English monophthongs

Phoneme A detailed articulatory Spellings Allophones and their Phonotactic

description. distribution constraints.

/i:/ The front of the tongue is ee – tree/tri :/ This vowel occurs in

raised. cheese / tʃi:z/ characteristic of accented and
It is raised to a height canteen/ kænti:n/ the local unaccented syllables in
slightly below and behind e - be / bi:/ pronunciation of Liverpool final position
the close position. this/ði:z/ and Birmingham (agree-pedigree). It
ie – field / -[əɪ], a lower central does not normally occur
fi:ld/piece/pi:s/ starting point is heard in in a syllable closed by
ea – tea / ti:/sea / London and many other /ŋ/, it is heard in
si:/leaf / li:f/ dialects reduced forms of being
/bi:ŋ/, seeing /si:ŋ/

Example: It may occur

under conditions of
assimilation.
-Clean car //kli:ŋ kɑː/

/ɪ/ A part of the tongue nearer ɪ – sit / sɪt/, with / -/ɪ/=([ï]), in all positions, a It is found in unaccented
to the Centre than to the wɪð/ particular characteristic of syllables.
front is raised. e – become / bɪk˄m/, Birmingham's speech
It is raised just above the y – city / sɪtɪ/, -word-final /i/ replaces /ɪ/
half-close position. sympathy / sɪmpəɵɪ/ in GB.
a – village / vɪlɪdƷ/,
private / praɪvɪt/,
cabbage / kæbɪdƷ/
ie – cities / sɪtɪs/,
ladies / leɪdɪs/

/ʊ/ A part of the tongue nearer u – put / pʊt/, full / -[ɣ̈], represents /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ This vowel occurs in bot
to the center than to the fʊl/ in some northern regional accented and
back is raised. o – wolf / wʊlf/, speech; butter /bɣ̈tə/ unaccented syllables. It
It is raised just above the woman / wʊmən/ -in some northern speech, does not occur in
half-close position. oo – nook / nʊk/, foot many words spelled with stressed word-initial
/ fʊt/, good / gʊd/ “oo” have /uː/; cookery position or before word
ou – could / kʊd/, book /kuːkəri buːk/ final /ŋ/
courier / kʊriə/
/uː/ Back and high tongue and OO- Too /tuː/ There is also a variation Words don´t normally
rounded and closed lips. O- Who /hu:/ when the sound /u:/ is start with this sound but
OU- You //juː/ accompanied by /j/ sound it is found in the middle
W- New /njuː/ and it becomes to /e/. For like in the word student
U- Use /u:z/ instance: /ju:/ to /jə/. /ˈstjuːdənt/ and also at
Ugh -through/θruː/ then as in the word do
/du:/
It does not normally
occur before /ŋ/ except
under conditions of
assimilation.

Example: Soon came

/su:ŋ ˈkeɪm/

/e/ Front, between half-close E- Get /ɡet/ In CGB /e/ pronunciation is /e/ does not occur in
and half-open, lips loosely He -When /wen/ can be combined with /ə/. final open syllables.
spread. Ai -Said /sed/ For instance:
*Men /meᵊn/
*Said /seᵊd/

The phoneme is articulataed /bɛː/ In CGB /ɛː/ pronunciation is

/ɛː/ AR- Bear
in the Mid-front position of closed to the diphong /æ/
IR- Pair /pɛː/
the tongue with open lips. or /ɐ/, for instance:
*Bear : /bɛː/ - /bæɐ/

/a/

/ɒ/ This phoneme is produced O ‘Involve’ /ɪnˈvɒlv/ /ɔː/ London speakers use it This sound does not
in the back part of the vocal ‘Doll’ /dɒl/ in words like ‘off’ /ɒf/ and occur in final, open
tract, with the tongue open A ‘Want’ /wɒnt/ ‘across’ /əˈkrɒs/ syllables. It cannot be at
and low in the mouth, and ‘Watch’ /wɒtʃ/ te end of a word.
in a rounded position. OU ‘Cough’ /kɒf/ /ɑː/ Southwest England
‘trough’ /trɒf/ speakers use it in words
OW ‘Knowledge’ like ‘above’ /əˈbʌv/ and
/ˈnɒlɪdʒ/ ‘often’ /ˈɒf(ə)n/.
AU ‘Because’ /bɪˈkɒz/ General Americans use it in
‘Sausage’ /ˈsɒsɪdʒ/ words like ‘lost’ /lɒst/ and
‘bomb’ /bɒm/.

