PHONETICS

THE ENGLISH VOWELS

AND DIPHTHONGS

Especialidad Lengua Extranjera

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Índice de contenido
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................3

1. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VOWELS AND CONSONANTS........................................................3

2. THE ENGLISH VOWELS..............................................................................................................4

2.1. INGLISH SHORT VOWELS..................................................................................................5

2.2. INGLISH LONG VOWELS ..................................................................................................6

3. THE ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS......................................................................................................7

4. DIDACTICS APPLICATION IN PRIMARY.......................................................................................9

4.1. LEARNING WITH “JOLLY PHONICS”...................................................................................9

4.2. ACTIVITIES AND GAMES.................................................................................................10

Play the vowel Game with the song.................................................................................11

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 THE ENGLISH VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS

INTRODUCTION
I think this is a good topic to consider if we are going to teach the
English language to Spanish children.
The English alphabet is made up of 26 letters, and only five of them are
vowels. But those five letters are extremely important. There is at least
one vowel in every English word, and each vowel can have many
different sounds, depending on the letters surrounding it.
Probably, it is easier to learn English vowels by taking them one at a time.
Even though English and Spanish have the same five vowels, Spanish
Speakers have only five pure vowel sounds, while English has more than
14 pronunciations of these five vowels (including diphthongs). It is
therefore completely predictable that most foreign learners will have
trouble attaining the vowel system of any variety of English.
For this reason, I consider that the study of vowel sounds is vital to
students´ early reading and writing skills and it is importan for children to
familiarize with the five English vowels and listen to the sound of each
vowel individually.

1. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

Consonants and vowels are two different qualities of sounds that

are found almost in all languages of the world.
The most common view is that vowels are sounds in which there is no
obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips.
A doctor who wants to look at the back of a patient´s mouth often asks
them to say “ah”; making this vowel sound is the best way of presenting
an unobstructed view. But if we make a sound like s or d it can be clearly
felt that we are making it difficult for the air to pass through the mouth.
But, if we say that the difference between vowels and consonants is a
difference in the way that they are produced, there will be some cases of
uncertainty of disagreement. So, the most important difference between
vowel and consonant is not the way that they are made, but their different
distributions which will be discussed below. Of course, the distribution of
vowels and consonants is different for each language.

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2. THE ENGLISH VOWELS

/ɪ / pit /ɒ/ pot /iː/ see /uː/ boon

/e/ pet /ʊ/ put /ɑː/ ask /ɜː/ burn
/æ/ pat /ə/ away /ɔː/ four
/ʌ/ up

It is necessary to say something about vowels in general before

turning to the vowels of English. We need to know in what ways vowels
differ from each other. The first matter to consider is the shape and
position of the tongue. It is usual to simplify the very complex possibilities
by describing just two things: firstly, the vertical distance between the
upper surface of the tongue and the palate and, secondly, the part of the
tongue, between front and back, which is raised highest.
The difference between /iː/ and /æ/ is a difference of tongue height,
and we would describe /iː/ as a relatively close vowel and /æ/ as a
relatively open vowel. Tongue height can be changed by moving the
tongue up or down, or moving the lower jaw up or down.
In making the two vowels described above, it is the front part of the
tongue that is raised. We could therefore describe /iː/ and /æ/ as
comparatively front vowels. By changing the shape of the tongue we can
produce vowels in which a different part of the tongue is the highest point.
A vowel in which the back of the tongue is the highest point is called a
back vowel (/ɑː/ you can see that the back of the tongue is raised).
The diagram below will help us to understand the distribution in the vowel
map.

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 We have now looked at how we can classify vowels according to
their tongue height and their frontness or backness. There is, another
important variable of vowel quality, and that is lip-rounding.
Although the lips can have many different shapes and positions, we will at
this stage consider only three possibilities. There are:
1) Rounded, where the corners of the lips are brought towards
each other and the lips pushed forwards. This is most clearly
seen in cardinal vowel nº8 (u).
2) Spread, with the corners of the lips moved away from each
other, as for a smile. This is most clearly seen in cardinal
vowel nº18 (i).
3) Neutral, where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread.
The noise most English people make when they are
hesitating (written “er”) has neutral lip position..

