View source for Transcribing English vowels

{{vowels}}

There are many problems in trying to represent the sounds of English in writing - the differences between individual  speakers, for example; and their groupings (by age, gender, education and geographical area as a natural consequence. All descriptions of speech sounds are necessarily generalizations. AWE does not pretend to deal with any but the broadest [[phonemic]] descriptions.

There is one specific difficulty for students of language which we attempt to deal with on this page: inconsistencies in the use that different writers (and [[reference books]]) make of the [[IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]]. That is intended to provide as objective and scientific a method as possible of describing the sounds of speech. But the symbols used to show vowel sounds are labelled differently by different authors. This is caused, partly at least, by the fact that the [[cardinal vowel]]s are points on a continuum in an infinite variety of tongue movements. In continuous speech, rather than laboratory pronunciations of individual sounds, these are influenced by the sounds around them (their <u>phonetic context</u>), so that the precise position of the tongue in forming the vowel of 'g'''e'''t' is not the same as that of 's'''e'''t' or '<nowiki>'</nowiki>'''e'''gg'. (To describe these precisely is the province of '''phonetics''', a subject in which AWE pretends no knowledge (see [[Phonemic, phonetic, phonology - further information]]).

What follows is a list of transcription of English vowels and diphthongs in a few of the sources which may be consulted by readers of AWE.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

! vowels & diphthongs:<br>as realized in general [[RP]] !! As transcribed by:<br>[[Gimson]]<br>Used by [[Crystal (1995)]] !! <br>[[English Pronouncing Dictionary|Jones]], 1917 !! <br><br><br>[[Fromkin & Rodman]]<br>based on [[Kenyon & Knott]]  !! <br>''[[LPD]] '' || <br>''[[OED]]''  !! Notes !! 
|- 
| s'''ee''', m'''e''', f'''ie'''ld || iË || iË || i || iË || iË 	||
|-
| h'''i'''m, b'''i'''g, v'''i'''llage<br>v'''i'''ll'''ag'''e for some speakers || Éª || i || Éª || Éª || ''Éª'' || ''[[OED]]'' reserves i for terminals such as happ'''y''' 
|- 
| g'''e'''t, f'''e'''tch, r'''ea'''dy || e || e || É› || e || É› || AWE prefers É› as 'g'''e'''t'  is different from element #1 in the [[diphthong]]s /eÉª/ & /É›É™/
|-
| s'''a'''t, h'''a'''nd, pl'''ai'''t || Ã¦ || Ã¦ || Ã¦ || Ã¦ || a || 
|-
| '''a'''re, f'''a'''ther, c'''al'''m || É‘Ë || É‘Ë || a || É‘Ë || ''É‘Ë'' || The confusion between US /a/ and British /É‘:/ is one of the potential confusions in transcription
|- 
| c'''u'''p, s'''o'''n, bl'''oo'''d || ÊŒ || ÊŒ || ÊŒ || ÊŒ || ''ÊŒ'' || [[F & R]] use /ÊŒ (+ r)/ for 'b'''ir'''d' as well.
|-
| d'''o'''g, sw'''a'''n, c'''ou'''gh || É’ || É” || a || É’ || ''É’''|| Potential confusion  between Brit. /É’/ 'dog' and US /É”/ 'dawg' -
|-
| '''a'''ll, s'''aw''', th'''ou'''ght,  || É”Ë || É”Ë || É” ||  É”Ë || ''É”Ë'' || - echoed by much 'shorter' US 'thot'
|-
| p'''u'''t, w'''o'''lf, g'''oo'''d || ÊŠ || u || ÊŠ || ÊŠ || ''ÊŠ'' ||
|-
| d'''o''', s'''oo'''n, s'''ou'''p, sh'''oe''' || uË || uË || u || uË || u''Ë'' || 
|-
| h'''e'''r, b'''ir'''d, t'''u'''rn || ÉœË || ÉœË || ÊŒ (+ r) || ÉœË  || ''ÉœË'' ||
|-
| th'''e''', '''a'''bout, visit'''or''', '''a'''noth'''er''' (the [[schwa]]) || É™ || É™ || ÊŒ (+ r) || É™ || ''É™'' || Sometimes a [[schwa]] + '-r' [[digraph]] is used: Éš ||
|-
| '''a'''pe, w'''ai'''t, th'''ey''', s'''ay''' || eÉª || eÉª || e  || eÉª || e''Éª'' ||
|-
| t'''i'''me, wh'''y''', h'''igh''' || aÉª || ai || ay || aÉª || ''ÊŒÉª'' || 
|-
| b'''oy''', ch'''oi'''ce, n'''oi'''se || É”Éª || É”i || É”y  || É”Éª || ''É”Éª'' ||
|-
| s'''o''', t'''oe''', kn'''ow''' || É™ÊŠ  || oÊŠ  || o || oÊŠ  || ''É™ÊŠ'' || Other US writers transcribe as /oÊŠ/
|-
| '''ou'''t, h'''ow''', f'''ou'''nd || aÊŠ, É‘ÊŠ || aÊŠ || aw, Ã¦w || aÊŠ || a''ÊŠ'' ||
|-
|  d'''ee'''r, h'''e'''re, f'''ie'''rce, n'''ea'''r || ÉªÉ™ || iÉ™ || (i + r) || ÉªÉ™ || ''ÉªÉ™'' || US only hears Brit. [[diphthong]]s as '[[rhotic|r- coloured']]
|-
| c'''ar'''e, '''ai'''r, squ'''are''', b'''ea'''r || eÉ™ || É›É™ || (e + r) || eÉ™ || ''É›Ë'' ||     "       "      "
|-
| t'''ou'''r, j'''u'''ry || ÊŠÉ™ || uÉ™ || (u + r) || ÊŠÉ™ || ''ÊŠÉ™'' ||     "       "      "
<br>Don't confuse this with the quasi tripthong /jÊŠÉ™/ 	
|}
::::::Adapted, and enlarged, from [[Crystal (1995)]]

