	-tch
Wr-

Features of digraphs:

English consonant pronunciation table

b	b	bag, band, cab	bag, band, cab
d	d	dad, did, lady, odd [ɒd]	dead, did, lady, od
f	f, ph, sometimes gh	fable, fact, if [ɪf], off [ɒf], photo, glyph	fable, fact, if, of, foutou, glyph
	g	give, flag	give, flag
	h	hold, ham	hold, ham
j	usually represented by y, but sometimes by other vowels	yellow, yes, young, neuron, cube	ielou, yes, iyang, n (b) yueron, k (b) y: b - the sound j is similar to the vowel i:.
k	k, c, q, que, ck, sometimes ch	cat, kill, queen, skin, thick [θɪk], chaos	kat, keel, qui: n, sik, keios
l	l	lane, clip, bell, milk, sould	lane, clip, bel, milk, soul - has two sound options: clean / l / before a vowel, "darkened" / ɫ / before a consonant or at the end of a word
m	m	man, them [ðem], moon	meng, zem, mu: n
n	n	nest, sun	nest, san
ŋ	ng	ring, sing, finger [Ŋ] is sometimes followed by a [g] sound. [ŋ], if “ng” is at the end of a word or related word (sing, singer, thing), in “-ing”, which translates verbs into participles or gerunds. [ŋg] if "ng" is not at the end of a word or in related words, also in comparative degrees (longer, longest).	/ ring /, / sing /, / finge /
p	p	pen, spin, tip, happy	pen, spin, type, hey
r	r	rat, reply, rainbow,	rat, ripple, rainbow - movement of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, but without touching it
s	s, sometimes c	see, city, pass, lesson	si :, pa: s, lesn
ʃ	sh, si, ti, sometimes s	she [ʃi:], crash, sheep [ʃi: p], sure [ʃʊə], session, emotion [ɪməʊʃn], leash	shi :, crash, shi: n, shue, session, imeshn, li: sh
t	t	taste, sting	teist, sting
tʃ	ch, sometimes t	chair [ʧɛə], nature teach beach	t chae, ney t cha, ti: t h, bi: t h
θ	th	thing [θɪŋ], teeth, Athens [æθɪnz [	t sing, ti: t s, et sinz - voiceless fricative
ð	th	this [ðɪs], mother	d zis, ma d ze - sonorous fricative
v	v, sometimes f	voice, five, of [ɔv]	voice, five, ov
w	w, sometimes u	wet, window, queen	u v em, u v indeu, ku v i: n - [w] similar to
z	z	zoo, lazy	zu :, layy
ʒ	g, si, z, sometimes s	genre [ʒɑːŋr], pleasure, beige, seizure, vision	genre uh, plege, badge, si: zhe, vizhen
dʒ	j, sometimes g, dg, d	gin [ʤɪn], joy [ʤɔɪ], edge	gin, joy, edj

English vowels

Each English vowel is pronounced in three ways:

like a long sound;
as a short sound;
as a neutral vowel sound (schwa).

In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels, but sometimes y becomes a vowel and is pronounced like i, and w replaces u, for example, in ow.

Vowel reading rules

Short vowels, which are characterized by a "short" sound, appear when there is one vowel in a word either at the beginning of a word or between two consonants. For example, if, elk, hop, fan. A typical short vowel pattern is consonant + vowel + consonant (SGS).

Words are taught as families that represent groups of words with a common pattern, for example in the pattern "-ag" - bag, wag, tag or "-at" - cat, bat, hat.

vowels:

Sound	Letter	Examples of
[æ]	a	rag, sag, ram, jam, gap, sap mat
[ɛ]	e	hen, pen, wet, bet, let
[ɪ]	i	pig, wig, dig, pin, win, tin, tin, bit
[ɒ]	o	hop, pop, top, hot, pot, lot
[ʌ]	u	bug, lug, tug, hut, but, cut

vowels:

Sound	Writing	Examples of
A	ai, ay, a + consonant + e	name, mail, gray, ace
E	e, ee, ea, y, ie, ei, i + consonant + e	he, deep, beast, dandy, thief, receive, elite
I	i, i + gn, igh, y, i + ld, i + nd	mine, sign, high, sky, wild, kind
O	o + consonant + e, oa, ow, o + ll, ld	tone, road, note, know, roll, bold
U	ew, ue, u + consonant + e	few, due, tune

The vowel sound in unstressed syllables is expressed by an abbreviated neutral sound ("schwa"), the phonemic symbol / ə /, especially if syllable consonants are not used.

