Improve Your English Accent Pronounce Vowel Sounds Correctly
Hi, I’m Lori.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can learn about English
vowel sounds, and how to pronounce them.
This lesson will give you an overview.
You’ll see what vowel sounds exist in English,
how to pronounce them, and common spelling
patterns for each one.
First question: how many vowel sounds are
there in English?
There are many answers to this question!
It depends how you define a single vowel sound,
and whether you consider sounds which are
very close to each other to be one sound or
two sounds.
It also depends if you’re talking about
British or American English, because there
are some vowel sounds which exist in one but
not in the other.
For this lesson, there are 21 vowel sounds:
eight short vowel sounds, five long vowel
sounds, and eight diphthongs.
Diphthongs are double vowel sounds.
/æ/
sat, happy, jazz, catch
/æ/
sat, happy, jazz, catch
Spelling is easy for the /æ/ sound: it’s
always produced by the letter ‘a’, although
Although, be careful, because the letter ‘a’ can
also produce other sounds.
The /æ/ sound is different in British and
American English.
In British English, it’s a true short vowel,
so your mouth stays in one position to produce
the sound.
In American English, it’s more like a diphthong.
The sound is slightly longer, and your mouth
moves to produce the sound.
/e/
leg, best, head, says
/e/
leg, best, head, says
The /e/ sound is normally produced by the
letter ‘e’ by itself, although some other
spellings are possible, like ‘ea’ or the
‘ay’ in ‘says’.
/ə/
around, polite, situation, Saturday, driver
/ə/
around, polite, situation, Saturday, driver
The /ə/ sound is very common and can be produced
by many, many different spellings.
It’s easier to think about stress when you’re
trying to find /ə/ sounds; the /ə/ sound
is never stressed, and it often appears before
or after the stressed syllable in a word.
/ɪ/
bit, limit, Italy, busy, explore
/ɪ/
bit, limit, Italy, busy, explore
The /ɪ/ sound is also very common, and like
the schwa sound, which we just talked about,
it often appears before or after a stressed
syllable, so it can have many different spellings.
However, it’s often produced by a letter
‘i’ by itself.
/i/ is slightly different, because it’s
an intermediate sound which only appears in
very specific places.
It’s between /ɪ/ and /iː/, and it’s
produced when a word ends in a consonant plus
the letter ‘y’.
busy, angry, hungry, silly
busy, angry, hungry, silly
/ɒ/
hot, clock, what, cough, Austria
/ɒ/
hot, clock, what, cough, Austria
The /ɒ/ sound is often produced by a letter
‘o’ by itself.
A few other spellings are possible, like ‘a’
in some words.
The /ɒ/ sound is also different in American
and British English.
In British English, the sound is pronounced
with the mouth more closed, and it’s usually
shorter.
In American English, the /ɒ/ sound is pronounced
with the mouth slightly more open and relaxed,
and the sound is more nasal.
The sound is often slightly longer.
/ʌ/
luck, butter, brother, London, enough
/ʌ/
luck, butter, brother, London, enough
The /ʌ/ sound can be produced by a letter
‘u’ by itself.
However, there are also many words where a
letter ‘o’ produces the /ʌ/ sound in
a stressed syllable.
Other possible spellings are ‘ou’ and
‘oo’.
/ʊ/
put, look, full, good, should
/ʊ/
put, look, full, good, should
The /ʊ/ sound can be produced by a letter
‘u’ by itself, but also by ‘oo’.
Sometimes, the letters ‘ou’ together can
make an /ʊ/ sound, though this is less common.
Next, let’s look at the five long vowel
sounds.
/aː/
father, calm, part, hard
/aː/
father, calm, part, hard
The /aː/ sound is very different in British
and American English.
Specifically, it’s much more common in British
English.
Many words which have the long /aː/ sound
in British English have an /æ/ sound in American
English.
For example: ‘after’, ‘asked’, ‘France’,
or ‘bath’.
Also, in British English, this vowel sound
is often produced by the letters ‘ar’.
In these words, the ‘r’ is not pronounced:
‘part’, ‘hard’, ‘car’, ‘dark’.
However, in American English, the ‘r’
is pronounced in these words: ‘part,’
‘hard,’ ‘car,’ ‘dark’.
This makes the vowel sound shorter.
