A vowel is a speech sound that

is produced without any

obstruction air in the speech
tract. There are twenty vowels
in English. These are sub-divided
into two: pure
vowels(monothongs) impure
vowels(diphthongs).
Vowels are described based on the following
criteria:
(i) The height of the tongue
(ii) The part of the tongue that is raised or
lowered
(iii) The position of the lips
 A vowel may be short or
long. Long vowels take two
dots in front of them, e.g
/i:/, /a:/ while short vowels e.g
/i:/, /e/ do not.
 /i:/
it is a long vowel
common spellings.
ee, as in tree e, as in complete
as in cheese as in jesus
as in canteen as in be
as in seen as in these
as in been i, as in machine
cene, as in scene as in prestige
as in suite
ea, as in leaf ey, as in key
as in reason as in storey
as in sea as in money
as in beat
ie, as in piece
as in field

ei, as in seige
as in receipt
as in deceive
2. /i/
it is a short vowel
common spellings
i, as in bit o, as in women
as in sit a, as in village
as in rich as in private
y, as in lorry as in manage
as in bury ay, as in monday
as in any as in sunday
e, as in pretty rhy, as in rhythm
as in naked
as in careless
minimal pairs
/i:/ /i/
beat bit
deed did
bead bid
neat hit
seat sit
3. /e/
It is a short vowel.
common spellings
e, as in set ea, as in heaven
as in get as in feather
as in beg as in thread
as in let as in threat
as in peck as in dread
as in peg a, as in many
as in any
as in thames
as in ate
as in says
ea, as in dead u, as in bury
as in head eo as in leopard
as in Geoffrey
4.
It is a short vowel.
common spellings
a, as in sat a, as in badge
as in bat as in mary
as in pack ai, as in plait
as in back as in plaid
as in hat
as in bag
as in batch
 minimal pairs
/i:/ /i/ /e/
neat knit net
reach rich wretch
read rid red
pet pat
peck pack
ten tan
EXERCISE: Construct one sentence
each with the following pairs of
words.

1. neat, knit
2. reach, rich
3. read, rid
4. pet, pat
5. peck, pack
 write 5 minimal pairs each of the
following sounds.
5. /a:/
It is long Vowel.
common spellings:
/a:/ It is long in the following words

ar, as in march
as in large
as in chart
as in hard
ear, as in heart
er, as in clerk
as in Derby

al, as in calf
as in palm
as in alms
au, as in laugh
as in aunt
 minimal pairs

cart cut
harm hum
march much
lark luck
dance dunce
EXRCISE. Write ten contrastive pairs of the
following sounds. .
 6.
It is a shot Vowel
common spellings.
o, as in dog
as in pot
as in hot
a, as in was
as in swan
as in want
ou, ow, as in cough
as in trough
au, as in because
as in Australia
as in laurel
as in qualify
7.
It is a long Vowel
common spellings;
or, as in cord
as in sword
as in born
aw, as in saw
as in lawn
as in dawn
as in yawn
ore, oor, as in before
as in more
as in floor
as in door
oar, our, as in oar
as in board
as in court
as in four
minimal pairs

sport spot
board bought
stork stock
cord cod
8.
It is a short Vowel
common spellings:
u, as in put oo, as in good
as in full as in book
as in cushion as in cool
o, as in wolf ou, as in could
as in woman as in would
as in bosom as in should
9.
It is a long Vowel
common spellings:
oo, as in food ou, as in group
as in moon as in through(N)
as in spoon as in wound
o, as in do u, as in rude
as in move as in june
as in lose as in Susan
ew, as in chew ui, as in juice
ue, as in blue oe, as in shoe
minimal pairs

shoe shoot
jews juice
lose loose
10.
It is a short Vowel
common spellings:
u, as in hut ou, as in rough
as in cut as in trouble
as in Sunday as in country
as in sun as in young
o, as in won as in cousin
as in one as in courage
as in love
as in among
minimal pairs

cop cup
long lung
dock duck
doll dull
stock stuck
11.
It is a long Vowel
common spellings:
ir, yr, as in bird ur, urr, as in turn
as in first as in church
as in myrtle as in purr
er, err, ear as in her W+or, as in word
as in serve as in world
as in err as in work
as in earth our, as in journey
as in heard as in scourge
12. (schwa)
It is a short Vowel
common spellings:
i, as in possible
e, as in gentleman
a, as in woman
o, as in oblige
u, as in suppose
ar, as in particular
er, as in mother
or, as in doctor
ou, as in famous
 Assignment
provide ten common spellings
each of /i:/ and /i/