For instance:

a in about, around, approve, above [ə bʌv];
e in accident, mother, taken, camera;
i in, family, lentil, officer pencil;
o in memory, common, freedom, purpose, London;
u in supply, industry, suggest, difficult, succeed, minimum;
and even y in sibyl;
schwa appears in functional words: to, from, are.

Features of vowel sounds in English

Vowels are classified into monophthongs, diphthongs, or triphthongs. Monophthong, when there is one vowel in a syllable, diphthong, when there are two vowels in a syllable.

Let's take a closer look:

Monophthongs - pure and stable vowels, the acoustic characteristic (timbre) of which does not change during the time it is pronounced.
- a sound formed by a combination of two adjacent vowels in one syllable. Technically, the language (or other parts of the vocal apparatus) moves when the vowel is pronounced - the first position is stronger than the second. In the transcription of a diphthong, the first character is the starting point of the body of the tongue, the second character is the direction of movement. For example, you should know that in the letter combination / aj / the body of the tongue is in the lower center position, represented by the symbol / a /, and immediately begins to move up and forward, towards the position for / i /.
Diphthongs are often formed when individual vowels work together in rapid conversation... Usually (in the speaker's speech) the body of the tongue does not have time to get to the position / i /. Therefore, the diphthong often ends closer to / ɪ / or even to / e /. In diphthong / aw /, the body of the tongue moves from the bottom central position / a / then moves up and back to / u /. Although single diphthongs are also distinguished, which are heard as separate vowel sounds (phonemes).
There are also triphthongs in English (combinations of three adjacent vowels), including three sound types, for example, fire / fʌɪə /, flower / flaʊər /. But in any case, all diphthongs and triphthongs are formed from monophthongs.

Pronunciation table for simple English vowels

All vowel sounds are formed from only 12 monophthongs. Each, regardless of spelling, is pronounced using some combination of these sounds.

The table shows examples of simple English vowels with Russian pronunciation:

[ɪ]	pit, kiss, busy	pit, kitty, busie
[e]	egg, let, red	eg, years, ed
[æ]	apple, travel, mad	epl, travel, mad
[ɒ]	not, rock, copy	music, rock, copy
[ʌ]	cup, son, money	cap, san, mani
[ʊ]	look, foot, could	bow, foot, cool
[ə]	ago, away	egeu, evay
	be, meet, read	bi :, mi: t, ri: d
[ɑ:]	arm, car, father	a: m, ka :, fa: d ze
[ɔ:]	door, saw, pause	to :, from :, to: z
[ɜ:]	turn, girl, learn	tyo: n, ge: l, le: n
	blue, food, too	blu :, fu: d, tu:

Diphthong pronunciation table

	day, pain, rein	dei, pein, rein
	cow, know	coe know
	wise, island	waiz, ailand
	now, trout	naw trout
[ɔɪ]	noise, coin	noiz, coin
[ɪə]	near, hear	nie, hie
[ɛə]	where, air	uh uh uh uh
[ʊə]	pure, tourist	n (b) yue, tu erist

Learn the transcription of English words

Let's consider some of the features of English transcription:

There are a large number of videos on the Internet online to listen to, and you can also practice using exercises.

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

Features of the pronunciation of vowels in English

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

Short vowel sounds in English are truncated stressed vowels. Long vowel sounds 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 just a brief element of it.

Examples of short vowels in English:

pot - bowler hat
cup - Cup
pencil - pencil
map - map
mother - mum

Examples of long vowels in English:

father - dad
bee - bee
dawn - dawn
soon - soon

Examples of diphthongs in English:

fine - good
bow - bow
coat - coat
fuel - fuel

If we are talking about letters, then the type of syllable directly affects the reading of vowels in English ( syllable). As you know, syllables are open ( open syllable) and closed ( closed syllable). The first one ends in a vowel, the second one ends in a consonant. Moreover, in English, a syllable ending in a mute is considered an open syllable e... Usually, short vowels are presented in closed syllables, and long vowels in open ones. But this is not an axiom and not a rule.