English Vowel Sounds: Articulation and Classification

Understanding Vowel Classification

Vowels are classified based on two primary criteria:

• Tongue Position: Which part of the tongue is raised (front, center, or back).
• Tongue Height: How far the tongue is from the palate (close, half-close, half-open, or open).

Detailed Analysis of English Vowels

The Vowel Sound /iː/ (as in 'fleece')

• The front of the tongue is raised almost to the height of the palate (close position).
• The lips are spread.

The Vowel Sound /ɪ/ (as in 'kit')

• This vowel is pronounced with the front of the tongue in an almost half-closed position, and slightly retracted.
• The lips are loosely spread.
• This sound is often described as being between the Spanish 'i' and 'e'.

The Vowel Sound /e/ (as in 'dress')

• The front of the tongue is raised to a position between half-closed and half-open.
• The lips are slightly spread.
• This phoneme is similar to the Spanish 'e'.

The Vowel Sound /æ/ (as in 'trap')

• The front of the tongue is raised to a position between half-open and open.
• The lips are slightly spread.
• This sound is often described as being between the Spanish 'a' and 'e'.

The Vowel Sound /ɑː/ (as in 'father')

• The back part of the tongue is raised, but not very much, as the jaw is normally lowered to produce the sound. The rest of the tongue remains low.
• The lips are left in a neutral position.

The Vowel Sound /ɒ/ (as in 'lot')

• This short vowel is articulated with wide open jaws and slight, open lip-rounding.
• The back of the tongue is raised, and its position is between open and half-open.
• It is similar to the Spanish 'o' but slightly more open.

The Vowel Sound /ɔː/ (as in 'thought')

• To pronounce this vowel, the back of the tongue needs to be raised to a position between half-open and half-closed.
• The lips need to be rounded and closely together.

The Vowel Sound /ʊ/ (as in 'foot')

• The part of the tongue between the back and the center is raised to a position that is between closed and half-closed.
• The lips are not as rounded as in /uː/.

The Vowel Sound /uː/ (as in 'goose')

• The back part of the tongue is raised to an almost fully closed position.
• The lips are closely rounded.

The Vowel Sound /ʌ/ (as in 'strut')

• This short vowel is articulated with a considerable separation of the jaws and with the lips neutrally open.
• The center of the tongue is raised just above the fully open position.
• It is like positioning your lips as if you are going to pronounce a "u" but you finally pronounce an "a."

The Vowel Sound /ɜː/ (as in 'nurse')

• This sound is articulated with the center of the tongue raised between half-close and half-open.
• The lips are neutrally spread.

The Schwa Sound /ə/ (as in 'about')

The schwa /ə/ is the most common sound in the English language. It occurs only in unstressed syllables, and getting it correct helps spoken English to sound more natural and fluent. Any vowel can be pronounced as a schwa, and the pronunciation of a vowel letter can change depending on whether the syllable in which it occurs is stressed or not.