There are also some vowels in the IPA that may be of use to English students trying to represent the sounds of foreign languages, or variants top be found in British dialects:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

! Symbols !! In various British dialects !! Parallels in <br>'''other Languages''' !! Notes  
|- 
| a || [''Lancastrian'' 'fl'''a'''t' 'c'''a'''p'] || '''German''' ''Mann'', '''French''' ''patte'' || 
|-
| É£ || [''Scots (west coast)'' 'y'''ou'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>, 't'''oo'''<nowiki>'</nowiki> || '''French''' ''tu'' || 
|- 

|}


Some writers recognize '''[[triphthong]]s''' in English. AWE adds one 'semi-tripthong' (containing a semi-vowel); together with the rarer combination found in 'coir' (/É”Éª/ + /É™/). These are not universally recognized, as they are in essence all a combination of [[diphthong]] + [[schwa]]:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"

! Sounds <br>as realized in general [[RP]] !! Symbol !! Notes !! 
|-
| 'pl'''ayer''', f'''air''' || eÉªÉ™ || 
|-
| t'''ire''', f'''ire''', p'''yre''' || aÉªÉ™ || Sometimes [[homophone|homophonous]] with 'tar', 'far' and 'par' in [[Marked RP]] 
|- 
| t'''ower''', fl'''our''', p'''ower''', '''our''' || aÊŠÉ™ || Also sometimes [[homophone|homophonous]] with 'tar', 'far' and 'par' in [[Marked RP]] 
|-
| g'''oer''', N'''oah''', [[lower|l'''ower''']] ||É™ÊŠÉ™ || 
|-
| r'''oya'''l, c'''oi'''r || /É”ÉªÉ™/ || 
|-
| f'''ur'''y. s'''ure''', '''your''' || juÉ™ || AWE calls this a semi-tripthong, as it is based on the semi-vowel /j/
|-
|}



[[category:AWE]]
[[category:phonetics]]
[[category:pronunciation]]
[[category:vowels]]