Classification of English monophthongs
1. According to horizontal movements of the tongue the English vowels fall into five groups:
• front vowels / i׃, e, æ/;
• front-retracted /ɪ/;
• central / mid /ə, ɜ׃, ʌ/;
• back-advanced / ʊ/;
• back / u׃, ɑ׃, ɔ׃, ɒ/;
2. According to vertical movements of the tongue the English vowels tall into three groups:
• high / i׃, ɪ, u׃, ʊ/;
• mid / e, ə, ɜ׃, ʌ/;
• low / æ, ɑ׃, ɔ׃, ɒ/.
These sounds can be of broad and narrow variation. The narrow variation indicates that the distance between the lips is very small, while the broad variation suggests that the distance between the lips is a bit wider. The narrow sounds are: / i׃, u׃, e, ɜ׃, ɔ׃,/. The broad sounds are: /ɪ, ʊ, ə, ʌ, æ, ɑ׃, ɒ/.
3. According to the position of lips English vowels may be labialized / rounded
(/ p, b, w, m/) and non-labialized / non-rounded.
4. According to duration / length the English vowels are long and short.
There are 5 long vowels: / ɑ׃, ɔ׃, ɜ׃, i׃, u׃/. The rest vowels are short.
5. According to the degree of tenseness of speech organs the English vowels may be tense and lax.
All long vowels are tense, while the short ones are lax.
NOTE: In addition to the above principles the English vowels are also classified according to the character of their end.
They may be:
a) checked (pronounced without any lessening of the force of utterance towards their end). They have a strong end. They end abruptly and are interrupted by the consonant immediately following. Therefore they can only occur in a closed syllable, i.e. a syllable which ends in a consonant sound, e.g. bed, not, pull, hat, speak, type.
b) unchecked / free (pronounced with lessening of the force of utterance towards their end).Therefore they have the weak end. The English long vowels and diphthongs when stressed both in open and in closed syllables followed by voiced consonants are unchecked. The same is true of all the English unstressed vowels no matter whether long or short, e.g. free, card, time, attitude, window, city, father.
The Chart of English and Ukrainian Vowels.
| Horizontal movements of the tongue Vertical movements of the tongue | Front | Front- retracted | Central/mixed | Back- advanced | Back | |
| High (close) | narrow | i׃і | ї | и | ʊ | u׃у |
| broad | ɪ | |||||
| Mid (mid-open) | narrow | eє | ɜ׃ɜ | o | ||
| broad | ɛе | ə ʌ | ||||
| Low (open) | narrow | ɔ ɔ׃ | ||||
| broad | æa | a | ɑ׃ ɒ |
English monophthongs: articulation, graphical rules and training exercises
Vowel No 1. / ɪ /- front-retracted, high, close, non-rounded, short of broad variation.
1. make the lips flat (a little bit spread aside like in a smile), i.e. pressed against the
teeth, the teeth-edge in seen;
2. open the mouth, keeping the lips flat, so as to see the tongue position;
3. press the sides of the tongue against the upper-teeth;
4. raise the blade of the tongue so as to see it blunt through the opening between
the teeth;
5. pronounce the short sound / ɪ /.
Graphical rules
1) - i– (in the closed type of syllable); e.g. tin, pin, it.
2) -y – (in the closed type of syllable); e.g. gym, syllable.
3) – y– (in the word final unstressed position); e.g. pity, silly city.
4) – ie – (in the word final unstressed position); e.g. Margie, Willie, Katie.
Exercise 1rid- ride – ridge tin - pin - flint
grid- bride –bridge bit - bib- blint
mince – mine - midge kiss - miss- bliss
quince – twine - twingo sip- sink - singe
Exercise 2cryst– tryst– crypt
myth– pyx– lynch
styx– lynn– lydd
Exercise 3 blyth –bliss pyx – fix tryst – brisk
myth – miss cyst– mist lynch – mince
crypt– crisp kyd–kid lynn–flint
Exercise 4city– pity Freddie–Dickie
silly – witty Annie – Sophie
Imitation Skills Development
1 Please, listen a minute to Kitty.
2 Sit still for six minutes.
3 It’s a pity that little Kitty lives in a big city.
4 Six little kittens lost their mittens.
5 It’s a pity they were pretty.
6 Jimmy Nill will bring you to a big hill.
7 As fit as a fiddle.
8 As busy as a bee.
9 Little pitchers have big ears.
10 He is swimming. He is swimming in the river. He is swimming in the river
with Tim. Will you come in, he is swimming in the river with Tim.
11Which of the six thin women is a wicked witch?
