Vowels in English

A vowel is a sound in spoken language pronounced with an open vocal tract. It is usually represented by the alphabets ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’ and ‘u’ in the English spelling system. Vowels can be categorised as:

• Short vowels - Short vowels are vowel sounds that are pronounced in a short form. They are represented by the following symbols in the IPA: //, //, //, //, //, //, //.
  
  
• Long vowels – Long vowels are vowel sounds which are normally pronounced somewhat longer than the short vowels.  They are represented by symbols plus a colon /:/ at the end of the symbol in the IPA. [See the Phonetic Chart for details]
  
  
• Diphthongs – Diphthongs are formed when separate vowels are run together where the speech sound begins with one vowel sound and it moves to another vowel sound within the same syllable. For example, the word “boy”. The pronunciation of the vowel consists of two single vowel sounds, // and // produced one after another within a single syllable.
  
  
• Triphthongs - A tripthong is the production of one vowel sound to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. For example, the word “flower”. The pronunciation of the vowels in the word “flower” consists of three single vowel sounds, /a/, // and // produced one after another within a single syllable.

All vowels in the English language are ‘voiced’