/ʌ/ This phoneme is U ‘cut’ /kʌt/ /ʊ/ In north England It can occur in accented
pronounced in the back part ‘Sun’ /sʌn/ speech there is no contrast syllables in initial
of the vocal tract, with the O ‘come’ /kʌm/ ‘done’ between /ʌ/ and /ʊ/ position (up) and in
tongue half-open and the /dʌn/ medial position (touch).
 lips in an unrounded OU ‘country’ /ˈkʌntri/ In these cases, ‘put’ /pʊt/
position. ‘Couple’ /ˈkʌp(ə)l/ and ‘putt’ /pʌt/ are In unaccented syllables,
OO ‘blood’ /blʌd/ pronounced the same. it appears in initial
‘Flood’ /flʌd/ position (umbrella) and
OE ‘does’ /dʌz/ in medal position
(product).

It never apears in the

final position.

/ɑ:/ To produce the sound put The ɑ: sound is the phoneme /a/ has at It does not usually occur
your tongue low and at the normally spelled with least three allophones: [ɑ], before /ŋ/ except under
back of your mouth, then the letters ‘a-r’ as in [ɑː], and [ɑ̃]. conditions of
make a long voiced sound the words: assimilation.
with your mouth open. ● start /stɑːt/ In mart, the vowel is
● part /pɑːt/ immediately preceded by Example: Barn
● large /lɑːdʒ/ the nasal consonant /m/. conversion /bɑ:ŋ
● party /ˈpɑːI/ In this context, it is almost kəmˈvɜːʃn/.
Here are some words as if the /m/ lends its nasal
that start with the ɑ: feature to the neighboring
sound: vowel. The neighboring
● art /ɑːt/ vowel then appears to
● arm /ɑːm/ assimilate this feature,
● answer becoming nasalized.
/ˈɑːnsə/ The nasalized vowel is
● argue transcribed as [ɑ̃]. As we
/ˈɑːgjuː/ have seen, nasalization of
Here are some words vowels typically occurs
that have the sound when the vowel
in the middle: immediately precedes, or
● father follows, a nasal consonant
/ˈfɑːðə/ /m, n, ŋ/, as in words such
● market as man [mæ̃n], now [naʊ̃ː]
/ˈmɑːkɪt/ and wing [wɪ̃ŋ].
● class /klɑːs/
● hard /hɑːd/
Here are some words
with the /ɑ:/ at the
end.
● far /fɑː/
far
● car /kɑː/
● star /stɑː/
● bar /bɑː/

/ə/ To produce this sound your ● The /ðə/ Even though /ə/ is an -It may occasionally
tongue is in the middle and unstressed syllable, there occur in accented
 the center of your mouth ● About is a schwa lowering /ə↓/. syllables in connected
and makes a short voiced /əbaʊt/ The allophone /ə↓/ occurs speech.
sound before a pause, and the -Usual weak
allophone /ə/ occurs (unaccented) forms of
elsewhere. such words. Examples:
a, an, the, to, for, but,
and.

This relatively long vowel is OR -For /fƆ:/ There is no distinction Itcan occurs in all three
Ɔ:
articulated with medium A- Also /ˈɔːlsəʊ/ between /ɔ:/ and / /ɒ/ in positions, both in
lip-rounding and the back of General American . accented or unaccented
the tongue is raised Rhotic dialects like GA and syllables.
between the open-mid and Scottish English will
and close-mid positions. therefore have a shorter
There is no contact between vowel plus /r/ in words like It does not normally
the tongue and the upper a horse, and war. occur before /ŋ/ except
molars. under conditions of
assimilation.

Example: Dawn chorus

/dɔːŋ ˈkɔːrəs/