2.1. INGLISH SHORT VOWELS

English has a large number of vowel sounds; the first ones to be
examined are short vowels. The symbols for these short vowels are: /ɪ /,
/e/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/ and /ə/. Short vowels are only relatively short; they
can have quite different lengths in different contexts.
Each vowel is described in relation to the cardinal vowels (diagram
above).

/ɪ / (example words: “bit”, “pin”, “fish”). The diagram shows that, though
this vowel is in the close front area, compared with cardinal vowel nº 1, it
is more open, and nearer in to the centre. The lips are slightly spread.

/e/ (example words: “bet”, “men”, “yes”). This is a front vowel between
cardinal vowel nº2 and nº 3. The lips are slightly spread.

/æ/ (example words: “bat”, “man”, “gas”). This vowel is front, but not quite
as open as cardinal vowel nº4. The lips are slightly spread.

/ʌ / (example words: “but”, “some”, “rush”). This is a central vowel, and

the diagram shows that it is more open than the open-mid tongue height.
The lip position is neutral.

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/ɒ / (example words: “pot”, “gone”, “cross”). This vowel is not quite fully
back, and between open-mid and open in tongue height. The lips are
slightly rounded.

/ʊ / (example words: “put”, “pull”, “push”). The nearest cardinal vowel is

nº8, but it can be seen that u is more open and nearer to central. The lips
are rounded.

There is one other short vowel, for which the symbol is /ə/ . This central
vowel -which is called schwa- is a very familiar sound in English; it is
heard in the first syllable of the words “about”, “oppose”, “perhaps”, for
example.

English vowels chart.

2.2. INGLISH LONG VOWELS

The first to be introduced here are the five long vowels; these are the
vowels which tend to be longer than the short vowels in similar contexts.
It is necessary to say “in similar contexts” because the length of all
English vowel sounds varies very much according to their context (such
as the type of sound that follows them) and the presence or absence of
stress. To remind you that these vowels tend to be long, the symbols
consist of one vowel symbol plus a length mark made of two dot : . Thus
we have : /iː/, /ɜː/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /uː/ .

These five long vowels are different from the six short vowels described
above, not only in length but also in quality. If we compare some similar
pairs of long and short vowels, for example /ɪ / with /iː/, or /ʊ/ with /uː/, or

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/æ/ with /ɑː/, we can see distinct differences in quality (resulting from
differences in tongue shape and position, and lip position) as well as in
length. For this reason, all the long vowels have symbols which are
different from those of short vowels; you can perhaps see that the long
and short vowel symbols would still all be different from each other even if
we omitted the length mark, so it is important to remember that the length
mark is used not because it is essential but because it helps learners to
remember the length difference. Perhaps the only case where a long and
short vowel are closely similar in quality is that of /ə/ and /ɜː/, but /ə/ is a
special case.
We will now look at each of these long vowels individually.

/iː/ (example words: “beat”, “mean”, “peace”). This vowel is nearer to

cardinal vowel nº1 (that is, it is more close and front) than the short vowel
of “bit”, “pin”, “fish”. Although the tongue shape is not much different from
cardinal vowel nº1, the lips are only slightly spread and this results in a
rather different vowel quality.

/ɜː/ (example words: “bird”, “fern”, “purse”). This is a central vowel which
is well-known in most English accents as a hesitation sound (spelt “er”),
but which many foreigners find difficult to copy. The lip position is neutral.

/ɑː/ (example words: “card”, “half”, “pass”). This is an open vowel in the
region of cardinal vowel nº5, but not as back as this. The lip position is
neutral.

/ɔː/ (example words: “board”, “torn”, “horse”). The tongue height for this
vowel is between cardinal vowel nº 6 and nº 7, and closer to the latter.
This vowel is almost fully back and has quite strong lip-rounding.

/uː/ (example words: “food”, “soon”, “loose”). The nearest cardinal vowel
to this is nº 8, but it is much less back and less close, while the lips are
only moderately rounded.

