PRONOUNCING ENGLISH VOWELS

PRONOUNCING ENGLISH VOWELS Vowels are letters that are pronounced by forcing air over your vocal cords through your mouth. It is the shape of your mouth that decides which vowel sound comes out. There are many tape or video cassette lessons available from schools, libraries and stores which will help you with your pronunciation. You can also learn a lot by listening to the radio and watching television and films. This section discusses the symbols used for the vowel phonemes in three major English accents: Received Pronunciation, General American, and General Australian. Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language which has traditionally been the prestige British accent. RP is a form of English English (English English is a term that has been applied to the English language as spoken in England.), sometimes defined as the "educated spoken English of southeastern England." It is often taught to non-native speakers; used as the standard for English in most books on general phonology and phonetics; and represented in the pronunciation schemes of most British dictionaries. Full vowels: Full vowels are those that appear in stressed syllables. Monophthongs Short Long Front Back Front Central Back Close Mid Open • / /: bid • / /: good • / /: bed (sometimes transcribed /e/) • / /: bud • / /: bat (sometimes transcribed /a/) • / /: pot • / /: bead • / /: booed • / /: bird (sometimes transcribed / /) • / /: bought, board • / /: father, bard Diphthongs Closing Centring to / / to / / Starting close Starting mid Starting open • / /: bay • / /: boy • / /: toe • / /: buy (sometimes transcribed /ʌɪ/) • / /: cow • / /: beer • / /: boor (falling out of use in British English; often replaced by /ɔː/) • / /: bear (sometimes transcribed /ɛː/) Reduced vowels: Reduced vowels occur in unstressed syllables. • / /: roses • / /: Rosa’s, runner • /l/: bottle • /n/: button • /m/: rhythm General American General American is a national accent of American English based on speech patterns common in the Midwest of the United States and those used by many American network television broadcasters. It is also sometimes called Standard Midwestern. The General American accent or dialect is not thought of as a linguistic standard in the sense that Received Pronunciation (RP) is the standard, prestige variant in England and British society historically, but its speakers are perceived as "accentless" by most Americans. The idea of a uniform media American accent has declined in popularity since the late 1960s. Full vowels: Monophthongs Checked Free Front Central Back Front Central rhotacized Back Close Close-mid Open-mid Open • / /: bid • / /: good • / /: bed • / /: bud • / /: bad • / /: bead • / /: booed • / /: bayed • / /: bode • / /: bird • / / or / /: bought • / /: pod, father Note: the vowels / / and / / are diphthongal for many American speakers, so the transcriptions / / and / / are also often used. Diphthongs Closing Rhotacized to / / to / / Starting close Starting mid Starting open • / /: boy • / /: buy • / /: cow • / /: beer • / /: boor (often replaced by / /, sometimes by / / in American English) • / /: bear • / /: bore (sometimes phonemicized / /) • / /: bar Reduced vowels: • / /: roses (for many Americans merged with /ə/) • / /: Rosa’s • / /: runner • /l/: bottle • /n/: button • /m/: rhythm . RP is a form of English English (English English is a term that has been applied to the English language as spoken in England.), sometimes defined as the "educated spoken English of southeastern. PRONOUNCING ENGLISH VOWELS Vowels are letters that are pronounced by forcing air over your vocal cords through. as the standard for English in most books on general phonology and phonetics; and represented in the pronunciation schemes of most British dictionaries. Full vowels: Full vowels are those that