A discussion about the different sounds of English vowels, consonants, and diphthongs, and how these individual sounds are formed and distinguished.

1. THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH
11 vowels • 3 diphthongs • 25 consonants
Prepared by: RubyAngela Pena
ruby.angela01@gmail.com

3. THE ENGLISHVOWELS
 A vowel is a permanent element in a syllable.
 It is formed by allowing the passage of air from the lungs
through the mouth acting as a resonator without any
obstruction.
 This passing of air causes the opening of the vocal bands, called
the glottis, to vibrate.
 Vowels are, therefore, those sounds which are produced with
the vibration of air in the oral cavity.
 All vowel sounds, then, are voiced oral sounds.

4. The VectorTriangle – shows the relationship and differences of the vowels to one another
as well as their relative positions on the tongue.
FRONT CENTER BACK
HIGH
MID
LOW
Bet [Ɛ]
Bit [I]
Bat [æ]
Bait [ey]
[a]
Bock
[Ə]
But
Beat [iy] [UW] Boot
[U] Book
[OW] Boat
[Ɔ] Bought

5. THEVOWEL SOUND PRODUCTION
 Tongue Position or advancement – refers to the part of the tongue that is most
active in the production of the vowel. Along the horizontal axis are the three points:
front, center, and back which describe tongue position or advancement as shown in the
vowel triangle.
 Tongue and jaw height – refers to the degree of closeness of the lower jaw to the
upper or the tongue palate.This is the vertical axis along which are three points: high,
mid, and low.
 Lip position – refers to the amount of rounding or spreading of the lips.The shape of
the lips may be rounded when their corners are brought forward or unrounded (spread).
When the corners are pulled back. [Ɔ], [ow], [u], [a], and [uw] are rounded while [iy], [i],
[ey], [e], [æ], and [Ə] are unrounded.

6.  Tension – refers to the degree to which the muscles of the speech tract
are tense or lax during sound production. [iy], for example, is tense while [i]
is lax.
 Length – refers to the duration the vowel is held in a certain position. It
may be long or short. [ey] is a long vowel in contras to [Ɛ] which is short.

7. VOWEL SOUND SPEECH DRILLS
Read the following words observing the correct formation of the vowel
sounds indicated in brackets.
[iy] beat me key seed chief
[i] sit give rid pick live
[ey] ate ray face weigh great
[Ɛ] met let head less tell
[æ] cat am bag land class
[a] pot block got cop lost
[Ɔ] ball talk saw draw dawn

8. VOWEL SOUND SPEECH DRILLS
Read the following words observing the correct formation of the vowel
sounds indicated in brackets.
[ow] hope go wrote home soak
[u] look good would sure bush
[uw] moon blue rule chew suit
[Ə] luck must touch gone cup

9. QUIZ…
Classify the words according to the five factors that determine their sound formation.
Front
Center
Back
Rounded
Unrounded
Tense
Lax
Long
Short

11. DIPHTHONGS
 Sounds which combine two vowel sounds and which blend them
into one within a syllable.
 The vowel sound in light, for instance, is a diphthong.
 Aside from those vowel sounds in theVowelTriangle which have
a diphthongal quality, there are three other English diphthongs:
[ai], [Ɔi], and [au].
 Diphthongs tend to be long because of the time needed to glide
forward to another position.

12. [ai] [Ɔi] [au]
time point now
might oil brown
height soil sound
rhyme coin blouse
pint join mouth
guide moist bough
aisle poise plow

13. [ai] [Ɔi] [au]
sigh noise crown
fried boil cloud
fire buoy town
buy toy count
pie voice out
prize ploy proud
dye hoist foul

14. [ai] [Ɔi] [au]
fly joy howl
climb spoil browse
quite broil ouch
sight annoy slouch

16. THE ENGLISH CONSONANT
 Consonant is a speech sound used with a vowel or diphthong to
constitute a syllable.
 Consonant sounds are those which are produced with the partial
or complete obstruction of the air column by some parts of the
speech apparatus.
 There are three dimensions of variations to be considered in
consonants, namely:Voicing, Nature of Obstruction or Manner
of Articulation, and Point of Artculation.

