TYPES OF VOWELS

CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS

INTRODUCTION:

Can you imagine the development of human civilization without language? Of, course, NO. Language has played a vital role in the development of mankind. Language is the tool used by men to express emotions, thoughts and ideas.

This language is found in two different forms:

1.   Spoken Language (speaking and listening)

2.   Written Language (reading and writing)

Spoken language is produced with some sounds. There are two types of sounds – vowels and consonants. English language has total 44 sounds. (24 consonants and 20 vowels)

DEFINITION OF VOWELS:

English has five vowels, right? A, E, I, O and U. Fine, this might be true about the written language but it’s not the case with spoken English. Spoken English language has 20 vowels.

DEFINITION: The sound which is produced without and stricture (restriction) or obstruction is called a vowel.

DESCRIPTION:      Vowels are usually produced with vibrating vocal cords. The air directly comes from the lungs and there is no disturbance by any organs of speech like the teeth, palate etc. The tongue moves in the mouth to shape each vowel, and for some vowels, the lips are rounded as well. 

 

For example,

/i/ in “fit,”

/a/ in “pack”

/u/  in “look”

/o/ in pot

/e/ in set

CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS / TYPES OF VOWELS:

Vowels can be classified into three categories.

1.   Short Vowels

2.   Long Vowels

3.   Diphthongs

1.     SHORT VOWELS:

·      A short English vowel is noticeably shorter than a long vowel.

·      An English short vowel is made with only one mouth position.

·      One mouth position is represented by one IPA symbol.

There are 7 IPA symbols for English short vowels. The IPA for English short vowels are:  /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ʊ/ , /ɒ/, /ə/

IPA SYMBOLS	WORDS
/ɪ/	fit /fit/, pick /pik/
/e/	pet /pet/, sent /sent/
/æ/	pat /pæt/, flat /flæt/
/ʌ/	cut /kʌt/ jump /dʒʌmp/
/ʊ/	put /pʊt/, book /bʊk/
/ɒ/	pot /pɒt/, dog /dɒg/
/ə/	about /əˈbaʊt/, system /ˈsɪstəm/

 

2.     LONG VOWELS:

·      English long vowels have two dots like this – /:/ after the vowel symbol. If it has /:/ after it, it means that it is a long vowel.

·      English long vowels are noticeably longer than short vowels.

·      Distinguishing between short and long vowels is very important in English because they mean different words. eg “ship” and “sheep”, “wick” and “week”, “list” and “least”. 

There are 7 IPA symbols for English long vowels. The IPA for English long vowels are:  /ɪ:/, /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/, /u:/, /i:/, /ɑ:/  

 

IPA SYMBOLS	WORDS	PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
/i:/	week	/wi:k/
/ɑ:/	hard	/ha:d/
/ɔ:/	fork	/fɔ:k/
/ɜ:/	heard	/hɜ:d/
/u:/	boot	/bu:t/
/i:/	week	/wi:k/
/ɑ:/	hard	/ha:d/

 

3.     DIPHTHONGS OR DOUBLE VOWELS:

·      English diphthong vowels have two IPA symbols because they are made up of two mouth positions.

·      Diphthong vowels are two short vowels joined together, they are also called double vowels.

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

IPA SYMBOLS	WORDS	PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
/eɪ/	place	/pleɪs/
/oʊ/	home	/hoʊm/
/aʊ/	mouse	/maʊs/
/ɪə/	clear	/klɪə/
/eə/	care	/keə/
/ɔɪ/	boy	/bɔɪ/
/aɪ/	find	/faɪnd/
/ʊə/	tour	/tʊə/

 

Further, vowels may be classified considering the position of the tongue and the lips.

Considering the position of the tongue, we may classify the vowels into two types:

1.   Front Vowels: There are four front vowels.

2.   Back Vowels: There are six back vowels.

 

 

1.   Considering the position of the tongue:

a)  Front vowels

b) Back vowels

c)  High vowels

d) Low vowels

2.   Considering the position of the lips:

a)  Flat vowels

b) Rounded vowels