/ɜː/
person, circle, work, burn, research
/ɜː/
person, circle, work, burn, research
The /ɜː/ sound has many possible spellings,
but almost all possible spellings contain
a vowel plus the letter ‘r’.
For example, the /ɜː/ sound can be produced
by the letters ‘er’, ‘ir’, ‘or’
or ‘ur’.
Like with the long /aː/ sound, the ‘r’
after the vowel is not pronounced in British
English, but it is pronounced in American
English.
/iː/
she, recent, week, sleep, leave, people
/iː/
she, recent, week, sleep, leave, people
The /iː/ sound can be produced by the letters
‘e’, ‘ee’, or ‘ea’.
There are some less common spellings, like
the ‘eo’ in ‘people’, or the ‘ey’
in ‘key’.
/ɔː/
boring, explore, born, course, board
/ɔː/
boring, explore, born, course, board
The /ɔː/ sound can be produced by the letters
‘or’, ‘our’, or ‘oar’.
This sound is much more common in British
English, and there are many more possible
spellings.
For example, the words ‘already’, ‘law’,
‘daughter’, and ‘thought’ all have
the /ɔː/ sound in British English.
In American English, these words would generally
be pronounced with a shorter /a/ sound: ‘already’,
‘law’, ‘daughter’, ‘thought’.
Also, like the other long vowel sounds you’ve
seen, the ‘r’ after a vowel is pronounced
in American English, but not in British English.
/ʊː/
food, move, suit, group, rude, blue
/ʊː/
food, move, suit, group, rude, blue
The /ʊː/ sound can be produced by many spellings:
‘oo’, ‘o’, ‘ui’, ‘ou’, ‘u’
and ‘ue’ are all possible and relatively
common.
There are other, less common possibilities
too, like the ‘ough’ in ‘through’.
/aɪ/
quite, tired, shy, my, night, tight
/aɪ/
quite, tired, shy, my, night, tight
The /aɪ/ sound is commonly produced by the
letters ‘i’, ‘y’, or ‘igh’.
Other possible spellings include ‘ie’,
as in ‘die’ or ‘tie’, and ‘uy’,
like ‘buy’ or ‘guy’.
There are also words like ‘height’ or
‘eyes’ which have an unusual spelling,
but also have the /aɪ/ sound.
/eɪ/
take, late, rain, wait, day, grey
/eɪ/
take, late, rain, wait, day, grey
The /eɪ/ sound has many possible spellings,
although it is most often produced by the
letter ‘a’.
However, it can also be produced by the letters
‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘ey’, or ‘ea’
as in ‘break’.
The spelling ‘eigh’ also makes an /eɪ/
sound, like ‘eight’, ‘weight’, or
‘neighbour’.
/əʊ/
old, hope, boat, toast, know, snow
/əʊ/
old, hope, boat, toast, know, snow
The /əʊ/ sound is most often produced by
the letter ‘o’, although there are also
many words with ‘oa’ and ‘ow’.
Less common spellings include ‘ou’, like
‘soul’, or ‘ough’, like ‘although’.
/aʊ/
cow, town, sound, mountain
/aʊ/
cow, town, sound, mountain
Compared to the other sounds in this section,
this one is simpler!
It generally has two possible spellings: ‘ow’
and ‘ou’.
There are a few words with ‘ough’ which
have the /aʊ/ sound, like ‘drought’,
but these are rare.
/ɔɪ/
enjoy, toy, boil, avoid, lawyer
/ɔɪ/
enjoy, toy, boil, avoid, lawyer
The /ɔɪ/ sound is also relatively simple:
it’s spelled with ‘oi’ or ‘oy’.
Even better, these spellings don’t have
other pronunciations; if you see a word written
with ‘oi’ or ‘oy’, you can be 99.9%
sure it’s pronounced with the /ɔɪ/ sound.
‘Lawyer’ has the /ɔɪ/ sound, although
it’s spelling is strange.
It’s the only common word which has this
sound and isn’t written with ‘oi’ or ‘oy’.
/ɪə/
here, sphere, deer, beer, near, experience
/ɪə/
here, sphere, deer, beer, near, experience
The /ɪə/ sound can be produced by many spellings:
‘ere’, ‘eer, ‘ear’ and ‘ie’
are all possible.
It can also be produced by the letters ‘ea’,
as in ‘idea’, or sometimes by a single
‘e’; for example ‘zero’ or ‘serious’.