Vowel No 2. / i׃/ - front, high, close, long, non-rounded of narrow variation, diphthongized.
1. get ready to articulate / ɪ /;
2. begin pronouncing / ɪ / and at the very movement move the tongue-tip towards
the lower teeth; while doing it keep the lips flat and feel sides of the tongue sliding
against the upper teeth;
3. pronounce the long sound / i׃/;
4. pronounce both the sounds / ɪ / and / i׃ /.
Graphical rules
1) - ee- ; e.g. see, bee, need, deem, wheel, cheese, cheek, sweep, fleece;
2) - ea - ; e.g. read, lead, clean, dean, c.f. head / hed / , dead / ded /, bread / bred /;
3) - e - ; (in the open syllable) e.g. Pete, me, be;
4) - ey; e.g. key;
5) -ie-, - ei-; e.g. receive, believe.
Exercise 1Eve bee – been – beat live – leave
easy dee – dean – deep sit – seat
eat knee – need – neat filled – field
Exercise 2fee – glee tree – three skip – keep
feel – deep dream– peace mink – mean
be – beast fee – feature slip – sleep
Exercise 3need – neatdeep – dean
meet – meat sweet – week
speech – speak been – bean
Imitation Skills Development
1 Please, believe me. Please, leave me in peace.
2 Extremes meet.
3 Seeing is believing.
4 He speaks Chinese and Japanese with equal ease.
5 My tea is sweet enough.
6 Between the devil and the deep sea.
7 I like tea and meat.
8 A friend in need is a friend indeed.
9 No sweet without some sweat.
10 A sailor went to sea to see what he could see.
But all he could see was sea, sea, sea.
11 Pete; Pete eats; Pete eats lean meat; Steve and Pete eat lean meat; Steve and
Pete eat lean meat and green beans; please, Steve and Pete eat lean meat and
green beans.
12 Stephen meets Eve one evening for a meal. Stephen is greedy. He eats three pieces of cheese. Asleep Stephen dreams of Eve: he sees Eve, fleeing from three beasts.
/i:/ - /ɪ/
1 Come to tea. Come to tea with me. Come to tea with me by the sea. If you are free, come to tea with me by the sea. Do you agree to come to tea with me by the sea?
2 Jean likes gin but gin doesn’t like Jean.
3 Sleepy Freda seeks size six slippers to fit her feet.
4 Fish and chips are cheap and easy to eat.
Vowel No 3. /ɑ׃/ -back, open, non-rounded, low, long, tense, broad variation.
1. drop the lower jaw but don't show the teeth;
2. put the tongue tip against the lower teeth and push the bulk of the tongue as
backward as possible;
3. pronounce the long / ɑ׃ / if you hear the / o / – shade spread the lips a little.
Graphical rules
1) – a– ( in the 3d type of syllable); e.g. part, car.
2) – a – before –ss, –st, –sp, –sk, –ft, –th, – nt, –nch, – lf, –lm, –lv; e.g. pass, past, clasp, ask, task, after, path, plant, branch, half, palm, halves.
3) in the words of French origin with the suffixes –ance, –and; e.g. France, command. Exception: aunt.
Exercise 1car– calm– cart arm far star
far– farm– part art ask farther
bar –bard– bark ask the dark garden
Exercise 2balm –palm calf – half calves –halves
farm –charm dart– cart half – calf
balm– barn calf –scarf smart – tart
Exercise 3carves – calves charms – calms
harms – halves starves – halves
farms – calms scarves– halves
dance – glance chance – France
branch – planch plant – grant
Imitation Skills Development
1 Cast the last nasty card.
2 Far from eyes, far from heart.
3 It’s enough to make cat laugh.
4 My father is in the garden.
5 Can’t you ask Father or Aunt Margaret?
6 Не laughs best who laughs last.
7 After a storm comes a calm.
8 Each dog barks in his own yard.
9 Art is long life is short.
10 I shan’t. I shan’t dance. I shan’t dance at the garden party. I shan’t dance at the garden party at my aunt’s farm. I shan’t dance at the garden party at my aunt’s farm tomorrow.
11 A dark barn is in a large farm-yard. Mark can’t park his car in the barn because of a calf and a large cart blocking the farm-yard.
Vowel No 4. / ʌ / - central (mixed), middle, open, short, lax, non-rounded of broad variation.
1. get ready to articulate / ɑ׃ /;
2. make a smaller opening between the teeth and pronounce the sound / ʌ /, if you
hear the / o / - shade spread the lips a little;
3. the neutral vowel / ə / occurs only in the unstressed position and sounds like the
unstressed Russian / A / in the word ‘маме’.