3. THE ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS

BBC pronunciation has a large number of diphthongs, sounds which
consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another. A vowel which
remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel, and one of
the most common pronunciation mistakes that result in a learner of
English having a “foreign” accent is the production of pure vowels where
a diphthong should be pronounced.

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In terms of length, diphthongs are like the long vowels described above.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember about all the diphthongs is
that the first part is much longer and stronger than the second part; for
example most of the diphthong /aɪ/ (as in the words “eye”, “I”) consists of
the a vowel, and only in about the last quarter of the diphthong does the
glide to ɪ become noticeable. As the glide to ɪ happens, the loudness of
the sound decreases. As a result, the ɪ part is shorter and quieter. Foreign
learners must, therefore, always remember that the last part of English
diphthongs must not be made too strongly.
The total number of diphthongs is eight (though /ʊə/ is increasingly rare).
The easiest way to remember them is in terms of three groups divided as
in this diagram:

Diphthong

/ \

Centring Closing

l / \

ending in ə ending in ɪ ending in ʊ

/ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/ /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/

The centring diphthongs glide towards the ə (schwa) vowel, as the

symbols indicate.

/ɪə/ (example words: “beard”, “Ian”, “fierce”). The starting point is a little
closer than ɪ in “bit”, “bin”.

/eə/ (example words: “aired”, “cairn”, “scarce”). This diphthong begins

with the same vowel sound as the e of “get”, “men”.

/ʊə/ (example words: “moored”, “tour”). For speakers who have this
diphthong, this has a starting point slightly closer than ʊ in “put”, “pull”.

The closing diphthongs have the characteristic that they all end with a
glide towards a closer vowel. Because the second part of the diphthong is
weak, they often do not reach a position that could be called close. The
important thing is that a glide from a relatively more open towards a
relatively more close vowel is produced.

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Three of the diphthongs glide towards ɪ , as described below:

/eɪ/ (example words: “paid”, “pain”, “face”). The starting point is the same
as the e of “get”, “men”.

/aɪ/ (example words: “tide”, “time”, “nice”). This diphthong begins with an
open vowel which is between front and back; it is quite similar to the ʌ of
the words “cut”, “bun”.

/ɔɪ/ (example words: “void”, “loin”, “voice”). The first part of this diphthong
has the same quality as ɔː in “ought”, “born”.

The diphthongs glide towards ʊ, so that as the tongue moves closer to

the roof of the mouth there is at the same time a rounding movement of
the lips. This movement is not a large one, again because the second
part of the diphthong is weak.

/əʊ/ (example words: “load”, “home”, “most”). The vowel position for the
beginning of this is the same as for the “schwa” vowel ə, as found in the
first syllable of the word “about”. The lips may be slightly rounded in
anticipation of the glide towards ʊ, for which there is quite noticeable lip-
rounding.

/aʊ/ (example words: “loud”, “gown”, “house”). This diphthong begins with
a vowel similar to ɑː . Since this is an open vowel, a glide to ʊ would
necessitate a large movement. Usually in English the glide towards ʊ
begins but is not completed, the end of the diphthong being somewhere
between close-mid and open-mid in tongue height. There is only slight lip-
rounding.

4. DIDACTICS APPLICATION IN PRIMARY

4.1. LEARNING WITH “JOLLY PHONICS”

Nowadays the use of audiovisual techniques in language teaching
is very common and usefull in primary.
Jolly Phonics is an audiovisual systematic synthetic phonics programme
designed to teach children to read and write. Children learn the 42 letter
sounds of the English language, rather than the alphabet. They are then

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taken through the stages of blending and segmenting words to develop
reading and writing skills.
There are two main approaches to teaching phonics: analytic and
synthetic. Both approaches require the learner to develop the ability to
hear and discriminate sounds in spoken words. Jolly Phonics is a scheme
which come under the Synthetic phonics method.
The Jolly Phonics characters Inky Mouse, Snake and Bee are used
throughout the materials. They often reflect the different speeds at which
children learn to read and write. Inky Mouse teaches Snake and Bee the
letter sounds and reading techniques. Snake picks up the literacy skills
quickly, while Bee has more difficulty, but eventually understands.
Jolly Phonics has been developed for elementary and primary school
teachers, therefore teachers can apply it the first courses of primary.

