Unit 3.

Principles of English Vowel and Consonant Classification

1. The organs of speech produce different sounds of language. There are two types of speech
sounds in English: vowels (V) and consonants (C). English accents (e.g. British, American) differ
especially in vowels while the consonants are more or less the same wherever English is spoken (so if
your consonants are imperfect there may be some misunderstanding) [ ]. lingu

Actually in phonetics, the nouns “vowel”, “consonant” have the following meanings
respectively: 1) a vowel sound, a consonant sound, and 2) a letter representing a vowel/consonant
sound in writing (see figure 1). 

image taken from http://slideplayer.com/slide/10872768/

Figure 1. Vowels and Consonants in English

2. All speech sounds (usually consonants) can be described as either voiced or voiceless (also

called unvoiced).
On the articulatory level, a voiced sound is the one in which the vocal cords vibrate, and a
voiceless sound is the one in which there is no vibration of the vocal cords.
Vowels are voiced sounds produced without any obstruction to the air stream in the mouth
and, consequently, they have no noise component (see table 1). Their distinctive features include the
following: 1) in the articulation of vowels the air stream is weak; 2) vowels have no fixed place of
articulation, while the whole speaking apparatus takes part in their formation; 3) in producing vowels
the tongue and the vocal cords are tense.

Table 1. Vowel Sounds in English and Ukrainian

Language Total Phonemic representations

number
of sounds
English 20 /ɪ/, /i:/, /e/, /æ/, /ɔ/, /ɔ:/, /ʌ/, /a:/, /υ/, /u:/, /з:/, /ə/, /ɪə/, /eɪ/, /aυ/, /aɪ/, /εə/, /зυ/, /ɔɪ/, /υə/
Ukrainia 6 /і/, /и/, /е/, /а/, /о/, /у/
n

Consonants are sounds produced with an obstruction to the air stream, and they have a kind
of noise component (see table 2). Their distinctive features are as follows: 1) in the articulation of
voiceless consonants the air stream is strong, while in voiced consonants it is weaker; 2) an
obstruction or a narrowing for each consonant is formed at a definite place of the speaking apparatus;
3) the active organs of speech are tense only in the place of obstruction.
Vowels are sounds of pure musical tone while consonants may be sounds in which noise
prevails over tone (called noise consonants) or tone prevails over noise (called sonorants).

Table 2. Consonant Sounds in English and Ukrainian

Language Total Phonemic representations
number
of sounds
English 24 /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /∫/, /ʒ/,
/h/, /w/, /j/, /r/, /l/, /t∫/, /dʒ/
Ukrainia 32 /б/, /в/, /г/, /г/, /д/, /д'/, /ж/, /дж/, /з/, /з'/, /де/, /де/, /й/, /к/, /л/,
n /л'/, /м/, /н/, /н/, /п/, /р/, /р'/, /с/, /с'/, /т/, /т'/, /ф/, /X/, /ц/, /ц'/, /ч/, /ш/

3. Vowel Classification. The five vowel letters of the English alphabet are a, e, i, o, u. English
vowel sounds may be classified according to the following principles:
I According to the length of the vowel
II According to the stability of articulation
III According to the tongue position
IV According to the lip position
V According to the degree of tenseness (muscular tongue tensioning)

I According to the length of the vowel all English vowels are divided into short or long. Short
vowels are very short, and long vowels usually take more than double the time to pronounce. For
example:

Short vowels Long vowels

a /ə/ like banana a /eɪ/ like apron
e /e/ like egg e /i:/ like me
i /ɪ/ like insect i /аɪ/ like ice
o /ɒ/ like orange o /əʊ/ like oval
u /ʌ/ like umbrella u /u:/ like rule

Note: // slashes refer to the sound pronounced mapped to the vowel letter in bold type.
The phonetic symbols followed by two vertical dots or colon (:) are long vowel
sounds.

Other graphic notations of the English vowels a, e, i, o, u are shown in table 3 below.

Table 3. Spelling: Long and Short Vowels in English

Note:
͝ a curve over a vowel means it is short (e.g. ŏ)
¯ a line over a vowel means it’s long (e.g. ō)

Various combinations of letters spelled in columns

under vowels a, e, i, o, u represent short or long
vowel sounds pronounced
 Thus, every vowel may have two different pronunciations (see figures 1-2):
1) in open syllable: C+V (e.g. me)   long vowel (the syllable is open, so the vowel can
move and get longer);
2) in closed syllable: V+C (e.g. map)   short vowel (the syllable is closed, so the vowel
can't expand and remains short).

A E I O U
short vowel
long vowel
Figure 1. Short and long vowels

A E I O U
short vowel MAP PEN STICK CLOCK BUT
long vowel NAME ME TIME GO MUTE
Figure 2. Examples of short and long vowel words

Notice that іn the word “map” we have a "short a", and in the word “name” we have a
"long a". In this case is meant not the difference between the sounds /ӕ/ and /α:/, but the
difference between /ӕ/ and /eɪ/.
II According to the stability of articulation all English vowels are divided into two
principal groups: monophthongs (or pure vowels) and diphthongs. Besides, we distinguish
between diphthongoids and triphthongs.
A monophthong is a vowel the articulation of which is almost unchanging (i.e. it is pure).
There are 12 monophthongs in English: /ɪ/, /i:/, /e/, /з:/, /ə/, /æ/, /ɒ/, /ɔ:/, /ʌ/, /a:/, /υ/, /u:/,
of them 2: /i:/ and /u:/ are diphthongoids. In the pronunciation of diphthongoids (or
diphthongised vowels) the organs of speech slightly change their position, but the difference
between the starting point and the end is not so distinct. Most Ukrainian vowels are
monophthongs and there are no diphthongoids in Ukrainian.
A diphthong is a complex sound consisting of two vowels. In the pronunciation of the organs
of speech glide from one vowel position to another within one syllable. The first vowel element
of an English diphthong is strong, clear and distinct. It is called the nucleus. The second element
is rather weak. It is called the glide. There are 8 diphthongs in English: a) three with a glide
towards /ɪ/ are: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/; b) two with a glide towards /υ/ are: /aυ/, /зυ/; c) three with a
glide towards /ə/ are: /ɪə/, /εə/, /υə/. There are no diphthongs in Ukrainian.
A triphthong is a compound vowel sound resulting from the succession of three simple ones
and functioning as a unit. There are 5 triphthongs in English such
as: /aυə/, /əυə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/, /eɪə/. There are no triphthongs in Ukrainian.