I.S.F.D. Nº21 Dr.

Ricardo Rojas – Profesorado de Inglés

PDCO I – 1º2ª – Cátedra: Prof. Mag. Nancy L. Fernández

UNIT 2: VOWEL SOUNDS – PART 1

CLOSE VOWEL SOUNDS

CLOSE VOWEL SOUNDS

In close vowels, a part of the tongue is raised very near to the roof of the mouth, almost
touching it, and the jaw is fairly closed. Depending on what part of the tongue is raised,
the vowel will be close-front or close-back, moving from / i: / to / u: /. These two vowels
are long, while the other pair /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ is short. Let´s read the following charts which
describe the four close vowel sounds:

Long /i:/ is a close front vowel sound. This means the front of the tongue is
raised slightly behind and below the front close position. The lips are spread
and the tongue is tense, with the side rims making a firm contact with the
upper molars. This is a long vowel sound.

This vowel sound can be found in these spellings:

-ee- as in cheese, tree, canteen
/i:/
-ea- as in sea, reason, leaf
-e- as in scene, these, complete
-ie- as in piece, field
-ei- or –ey- as in seize, receive or key.
Notice police, machine, people and quay.

Short /ɪ/ is pronounced with a part of the tongue nearer to centre than to
front raised just above the close-mid position. The lips are loosely spread.
The tongue is lax compared with the tension for /i:/ with the side rims making
a light contact with the upper molars.

This vowel sound can be found in these spellings:

-i- as in hit, live, sit
-y- as in rhythm, symbol
/ɪ/
-e- as in biggest, pretty
-ie- as in ladies, cities
-a- as in village, private
-ai- as in mountain or captain
Notice busy, minute, women, build and biscuit.

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I.S.F.D. Nº21 Dr. Ricardo Rojas – Profesorado de Inglés
PDCO I – 1º2ª – Cátedra: Prof. Mag. Nancy L. Fernández

Short /ʊ/ is pronounced with a part of the tongue nearer to centre than to
back raised just above the close-mid position. The lips are loosely rounded,
not as much as for other u-sounds. There is an increasing tendency for this
sound to be unrounded. If there is rounding at all, it will be loose. The tongue
is laxly held, compared with the tenser /u:/, no firm contact being made
between the side rims and the upper molars.
/ʊ/ This vowel sound can be found in these spellings:
-u- as in push, pull, put, cushion, butcher
-oo- as in book, good, wood, cook
These spellings are somewhat problematic because both the long /u:/ and
the short /ʊ/, share these two graphic representations.
Notice woman, bosom.

Long /u:/ is a close back vowel sound. This means the back of the tongue
is raised as high as possible towards the velum, the tip of the tongue
pointing down. The lips are close rounded and forward, with tension. The
tongue is tense, too.

This vowel sound can be found in these spellings:

-u- as in rude, June, Susan
-oo- as in food, soon, moon
/u:/
-o- as in who, do, move, lose
-ou- as in soup, group, through
-ew- as in grew, chew, flew
-ue- as in true, blue,
-ui- as in fruit, juice
Notice shoe.

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I.S.F.D. Nº21 Dr. Ricardo Rojas – Profesorado de Inglés
PDCO I – 1º2ª – Cátedra: Prof. Mag. Nancy L. Fernández

Neutral [i] and [u]

Close vowels are very frequent in final position in the word, and when that happens, it is
useful to recognise the following allophonic variations: [i] and [u]. These sounds are
allophones and not phonemes because they are not capable of changing meaning.

When a word ends in a weak syllable that contains a short / ɪ / or a short / ʊ /, speakers
do not usually pronounce a precise short sound; they use what is known as neutral [i]
and neutral [u], a variety which is quite like the Spanish ‘i’ and ‘u’ sounds.

This occurs for [i] in disyllabic and polysyllabic words such as happy, city, absolutely, or
in function words in their weak form such as me. And for [u] in just a few words such as
the weak form of the auxiliary verb do or the pronoun you. That is why these sounds are
known as “happy i” and “thank you u”, making reference to sample words which typically
contain them.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

These are the four high vowel sounds of English (plus two allophonic variations). Two of
them are short, the other two are long. Notice that the difference in length is not the only
difference. It is the QUALITY of the sound what actually distinguishes them.

When compared to the other eight sounds in the chart, it is clear that these four are close
sounds. But the jaw position is just the external result of what goes on inside the mouth.
It is in there, in the position of the tongue, that the sound is shaped. Visualise the gap
you are forming for the air to pass and regulate it until you hear the sound you are making
is the right one. Remember the lips also shape the sound on its way out. Take a mental
picture of the correct sound, always aware that it cannot be the same sound you use in
Spanish.

Finally, there is a common feeling that English spelling is arbitrary but, as you can see,
there are some tendencies in spelling that English language teachers need to be aware
of.