With this method the children learn by actions. Each sound has an action
which helps children remember the letters that represent it. As a child
progresses the teacher can point to the letters and see how quickly they
can do the action and say the sound. One or two letter sounds can be
taught each day (it depends on the level). As a child becomes more
confident, the actions are no longer necessary.
Children should learn each letter by its sound, not its name. For instance,
the letter a should be called a (as in ant) not ai (as in aim).
Let´s see how children learn vowel sounds by actions with Jolly Phonics
method:
a Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants crawling on you and say a,a,a.
e Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a pan and crack it into the pan,
saying eh, eh, eh.
i Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and squeak i, i, i.

o Pretend to turn light switch on and off and say o, o, o, o.

u Pretend to be putting up an umbrella and say u, u, u.
ai Cup hand over ear, as if you are hard of hearing (pain) and say ai, ai, ai.
oa Bring hand over mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!
ee Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore.
ie Stand to attention and salute, saying ie, ie.

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oo Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock, saying u,
oo; u, oo. (Little and long oo)

ou Pretend your finger is a needle and prick thumb saying ou, ou, ou.
oi Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi ! Ship ahoy!.

ue Point to people around you and say you, you, you.

These actions could be interpreted with “The vowels song” from Jolly
Phonics in order to improve the children learning.

4.2. ACTIVITIES AND GAMES

Children enjoy learning with songs, for this reason I will explain an
interactive activity and game setting on a vowel song. Students will learn
what a vowel is, the sounds of the long and short vowels, and play a
vowel game by adding the missing vowel to the word (missing vowel
exercise).
First, the teacher tells the students that today they will focus on the
vowels that they have been studied.
Ahead of time, the teacher writes a vowel song on chart paper (you can
choose from many vowel songs on the internet). The teacher introduces
the Vowel Song (to the tune of Bingo song).Here there is an example of a
vowel song that we can use. Just as in the Bingo song, clap as each
vowel becomes silent.
The vowel song
There are some letters I love to sing
and vowels are their name-oh
a, e, i, o, u
a, e, i, o, u
a, e, i, o, u
and vowels are their name-oh

There are some letters I love to sing

and vowels are their name-oh
clap, e, i, o, u

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clap, e, i, o, u
clap, e, i, o, u
and vowels are their name-oh

There are some letters Iove to sing

and vowels are their name-oh
clap, clap, i, o, u
clap, clap, i, o, u
clap, clap, i, o, u
and vowels are their name-oh
(and so on, with the rest of the vowels)

The teacher teaches the students that when they sing this vowel song,
they are singing the long vowels (they say their name a, e, i, o, and u)
Once the students have understood what the vowels are, then the
teacher can introduce the same song using the short sounds of the vowel
letters (a, e, i, o, and u). Sing the song the same way as before, only use
the short vowel sounds in place of saying the letters. Students enjoy this
part, because it´s almost like a tongue twister to them.

Play the vowel Game with the song

•How to make the Cards for the Vowel Game:
Take an index card and print the 5 vowels on them, and cut them apart so
that each student has the 5 vowels.
Provide one small plastic bag with the 5 vowels in it for each student.
•How to play the game:
Seated in a circle, students place their cards face up in front of them on
the floor. Sing the vowel song once again. As the letter becomes silent,
the student turns that vowel card over. For example: __, e, i, o, u (the
student flips the “a” over). Continue singing the song until all cards have
been flipped over.
•Missing Vowel Exercise:
Once the students are comfortable in knowing the vowels and their
sounds, the teacher can introduce short words with short vowels in them.
Create some cards with short words on them, for example c__t (cat),

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d__g (dog), r__d (red), and so on. Use a short vowel word list with
pictures as a guide. You can include a picture on the back of the card for
picture support and self correction. Students practice by placing the
correct missing vowel on the card from their vowel bag.
The game can be adapted to several grade levels changing the easy
words into difficult words.

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