The English Language has 44 English sounds. They can be divided into two main categories: consonants and vowels. A consonant sound is a sound where the airflow is stopped, either partially or completely, when the sound is uttered, On the other hand, a vowel sound is a sound where the airflow is unstopped when the sound is produced, The vowel sounds are the rhyme or shift of our language. Monophthongs and diphthongs are the two categories of vowel sounds. Vowel sounds are also divided into long vowel sounds and short vowel sounds. In English, a, ¢, i, 0, u, and sometimes y are the vowel letters. The rest of the letters in the alphabet represent consonants such as b, d, g,n, r, s, and t. some consonants produce more than one sound. Table of Contents + What is a Vowel + Monophthong + Diphthongs + Long and Short Vowel Sounds + What is a Consonant + Consonant Digraphs * Consonant Blends + Consonant Clusters + Place and Manner of Articulation of Consonants and Vowels + Some Fun Activities for Learning Vowels and Consonants + FAQ Consonants and Vowels * Conclusion What is a Vowel? Avowel is a speech sound where the mouth is open and the tongue doesn't touch the top of the mouth, the teeth, etc. so that the flow of air is not limited. A vowel is a sound made by blowing air out of the mouth without closing your mouth or teeth. Itis the louder sounding part of a word. Itis necessary to know that there is a difference between a vowel sound and a vowel letter in the alphabet. The English vowel sounds are written with letters in the English alphabet. All English words have vowel letters, They are vowels in English: A, €, |, O, U, and sometimes Y. Y is “sometimes” a vowel because the letter Y presents both vowel and consonant sounds, like ‘fi Six vowel letters are used to indicate the 13-15 vowel sounds in English. This means the vowel sounds are more than letters in the English alphabet. Monophthongs and diphthongs are the two main categories of vowel sounds.Vowels for Kids Monophthong Amonophthong is simply a vowel. The word mono represents one and phthong represents a sound. This means that monophthong represents one vowel sound in the word. If you notice the position of the tongue, the mouth will stay the same when these words are uttered. In English - /is/, /1/, /o/, /u:/, /el, fel, /3:/, 19:1, lel, IN, /a:/ and /o/ are 12 pure vowels or monophthongs. let's check the list of 12 pure vowel sounds with some examples Sound Examples fet heap, leap, feet, seat, read, beat, peak, seek AL lift, hit, kit, pick, bill, fill, till, him, pin fol Food, Fool, Cool, Cook, look ful To, You, New, Who fel Bet, Met, Pet, Set, Bend, Lend, Send fal The, About, Could, Us Ia Earl, Pearl, Sir, Worm, worth fo Mall, Hall, Shall, Fall, Tall, Wall tel hand, Land, Sand, Cat, Mat, Pat, Sat IN But, Up, One, Much fat Start, Ask, Large, Afterol Of, On, From, Not Diphthongs A diphthong is a mix of two vowel sounds or vowel letters, like the sounds /ar/ in pipe /parp/ or the letters ou in doubt. The part ‘di’ represents two and the other part represents sounds. Although a diphthong has two different vowel sounds, they stay within the same syllable or unit of sound. The best way to know if a word has a diphthong with two vowel sounds, or a monophthong, is to listen to how it sounds when you say it out loud. If the vowel sound changes within the same syllable, it's most certainly a diphthong. Let's check some examples of diphthongs: longito | longOto |longE | longA | short Ato | long Oto longAto | long E long E to Ur to Ur long U longU long E /ex/ Jal Jou! fit fel Jaul foul play cry soil Peer | Bear | clown clow Eight pie Enjoy Hear | Hair how boat clay Eye boy Steer | Wear | brown Toe Examples of Diphthongs words Examples —> Gay my like, bright time —> Bake, rain tay, eight, break > 60,0h, slow, loan, though —> Bound house > Painlaieschaie —> Career