Graphical rules
1) - u - (in the closed syllable); e.g. shut, cut, c.f. put/ pʊt /
2) - ou - ; e.g. country, cousin, c.f. come/ kʌm /, some/ sʌm /, tongue
/ tʌŋ /, son /sʌn/, money /mʌni /, fond /fʌnd / .
Exercise 1nut –cut – tough country – sultry public – Dublin
shut – bund – rough trouble – bubble suck – stuck
bunch – punch – couple double – tumble buck – truck
such – much – shovel courage –custard dusk – trust
Exercise 2sun – fun fuss – dust musk – duck lucky musket
buff – puff must – bust gull – lull funny puppy
shuffle – muffle drug – bug gun - bump culture vulture
mud – flood cut – blood bud – love shuttle bus
Imitation Skills Development
1 Tough luck.
2 You must not touch the luggage.
3 As snug as a bug in the rug.
4 Such a fine day, you are lucky.
5 So many countries, so many customs.
6 Love me, love my dog.
7 As hungry as a hunter.
8 Don't trouble troubles until troubles trouble you.
9 A cousin; a country cousin; a country cousin has a bun; a country cousin has a crusty bun; a country cousin has a crusty buttered bun; a country cousin has a lovely crusty buttered bun; a country cousin has a lovely crusty buttered bun for supper.
10 Cuthbert puts some mustard in his mother’s custard. Cuthbert’s young brother wonders why mother doesn’t love her other son.
/ɑ: / - /ʌ/
3 Charles; Charles puts; Charles puts mustard; Charles puts some mustard Charles puts some mustard in his custard; Charles puts some mustard in his mother’s custard.
4 Charles’ brother wonders why father doesn’t love his other son.
/æ/ - /ʌ/
1 These windows are shattered; those windows are shuttered.
2 I have mashed potatoes with butter; she has mushy potatoes with batter.
Vowel No 5./ u׃, ju׃/ -back, high, close, rounded, long, tense, narrow variation, diphthongized.
Graphical rules
1 ) – u– (in the open syllable); e.g. tune, tube;
2) –uі – ( in the word-middle position); e.g. suit;
3) – ew, –eu–; e.g. new, neutral;
4) –ou – (in the words of French origin); e.g. soup, group;
5) –oo– (before all consonants except "k"); e.g. moon, soon, c.f. book / bʊk/ , blood / blʌd/, good / gʊd /, foot / fʊt/.
Exercise 1loose – Lewis new music – moon
mood – mute few beauty – booty
soon – suit neutral duty – doomed
NOTE:
The letter “u” tends to be pronounced as / ju׃ / in the open type of syllable but sometimes the sound / j / can be omitted when preceded by:
1) / r /; e.g. rude / ru׃d /, rule / ru׃l /.
2) consonant + “l”; e.g. plume / plu׃m /.
3) an affricate; e.g. June/dʒu׃n/.
Exercise 2use – cute – mute ruse – Bruce flute – fume
muse – cube – tube rune – prune June – tune
fuse – fume – hume rude – crude plume – lute
Exercise 3book – brute good – jute
look – plume stood – spruce
hook – hume foot – flute
took – tune wood – fume
Imitation Skills Development
1 The ruler is on the stool.
2 Too good to be true.
3 Ruth can’t say a boo to a goose.
4 Prue knew who is who.
5 I’d choose blue. I’d choose blue shoes. I’d choose blue shoes to take to school. I’d choose blue shoes to take to school to use. I’d choose blue shoes to take to school to use if I were you.
6 Hugh’s tooth is loose. Hugh shoots a moose and loses his loose tooth.
7 Sue is beautiful. Sue is foolish and stupid at school as a rule.
/ʊ/ - /u: /
1 Look at Luke, pulling a poor fool out of the pool in the wood.
2 This foolish bookish Duke is too full of good food to move a foot.
Vowel No 6. /ʊ/ - back-advanced, high, close, rounded, short, lax, broad variation.
1. press the sides of the lips against the teeth in such a way as to have the lips
very tense and a little bit rounded but not protruded.
2. put the tongue-tip against the lower teeth and push the bulk of the tongue
backward;
3. begin rounding the lips and pronounce / ʊ/, /u׃/.
Graphical rules
1) - оо - (before “k”); e.g. book, look, took;
2) - u - (after “p”, “b”, “f”); e.g. pull, full, bull, c.f. butter, but
3) - ou - (before “ld”); e.g. could, should, would.
