Vowels are speech sounds pronounced so there are no “obstacles” to airstream (unlike the way consonants are pronounced, for example). This post lists English vowels (21 in this case, although some sources list 22), both monophthongs and diphthongs. They are grouped into the long and short ones. There is also a vowel diagram showing vowels at their approximate positions.
The vowels sounds of the English language are listed below. The newer IPA notation was used.
The English vowels with examples (O’Connor, first edition 1973) IPA (O'Connor) Examples 1 i: see, unique, feel 2 ɪ wit, mystic, little 3 e set, meant, bet 4 æ pat, cash, bad 5 ɑ: half, part, father 6 ɒ not, what, cost 7 ɔ: port, caught, all 8 ʊ wood, could, put 9 u: you, music, rude 10 ʌ bus, come, but 11 ɜ: beard, word, fur 12 ə alone, butter 13 eɪ lady, make 14 əʊ go, home 15 aɪ my, time 16 ɑʊ now, round 17 ɔɪ boy, noise 18 ɪə here, beard 19 ɛə fair, scarce 20 ɔə more, board 21 ʊə pure, your
Gimson (Introduction 90) sorts English vowels into three groups: short, long “relatively pure” and long “diphthongal glides, with prominent 1st element”.
Short and long monophthongs in English short ɪ e æ ɒ ʊ ʌ ə long i: u: ɑ: ɔ: ɜ:
Vowel diagram is used to provide details about the sounds involved. The phoneme /i:/ often has the quality of a diphthong (O’Connor 154), which depends on the accent. The arrow on the diagram marks the approximate final location of the sound in diphthongal realisation. The phoneme /ɪ/ is short and monophthongal. The phoneme /e/ is “in RP … generally realised … as a short, front vowel between cardinals [e] and [ɛ]” (O’Connor 156), while /æ/ is also a short vowel, but between cardinal [ɛ] and [a], it is usually realised as a monophthong.
The phoneme /ʌ/ is a “short almost open central vowel”, while /ɑ:/ is an “open, rather back vowel” (O’Connor 157-8). The phoneme /ɒ/ is pronounced by speakers of RP as “a short, back, open or almost open vowel” (158). In a word such as caught there is the phoneme /ɔ:/. In the diagram /ɔ:/ it is just below the cardinal vowel [o]. The dashed line pointing towards the more central position illustrates the fact that many speakers do not make a distinction between a monophthong /ɔ:/ and a diphthong /ɔə/. In such cases, the speakers “nevertheless use a diphthong [ɔə] … before pause” (160). The consequence is that “both saw and sore are pronounced [sɔə] and both caught and court are pronounced [kɔ:t]” (160).
Also in the series: The Number of Diphthongs in the English Language and English Diphthongs.
The phoneme /ʊ/ is somewhat more centralised than cardinal [o], and it shows a relatively constant pronunciation in dialects (162), unlike most of other vowels. About /u:/ O’Connor notes that it “most often has a diphthongal realisation … but it may be given a monophthongal pronunciation slightly lower and more central than cardinal [u]” (162). The diphthongal property of the vowel is indicted by an arrow in the graph. The phoneme /ɜ:/ is “typically a long, mid, central vowel”, but in rhotic accents (American English, for example) this vowel is in the sequence /ər/ (163) replaced by the retroflex [ɹ], i.e. bird (163). The phoneme /ə/ has “two major allophones in RP, one central and half-close which occurs in non-final positions…, and one central and about half open which occurs before pause …” (the example for the first variant is about, and for the second sailor) (164).
Download the SVG English monophthongs and diphthongs graphs used in this post here.
I thought its just 20 vowels altogether….how come 21 ? #confused#
I thouth it is 21 please
It is 21 because we have 21 vowel sounds.That what i have to say for now.
i thought we have only 20 vowel sounds
i thought monophthongs are 13 in numbers.
It is 2o in number
vowel sound are 21 but pure vowel are 12
i tout the vowel sounds are 25 in number plus the tripthongs
D monothongs d diphtongs ar 20 in num……………….plus d triphthongs making 25 in no……frm HOLLATY
Perfect and Excellent!
vowel sounds are 20
I am confused I thought vowels are 20 in number but how comes 21
D number 20 on ur list s nt a vowel sound
Vowel sounds are 20 in number because consonants are 24 in total which is 44 sounds together so if vowels are 21 then what will consonant sounds be and all the English sounds then?
Here is a nice list: https://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472031341-sample2.pdf
Enter your comment here…vowel sound are 20 in number rigth we were thougth that in school rigth but can’t argue with english
ok i never though of that
Confuse:-|
I think its not correct because our teacher has said there are only 20 pure vowels…………. How come 20 ? ( its really confusing).
sorry, that’s not 20,
how come 21
the 20th diphthong listed is not considered as diphthong.it z not vowel glides as per traditional theories.board-/b):d/ this one is pure vowel/ monophthong same as in the case of the other word more-/m):/
I was also taught 20 vowels what am seeing here is amazing
Number 20 is not part of them.
Just a quick comment…based on 25 years of teaching English. Any time anyone attempts to make a definitive list of English vowels with examples, they are bound to fail. English is a truly global language, and it is far better to try and understand it as have a range of possible vowel sounds rather than an exact number. As a Canadian speaker, there are many examples above that simple do not work for me. The number of vowels, and which ones they are, will vary greatly depending on region. Similarly, words used to show the vowels vary greatly. For me, the examples for #5 in the list represent different vowels. Likewise, any example with an ‘r’ following a vowel is often a poor choice due to ‘r-colouring’ of many vowel sounds.
Just some thoughts
It should be 20 and not 21. Unless it have been updated to 21, otherwise, it remains 20 as far as English language is concerned.
There are 44 sounds in english language 20 are vowels while 24 are consonant sounds.
Good work
There are 20 vowels 12 are pure vowels & 8 dephthongs
There are 44 sounds in english language
I thought We only have 20 vowel sounds I’m confused seeing 21 here but I know you have your prove. thanks for the list though.
I thought it was only twenty
There are twenty one vowel sounds
How many long pure vowels in Received pronunciation ? Plz reply me
Well, so far so good, let majority carries the vote. It seems we more people that says the vowel sounds is above 20, for that reason let’s agree to that. I rest my case 👷! :😂
I first thought that d monothongs are five according tobd five vowels but now I know dat de r 12 in number thanks to d internet actually I’m just ten
According to our there are only 20 vowels. how 21 come..???
It is 20….
There are only 20 as I know