fear > Boycoyitoy Fur sure __nittps://learningmole.com What is a Diphthong?Long and Short Vowel Sounds The sounds of the letters of the English alphabet can somehow vary. In some cases, it can get tricky. Not all letters produce the same sound in all words. The letters can have different sounds according to how they are used. Long and Short Vowels for Kids The most popular sound for each vowel is its “short” sound. The short 3, pronounced /z2/ as in hat. The short &, pronounced /e/ as in bed. The short, pronounced /1/ as in silk. The short 6, pronounced Jal as in crop. The short , pronounced /A/ as in mug. “Long vowels" are the alphabet sounds when the vowel, “says its name”. We call them ‘long’ because we hold them barely longer than short sounds. Yet, they are totally different sounds; They are not a longer version of the same sound. Long A (3), pronounced /er/ as in hate or fate. Long E (8), pronounced /i:/ as in eat or heat. Long | (0), pronounced /at/ asin kite or night. Long O (6), pronounced /ou/ as in coats, note or coat. Long U (a), pronounced /ju:/ as in cute or /u:/ as in glue. There are some rules for what sound the vowels make in different examples. Vowel Position Vowel Sound Examples ‘ain jar’ ‘e'in‘nest’ Ifa word has only one vowel and ends | Vowel makes a short | ssyin sage with a consonant sound ‘in ‘kiv ‘u'in ‘sun’ Ifa word has two vowels separated by | The first vowel makes a_| as in’apple’ two or more letters short soundas in ‘octopus’ asin ‘basket’ asin ‘elephant’ as in ‘umbrella’ ‘hat’ becomes ‘hate’ ‘kit’ becomes ‘kite’ If a word ends with the letter ‘e’ (magic | The first vowel makes a ‘e'/silent‘e’) long sound ‘cub’ becomes ‘cube’ as in ‘name’ as in ‘lime’ as in‘pie’ The first vowel makes a | as in ‘coat’ If a word has two vowels walking long sound together the first one does as in'grain’ he talk The second vowel the talking remains silent as in ‘value’ asin meet’ Let’s check the list of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): IPA Example fel cat, bad, sad, sand, land, hand calm, palm, father, start, dark (British English) tal grass, can't, half, bath (American English) Jol god, pot, top, spot (British English only) IN but, cut, gun, come, some, glove fel get, bed, set, sell, fell, men ht pit, bin, fill, will, village, bullet fifor fit | he, she, see, keep, family, hyperbolefo: saw, straw, dawn, fall, call, wall fol put, full, good, wood, could, would ful you, who, chew, shoe, cool, tool feof a, syllable, moment, terrible, felony, papyrus lel mister, standard, editor (Am. English only) Pl, Ie curve, purge, herd, serve, What is a Consonant A consonant is a sound that is produced by blocking air from flowing out of the mouth with the teeth, tongue, lips or palate. Consonants may come alone or in clusters but have to be connected to a vowel to forma syllable, 21 Consonant Letters English has 21 consonant letters, for 24 consonant sounds in most English accents: H, J, K, L, MB, C, D,E,G,N,P,Q,R,S,T,V,W,X, Zand (sometimes Y). The letter 'y’ produces a consonant sound if at the beginning of a word ‘yellow’ but a vowel sound if at the end of a word ‘sunny’. Consonant Digraphs Digraphs are two letters that produce just one sound. These are the seven basic consonant digraphs; ch, ck, th, sh, ph, ng, wh. Yet, some digraphs have more than one pronunciation. ‘ghosts’ are some digraphs like ‘wr’ and ‘gn’ because the first letter is not pronounced, Let's check the list of the digraphs with examples:What is a Diagraph? Digraph | Examples ch Makes the sound /t{/ in Chair , /k/ in chorus and /sh/ in chute ck which makes the sound /k/ sound as in click ff which makes the sound /f/ sound as in stuff gh which makes the sound /g/ sound as in yoghurt or /f/ as in enough gn which makes the /n/ sound as in reign and foreign kn which makes the /n/ sound as in know and knot " which makes the /I/ sound as in hall Im which makes the /m/ sound as in calm and palm mb which makes the /m/ sound as in dumb and thumb ng which makes the /n/ sound as in ring and hung ph which makes the /f/ sound as in photo, and elephant sh which makes the /{/ sound as in splash and sheet ss which makes the /s/ sound as in less and grass ss which makes the /J/ sound as in assure and issue th which makes the /8/ sound as in three and myth th which makes the /8/ sound as in that and them wh which makes the /w/ sound as in where and wherewr which makes the /r/ sound as in wreck mz which makes the /2/ sound as in jazz and buzz dg Which makes the sound /ds/ as in edge and wedge ng which makes the /ncb/ sound as angel nk which makes the /nk/ sound as in link Consonant Blends Aconsonant blend occurs when two or more consonants are blended together, yet each sound may be heard in the blend. The most common beginning consonant blends include: pl, pr, sl, sm, sp and st, bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr. Blends can also appear at the end of words. Consonant Blends & Digraphs es Sn ; se a) sm™ @ » ae shank as seat ‘Spoon *« he St A Cr eS Or crab Star Swan Broceall What is a Consonant Blend? Blends are most of the time categorized into r-blends, such as "br” and “cr”, s-blends, such as “sc” and “sk” and |-blends, such as “bl” and °cI". There are also blends that include three consonants. Popular three consonant blends include str, spl, and spr. Let’s check the list of two letters blends blends | examples bl which make the /bl/ sound as in blend and black br which make the /br/ sound as in bread and brave cl which make the /cl/ sound as in clap and clip cr which make the /cr/ sound as in crab and crewdr which make the /dr/ sound as in drum and drag fl which make the /fl/ sound as in flame and flat fr which make the /fr/ sound as in fresh and frame gl which make the /gi/ sound as in globe gr which make the /gt/ sound as in grammar nd which make the /nd/ sound as in bend pl which make the /pl/ sound as in please pr which make the /pr/ sound as in print and prey sl which make the /si/ sound as in slim and sleep sm which make the /sm/ sound as in smash sn which make the /sn/ sound as in snail sp which make the /sp/ sound as in spare st which make the /st/ sound as in strange Consonant Diagraphs for KidsConsonant Clusters Consonant cluster refers to two or more consonants positioned side by side in a word. They are also called consonant blends. The longest possible cluster in English is three consonant sounds at the beginning. They can be up to four consonants long at the end of the word Let’s check the list of consonant clusters examples Three-letter blends examples shr which make the /Jr/ sound as in shrimp spl which make the /spl/ sound as in splendid spr which make the /spr/ sound as in spread squ which make the /sqw/ sound as in squash str which make the /str/ sound as in string thr which make the /@r/ sound as in threw Ifths As in twelfths Consonants charts symbol example 1b,(b)/ Bin, back Mk A(k)y Cat, key Ich, (t/ Check, cheese 1,(d)/ Dog, doll AY Fish, fries ‘(gy Goat, great 7h,(hy/ Hotel, hat Hulesyt Bridge. Jigsaw AA Lemon, ballon fm,(m)/ Ment, lamb Jn(nyv Nest, penyng.) King, ring Jp.(p)/ Plenty, hippo ey Rat, wrist Js(s)/ Sad, dress Ish,()! Shine, splash A(t Tent, cart 1th (8)/ Thin, length 1th (8) There, father NAVY Vowel, love wow) Where, well ty Yet, yellow izzy Zero, prize I2h,3) Measure, television What Do You Know about Place and Manner of Articulation of Consonants and Vowels? Manner of Articulation refers to the “how” of making sounds. There are six different ways or manners of articulation, Place of Articulation refers to the ‘where’ of pronunciation. It is the location where sounds are made. Let's check the below charts that show the manner and place of articulations of consonants and vowels.