The Vowels of American English

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The Vowels of American English

• has 12 simple vowels
• and 3 diphthongs
• There are some differences in the articulation of
  some vowel sounds

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American English Vowels

• Front Central Back
• High i? beat u? boot
• I bit
  U put
• Mid e? bait ? sofa
  o? boat
• ? bet ? but
  ?? bought
• Low Q bat
• a? pot

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Front vowels

• /i?/ high front unrounded tense vowel
• feet, meat, teacher, relieve, meet
• /I/ high front unrounded lax vowel
• bit, big, did, mist, building, women, selfish
• /e?/ mid front unrounded tense vowel
• Jame, cake, make, brain, age, okay, bay, straight
  

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Front vowels

• /?/ mid front unrounded lax vowel
• bet, get, met, letter, bed
• /Q/ low front unrounded lax vowel
• bat, hat, vat, can, man, ant

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Central vowels

• /a?/ low central unrounded tense vowel
• hot, not, stop, father,
• /?/ lower mid central unrounded lax vowel
• cup, but, was, mud, done, love
• /?/ mid central unrounded lax vowel
• learn, turn, burn, churn, worm, standard, sentence

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Back vowels

• /??/ lower mid back rounded tense vowel
• naughty, all, salt, bought, more, war, jaw
• /o?/ mid back rounded tense vowel
• wrote, cold, though, mold, old, dont
• Note /o?/ corresponds to British vowel /?U/ as
  in no, show, know, go

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Back vowels

• /U/ high back rounded lax vowel
• book, look, wood, should, good, cool
• /u?/ high back rounded tense vowel
• two, you, choose, knew, do,

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Diphthongs

• There are 3 diphthongs for American English.
• /aI/ high, hi, bye, why, mine
• /aU/ wow, round, found, about, brown
• /?I/ coin, soil, voice, choice

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Some differences of vowels between British
English and American English

• Pronunciation
• BE AE
• /?/ /a?/ dog, not, doctor,
  Potter, bother
• /A?/ /Q/ chance, dance, ask,
  last, blast
• Can you think of more examples?

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• 2. The use of symbol
• BE AE
• /?U/ /o?/ know, no, show, go, mobile
• /eI/ /e?/ head, face, rain, made,
  same
• /e/ /?/ bet, red, dead, set, bed, men

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• 3. The pronunciation of final consonant /r/ in
  American English (Rhotic accent)
• BE AE
• sk??t sk?rt skirt
• t??n t?rn turn
• pA?t part part
• bi? bir beer
• e?d ?rd aired

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• 4. The change of /t/ to /R/
• /R/ voiced alveolar flap
• Flap the tapping of tongue tip against alveolar
  ridge only once
• This is quiet common for American English.
  letter /?leR?r/
• ?pa?RI ?bJuRI ?kWa?lIRI
  ?sQR?de