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Common ESL vowel settings

When you memorize the eleven vowel system, you’re ready for the real question: how can someone quickly choose the correct vowel for each and every syllable? In the same way that native speakers master the finer points of any language: they learn the basic general rules; learn basic exception lists; and guess, without fear, before a new word.

Here are enough rules of thumb for most common English words.

1. Most syllables begin with consonants. Think of a short syllable that also ends in a consonant and a long syllable that ends in a vowel (including the silent E).

2. In a short syllable, A, E, and I, I usually make the short A, E, and I sounds (“aa,” “eh,” “ih”).

3. In a short syllable, the O usually makes the long A sound (“ah”), but makes the New England short O sound (“aw”); and U generally makes the schwa (“uh”) sound.

4. In a long syllable, all the vowels say their names (“ey”, “ee”, “aee”, “oh”, “yoo”), except U, which often changes to long U (“oo”) .

5. In words derived from Romance or Oriental languages, use the classic pure vowels (“ah”, “ey”, “ee”, “oh”, “oo”).

6. In short unstressed syllables, use a schwa if nothing else is indicated.

In long syllables, A, E, and I often produce a diphthong sound, composed of a long vowel (ie long E, I, or A, respectively), followed by a very short short I (“ih”). This I is barely noticeable, but it creates the especially common minor “twang” in American English. (To imitate the stronger accent of the southern United States, simply extend this sound.) These can be transcribed as “ey-ih”, “ee-ih”, and “ah-ih”; using a long I is also acceptable for emphasis (“ey-ee”, “ee-ee”, “ah-ee”); and I clipping occurs in rapid speech (“ey”, “ee”, “aee”), which is the transcription used here. (Remember that the “h” only indicates the quality of the vowel and is not pronounced.)

That’s the basics! All other vowel sounds are diphthongs, special spellings, or exceptions (rule breakers or sight words, which can be memorized in short lists).

practice

Practice basic vowel environments in the following sets of words.

The six basic vowel sounds of short syllables appear in the words pat, pet, pit, pot, put, and putt: short A, short E, short I, long A (or short O), short U, and schwa.

The six basic vowel sounds of long syllables appear in silent E words (the E does not sound but serves to lengthen the first vowel, from a distance), as in mate, mete, mite, mote, mute, and moot: long E, Long I, Long A (plus short I), Long O, Long YU, and Long U.

The short O is more commonly spelled “aw” (claw, law, raw) or “au” (caught, fraud, uptight). The short U is most commonly spelled “oo” (hood, look, soot), but since the long U is also commonly spelled “oo” (mood, ghost, toot), these two word classes must be distinguished by lists. of memorization. The short U is spelled “ou” in the words could, should, would; it is transcribed “ouh” to be clearly separated from the other vowels.

Vowels saying their names

The main sound of each pair of vowels must be memorized by heart. Many combinations are intuitive; some are consistent enough to be easy; a few require further study. In addition to the five vowels, the second letter of a vowel pair can also be any of the semivowels H, W, or Y, or the silent E.

Silent E is the most common form of the rule, “When two vowels walk, the first one speaks.” The first vowel gives its long syllable form (its name), while the second vowel is silent:

A_E as in mate “meyt”, hare, reed.

E_E as in “meet”, here, scene.

I_E as in mite “maeet”, rent, sine.

O_E as in mote “moht”, rode, cone.

U_E as in mute “myoot”, rough, dune.

Other combinations that meet this rule are the following. Just name the first vowel in each line to hear the correct sound.

AE as in tael “teyl”, aerial, maelstrom.

AI as en cola “teyl”, main, straight (rarely “aee” as in hall, aioli).

AY as in tray “trey”, day, stay (rarely “aee” as in aye, bayou, papaya).

EA as in real “reel”, bead, mean (less often “eh” as in bread, head, weather).

EE as in “reel”, peep, real tree.

IE as in “taeed” tied, lie, cake (less often “ee” in one-syllable words like shortly, pity, spiel; more often “ee” in other words).

OA as in “tohd” toad, coat, goat.

OE as in toed “tohd”, doe, sloe.

OH as in noh “noh”, oh, matzoh.

EU as in true “troo”, blue, sue.

User interface as in fruit “froot”, cruise, juice.

Furthermore, transcriptions of various sounds usually indicate the most common spellings of the sounds, namely “ah”, “aw”, “ee”, “ey”, “oh”, “oo”. (The other transcriptions are not common English spellings.) EY is less frequently pronounced “ee” (as in boney, honey, key, limey, pulley); and OO is less frequently pronounced “ouh” (as in book, foot, hood, look, soot).

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