17. A.VOICING
 Consonants may be voiced or voiceless.
 Voiced sounds are those which are pronounced with the
variation of the vocal cords.
 Voiceless sounds are those which are pronounced without the
vibration of the vocal cords.

18. Voiceless Voiced
p pen b ben n neck
t ten d den ng bring
k cod g god l let
f fine v vine r right
th thigh dh thy y you
s sue z zoo w water
sh mission zh vision hw what
ch chew j jew
h hot m men

19. B. NATURE OF OBSTRUCTION/MANNER OF
ARTICULATION
 Stops – are consonant sounds produced by stopping the passage of the breath stream
with a build up of pressure behind the closure before releasing the breath.
Bilabial stops – [p] and [b]
Alveolar stops – [t] and [d]
Velar stops – [k] and [g]
 Fricatives – are continuants produced when the air stream is not completely stopped but
passes through with friction or a hissing sound.
Labiodental – [f] and [v] Post Alveolar – [r]
Dental – [Ɵ] and [ƺ] Palatal – [ʃ] and [dz]
Alveolar – [s] and [z] Glottal – [h]

20.  Affricates – are produced when a stop combines with a fricative. Like the
fricatives, they are also continuants.They may be prolonged as long as the
speaker wishes.
Alveolar Affricates – [t ʃ] and [dz]
 Nasals – are produced with the air stream passing through the nose rather
than the mouth.
Bilabial Nasal – [m] Alveolar Nasal – [n] Velar Nasal – [ʒ]
B. NATURE OF OBSTRUCTION/MANNER OF
ARTICULATION

21.  Lateral – is produced when the air stream is stopped in the center by the
tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, while the air passes along one
or both sides of the tongue.
Alveolar Lateral – [l]
 Semi-vowels – in their production, there is lack of friction and the sounds
are vowel-like in their voicing but they function as consonants.
Bilabial – [w] as in wear and win; [wh] as in why
Palatal – [y] as in new and view.
B. NATURE OF OBSTRUCTION/MANNER OF
ARTICULATION

22. C. POINT OF ARTICULATION
 This refers to the upper parts of the mouth which the lower parts (articulators) come in
contact with in the production of the consonant sound.
 As regards to their point of articulation, consonants may be:
a. Bilabial – when the lower lip touches the upper lip. [p], [b], [m], & [w]
b. Labio-dental – when the lower lip comes in contact with the upper front teeth. [f] and [v]
c. Dental – when the lower teeth approach the upper teeth.
d. Alveolar – when the tip of the tongue is raised close to the toothridge or the back of the
upper front teeth. [t] and [d]
e. Post-alveolar – when the tip of the tongue is articulated against the back part of the
alveolar ridge as in [r].

23. C. POINT OF ARTICULATION
f. Palatal – when the tongue is arched towards the hard palate like the
constant [ʃ]
g. Velars – when the back of the tongue closes against the velum or soft
palate. [k]
h. Glottal – when friction is produced by the air passing through the glottis [h]

24. ENGLISH CONSONANT DRILLS
STOPS
[p] power prayer priest pen pearl paint please
[t] tank teacher time tree table talent true
[k] key cat king cause cup care kind
[b] bread bank bridge bright but bike brother
[d] day dance drama dew dawn drum dream
[g] gun grace go gold gas guide grow

25. NASAL
[m] Mind Music Merry Moon Milk Mirror Mother
[n] Nice Name Neighbor Night Nun New Known
[ng] Rank Ring Sink Prank Bring Blink drink

26. FRICATIVES
[f] friend Farm Free fruit phone leaf Graph
[v] vow Vine view drive vowel vein victory
[Ɵ] think thank thought through mouth truth Month
[o] there that though them they thine then
[s] soul sea Sound sun song silver service
[z] zip zeal Zest zoom zero size

27. FRICATIVES
[ʃ] shine ocean fish nation sugar mission machine
[zh] Asia pleasure leisure measure treasure vision azure
[h] hat high heart heaven hope who Hello
[r] right rule rose ray round rice rhythm

28. AFRICATES
[t] church chime chief peach rich beach
[dz] judge college wage age pledge page courage
LATERAL
[l] love learn labor light look leaves Language

29. SEMI-VOWELS
[hw] why what When where whip wheel Whether
[w] water web Wine word wing won World
[y] yes You year yam yen hue unit