/eə/
hair, repair, where, care, pear, bear
/eə/
hair, repair, where, care, pear, bear
The /eə/ sound also has many possible spellings;
it can be written with ‘ai’, ‘ere’,
‘are’ or ‘ear’.
Be careful, because some of these spellings
can also produce an /ɪə/ sound, like ’ere’
or ‘ear’.
Less commonly, the /eə/ sound is spelled
‘ar’.
Although there aren’t many words like this,
it includes some very common words and names,
like ‘parents’, ‘Sarah’ or ‘Mary’.
/ʊə/
sure, cure, rural, furious, Europe, tourist
/ʊə/
sure, cure, rural, furious, Europe, tourist
The /ʊə/ sound is rare, and is disappearing
in many parts of the world, which is why we’ve
put it last.
Often, words which could be pronounced with
an /ʊə/ sound now have an /ɔː/ or /ʊː/
sound instead.
For example, the word ‘sure’ is commonly
pronounced two ways: /ʃʊə/ and /ʃɔː/.
In terms of spelling, the /ʊə/ sound can
be produced by the spellings ‘u’, ‘ure’,
‘or’, or ‘eu’.
The letters ‘our’ can make an /ʊə/ sound,
as in ‘tourist’, but this spelling more
often makes an /ɔː/ sound.
Now, you’ve seen pronunciation and spelling
for all 21 vowel sounds in English!
Finally, let’s look at some tips to help
you pronounce vowel sounds more accurately.
Tip one: learn to ignore spelling.
If you’ve learned one thing from this lesson,
it should be that you can’t easily know
the pronunciation of a vowel sound from the
spelling.
When you learn a new word, or you want to
check the pronunciation of a word, look for
the phonetic script.
Phonetic script is clear and consistent, whereas
written English is not.
In our experience, many students have difficulties
with pronunciation not because they can’t
pronounce the sounds correctly, but because
they get confused by the spelling of the word.
Ignore the spelling; learn to focus on the
phonetics instead!
Tip two: focus on differentiating short and
long vowels.
Often, it doesn’t matter so much if you
pronounce a sound differently to native speakers.
After all, native speakers don’t pronounce
the same sounds in the same way.
However, the difference between short and
long vowels is important.
But, how can you check if you’re pronouncing
the sounds correctly?
Take a pair of words which have almost the
same pronunciation, except one has a short
vowel and the other has a long vowel.
For example: ‘bit’ and ‘beat’, or
‘shut’ and ‘shoot’.
When you pronounce the word with the long
vowel, you should be able to hold the vowel
sound for as long as you want, like this:
be-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-eat.
sh-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ot.
Try it!
When you pronounce the word with the short
vowel, it should be impossible to hold the
vowel sound.
When you say ‘bit’, the vowel sound is
single release of sound; you can’t hold
it: ‘bit’, ‘bit’.
If you can hold the short vowel sound, then
you’re not pronouncing it correctly; you’re
probably making the long sound instead.
Of course, you don’t want to make your vowel
sounds so long when you speak, but when you’re
practising, this is a useful trick.
Tip three: pay attention to mouth shape.
Every one of these vowel sounds is produced
in a specific way.
You need to use your throat, tongue, teeth,
lips and cheeks in different ways to make
different sounds.
For example, the long /iː/ sound needs you
to use your cheeks.
You need to have some tension here
On the other hand, the short /ɪ/ sound can’t
be pronounced if your cheeks are tense.
Your cheeks and lips need to be relaxed to
make this sound: /ɪ/.
The point is that this isn’t magic.
There’s a specific set of things you need
to do to pronounce a particular sound.
You can learn and practice those things if
you want to.
Tip four: keep diphthongs fast and minimal.
Many English learners find diphthongs difficult,
especially /əʊ/, and sometimes others like
/aɪ/ or /eɪ/, depending on their native
language.
Often, they learn to pronounce the diphthong
in a slow, exaggerated way which sounds quite
unnatural.
It can be useful to exaggerate a sound when
you’re learning to produce it correctly,
but you also need to learn to make the sound
naturally, without needing a lot of time or
effort.
When you’re practising the pronunciation
of diphthongs, try to move through the sound
quickly, and move your mouth as little as
you need to.
Finally, a question for you: which vowel sounds
do you find most difficult to pronounce in
English?
Let us know in the comments!
Thanks for watching!
See you next time!