Exercise 1 go pool - pull a good book
could boot - put a good cook
cook fool - full look at the book
Exercise 2would - wood look - loose
could - cool cook - school
Imitation Skills Development
1 He took the book to school.
2 Put some sugar into the pudding.
3 The cook took a good look at the cookery book.
4 A good cook never cooks while looking at the cookery book.
5 A good beginning makes a good ending.
6 It’s good he could go on foot.
7 Have a look at the book. Have a look at the book which I took at a brook. Have a look at the book which I took at a brook and put it on the bookshelf.
8 The cook looks at her cookery book. She puts some sugar in the pudding. The pudding looks good.
Vowel No 7. /ɔ׃/ - back, open, rounded, long, tense, low, narrow variation.
1. get ready to articulate / ɑ׃ /;
2.round the lips, but don't protrude them like in the Russian / o / and pronounce /ɔ׃/.
Graphical rules
1) - or - (in the 3d type of syllable); e.g. port, sport;
2) - ore- (in the 4th type of syllable); e.g. more, ore;
3) au-, - aw; e.g. autumn, law;
4) - a+ll; e.g. ball, small;
5) - a + lk; e.g. talk, chalk.
6) - a+lt; e.g. malt, salt.
7) -ou- + gh; e.g. bought, fought, thought.
8) -au- + gh; e.g. taught, daughter.
Rare spelling: door, floor.
Exercise 1 park – pork tor – tall – talk
card – cord cor – cord – cort
cart – cort sor – sord – sort
part – port for – form – fork
Exercise 2 small – talk corks – calks
all – chalk forks – walks
tall – balk storks – stalks
wall – walk pork – balk
Imitation Skills Development
1 The hall is on the fourth floor.
2 New lords, new laws.
3 George was born in August.
4 I saw more than forty horses.
5 Her naughty daughter Maud is at fault.
6 Pride goes before a fall.
7 To pour water into a sieve.
8 Of all the saws I ever saw a saw,
I never saw a saw as that saw saws.
9 All for one and one for all.
10 It never rains, it pours.
11 Trust me not at all or all in all.
12 All roses have thorns.
13 All their daughters are tall. All their four daughters are tall. All the four daughters of Mrs. Crawl are very tall.
14 Maud is short, Paul is tall. Maud is walking on the lawn; Paul is crawling along a wall. Maud warms Paul: “You’ll fall!” “Not at all!”, retorts Paul.
/ɔ: / - /ɒ/
1 Gordon wants; Gordon wants copies; Gordon wants forty-four copies; Gordon wants forty-four copies of the document.
2 Yesterday John made four copies but Bob poured a cup of coffee all over them.
Vowel No 8. / ɒ/ - back, law, open, rounded, short, lax, broad variation.
1. get ready to articulate / ɑ׃ /;
2. open the mouth still wider than during / ɑ׃ /;
3 . round the lips into / o / - like shape;
4. show the edge of the lower teeth and pronounce / ɒ /;
Graphical rules
1) - о - (in the closed syllable); e.g. god, bottle, doctor.
2) wa- ; e.g. watch, want, water.
3) qua -; e.g. quarter.
4) wha- ; e.g. what.
Exercise 1 god – got on a dog – dogs
not – nod odd a cock – cocks
dog – dock offer a box – boxes
log – lock oxen a fox – foxes
Exercise 2 quad – squad wash – squad
quash – squash watt – quad
wad – quad what – squat
was – squab want – quant
watch – squash what – quarrel
Imitation Skills Development
1 Rod often got into hot water.
2 Lots and lots of clocks and watches have gone wrong.
3 Molly’s got a spot on her frock.
4 A watched pot never boils.
5 Honesty is the best policy.
6 I am fond of our pond, of the super fine gloss on its moss.
7 Drop the block and lock the box.
8 Tom and his dog went to the pond.
9 A little pot is soon hot.
10 Be slow to promise and quick to perform
11 Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
12 Where’s the watch? Where’s the watch I put in my pocket? Where’s the watch I put in my pocket to take to the shop? Where’s the watch I put in my pocket to take to the shop because it has stopped?
13 A dog is squatting on a rotten log.
14 John is strong, Olive is not. Olive watches John loading a locked strong box on a yacht in a lock at the docks.
/ʌ/ - /ɒ/
1 You must come. You must come to Polly. You must come to Polly’s office. You must come to Polly’s office for strong coffee. You must come to Polly’s office for strong coffee with us.
2 The zoologist wonders about bugs. The botanist wanders about bogs.
/ɑ: / - /ɒ/ - /ʌ/
1 This cross-country runner is last. This cross-country runner is lost.
2 Charles and Dolly, stop hugging and cuddling.
Vowel No 9. / æ/ - front, open, low, non-rounded, short, lax, broad variation.
