COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR OF FILIPINO

AND PHONETICS FOR TEACHERS

IPA PHONEME /e/

A MODULE ON SHORT E VOWEL SOUNDS

Introduction
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic
notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International
Phonetic Association in the late 19th Century as a standardized representation of the
sounds of spoken language.
IPA Symbols for English Vowels
The IPA vowel symbols are typically more difficult than consonants for
speakers of English to learn, since they seldom represent the sounds that the
corresponding English letters (usually) do. The major vowel symbols, a,e,e,o, and u
represent the sounds that the corresponding letters do in the spelling systems of many
European languages, such as Spanish and Italian or, to a lesser extent, French or
German.

What makes a sound a short vowel? The term short vowel is used to
refer to the sounds that most often correspond to the letters ‘a’, ‘e’,’i.’ ‘o’ and ‘u’,
when the vowel occurs individually between consonants. It is important to note that
the term short is not referring to the length of time the vowel sound is pronounced-
it is merely a label.
Short “e” is the sound that the letter “e” makes in the words, “egg”, “leg”, and
“wet”. It is pronounced eh .The short “e” sound is very common, especially in the
middle of words (like “pet”).

Objectives:

1. The students/pupils should be able to know the right pronunciations of short e

sound.
2. The students/pupils should be able to know some examples of short e sounds.
3. The students/pupils should be able to identify the right short e sounds from the
given words.

The Short Vowel “e”.

How to pronounce the ‘short e’? The short e sound is a relatively
relaxed vowel sound. The middle of the tongue rounds slightly upward and the sides
of the tongue may lightly touch the top and bottom side teeth. The lips and jaw are
loose and relaxed.
Example of short e words
web men wet sent
bed pen bend tent
fed ten lend best
led bet mend nest
red get send rest
wed let rent test
Activity #1. Draw a line from the picture to the correct word.
Activity #2. Fill in the missing letters.
Activity #3. Encircle the correct short e sound inside the box.