American Vowel System

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American Vowel System

• ENG 115
• Prof. K. Horowitz

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INDEX

• Objectives
• Introduction
• What is a Vowel?
• The Vowel Chart
• Vowel Chart Diagram
• Front Vowel Definition
• Try Your Luck!
• Practice Exercises
• Useful Links

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Objectives

• This module is designed to familiarize second
  language students with the vowel system of
  American English, which is the most common
  variation of the language encountered by Puerto
  Ricans.

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Introduction

• The English language is much more complicated
  than Spanish when it comes to vowels. In all,
  there are twelve vowel sounds in English, along
  with three diphthongs. Thats almost three times
  as many vowels as Spanish! No wonder Puerto Rican
  language learners have such a tough time!

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What is a vowel?

• A vowel, also known as a monothong, is a sound
  produced in the mouth with no air obstruction.
  That is, there is nothing blocking the flow of
  air from the lungs out through the mouth.

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• If you try saying aaaaa, iiiii, uuuuu, eeeeee,
  oooooo to yourself you should be able to feel
  that, although your tongue moves about your
  mouth, it never actually obstructs the airflow.
  You should also be able to feel that the position
  of the tongue changes for each of those vowels.

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• English has more than twice as many vowels as
  Spanish does, and this makes learning
  pronunciation harder for Spanish-speaking
  students. Spanish native speakers trying to learn
  English often have trouble pronouncing words due
  to the fact that most of the vowels present do
  not exist in their own language.

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The Vowel Chart

• The vowel chart shows where sounds are produced
  in the mouth, and is divided into sections, both
  horizontally and vertically. The chart is
  designed to show where each vowel sound is
  produced in the mouth, via movement of the
  tongue. Horizontally, sounds move from the front
  to the back of the mouth. Vertically, they move
  from the top of the mouth to the bottom. For this
  reason, vowels are labeled as front, central, or
  back.

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• You will notice that there are vowels labeled as
  lax and tense. They are also called short and
  long. This refers to whether or not the
  pronunciation of the sound is prolonged. See the
  difference, for example, between i and I. i
  is a tense vowel, as its pronunciation
• is several seconds long (EX sweet). In a word
  such as sit, however, the vowel sound I is
  significantly shorter, thus it is lax.

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Front Vowels

• Front vowels are pronounced using the front of
  the mouth. There are five i, I, e, e,
  and æ.
• i is the same as in Spanish.
• EX Sweet, fui.
• I is shorter in pronunciation.
• EX Si t, fi ll.

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• e is pronounced ey
• EX Name, rey
• e is shorter, and is pronounced ej
• EX Be t, ve te
• æ is a unique sound.
• EX Fa t, ba nd

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Try Your Luck!

• Lets try some single exercises and see if we can
  identify the front vowel sound!
• Bill

I
i
æ
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• Heres another one!
• man
• Now lets try some more exercises!

i
e
æ
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Practice Exercises

• Correctly identify the front vowel sound in the
  following words.
• A. B.
• 1. wet _____ 1. glad _____
• 2. pit _____ 2. ill _____
• 3. pen _____ 3. knit _____
• 4. lake _____ 4. aim _____
• 5. wait _____ 5. bread _____
• 6. ham _____ 6. heel _____
• 7. lift _____ 7. made _____
• 8. feet _____ 8. rain _____
• 9. left _____ 9. green _____
• 10. men _____ 10. fan _____

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Useful Links

• Here are some sites on the Internet that can help
  you with these exercises, as well as those done
  in class.
• University of Iowa A site with an excellent area
  devoted to vowel and consonant sounds. Click on
  "launch English library."
• Eastons American English Pronunciation A great
  site with plenty of information about vowel and
  consonant pronunciation, as well as some great
  practice exercises.

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• Tims ESL Site Raritan Valley Community College
  Phonetic practice page.
• Fonetiks.org The online language library.
• American English Vowels Michigan State
  University site with exercises.

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• Great Job!
• Look for Module 2 Mid Vowels.

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SUCCESS!
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Incorrect! Try Again!