1. make the lips flat;
2. open the mouth wide and keep the teeth-edge seen;
3. press the tongue tip against the lower teeth;
4. pronounce / æ /;
/ ж/ -has two positional allophones: short and half-long, i.e. it may be lengthened in some positions:
a) before voiced consonants; e.g. cab / kæb/, bad / bæd/;
b) before voiced sonorants; e.g. man /mæn/.
Graphical rules
1) - а - (in the closed syllable); e.g. cat, map, flag.
Exercise 1pan – tan tank – bank marrow –sparrow
fan – man rank – sank cabbage – baggage
cat – rat back – sack gaggle – scrabble
bat – mat rack – pack carrot – parrot
Imitation Skills Development
1 A black cat sat on a mat and ate a fat rat.
2 The neck of Jack’s cat is fat.
3 That’s the man who sat on my hat in the tram.
4 Once there lived a Lfad who was very sad,
5 For he hadn’t any mother and he hadn’t any dad.
6 That’s bad grammar.
7 Pat cannot catch that. Fancy that!
8 A rat; a fat rat; catching a fat rat; a cat catching a fat rat; a black cat catching a fat rat.
9 A fat man is clapping his hands.
10 Ann has plaits and black slacks. Harry has a hacking jacket. Harry and Ann are standing hand-in-hand.
Vowel No 10. / e / - front, mid-open, mid, non-rounded, short, lax, narrow variation.
1. make the lips flat; well spread aside;
2. open the mouth a little;
3. press the sides of the tongue against the lower teeth tight and feel the tongue
tense;
3. pronounce / e /.
Graphical rules
1) - е - (in the closed type of syllable); e.g. pen, ten.
2) - еа - (in monosyllabic words); e.g. head, bread, dead.
Exercise 1pan – pen bat – bet and – end
sat – set flat – let dam – den
bag – beg ass – mess cat – Kent
tan – ten mass – tress hat – het
Exercise 2mental – parental mess –mass best test
medical – spherical letter – latter ten pens
treasure – pleasure better – batter never again
weather – leather shell – shall wet net
Imitation Skills Development
1. Many men, many minds.
2. Better late than never, but better never late.
3. Better to do well, than to say well.
4. All is well that ends well.
5. East or West home is best.
6. She sells eggs. She sells hens’ eggs. She sells the best hens’ eggs. She sells hens’ eggs every Wednesday. She sells hens’ eggs every Wednesday in the market.
7. Eleven hens have twelve eggs in ten nests.
/e/ - /æ/
1 Franz; friend Franz; Czech friend Franz;Jack’s Czech friend Franz; Jack’s Czech friend Franzand Pat; Jack’s Czech friend Franzand French friend Pat; Jack’s Czech friend Franzand Franz’s French friend Pat.
2 Ted has Dad’s hat in his head; Jack has a check cap in his hand.
3 Jack’s Czech friend Franz is very expansive; Franz’s French friend is very
expensive.
Vowel No 11. /ɜ׃/ - mixed, mid-open, mid, non-rounded, long, tense, narrow variation.
1. get ready to pronounce / ə /;
2. keep the lips in their neutral position; i.e. don't spread them aside, don't round
them;
3. show the teeth without changing the lip-position;
4. open the mouth as wide as you did during / ʌ /;
5. put the tongue-tip against the edge of the lower teeth;
6. see to that no part of the tongue is raised higher than another, i.e. keep the
tongue lower and flat;
7. pronounce /ɜ׃/ keeping the lips, the tongue, the lower jaw motionless.
Graphical rules
1) - і-, -u-, -е-, -у- ( in the 3d type of syllable); e.g. girl, her, turn, myrtle.
2) - ear - + consonant; e.g. earth, heard.
3) wor -; e.g. work, word.
4) were- ; e.g. were.
Exceptions: journey, journalist.
Exercise 1earn the first verb sir – serve – serf
early an early bird fur – learn – hers
earth the thirty first bur – bird – birth
Exercise 2occur –procureincur – inure
incurve – secure demur – demure
recur – endure recurve – obscure
furnish – fury further – jury
furnace – purist urban – rural
murder – mural Turkey – fury
urgent – during wording – purest
Imitation Skills Development
1 The turner came first to his work.
2 First come, first served.
3 Many words hurt more than swords.
4 The work shows he workman.
5 A little girl with a pretty curl.
6 One good turn deserves another.
7 Erna is a proverb and byword.
8 It is an early bird that catches the first worm.
9 Early to bed, early to rise.
10 A little girl with a pretty curl.
11 The nurse told nursery tales. Nightly the nurse told nursery tales. Nightly the nurse told nursery tales about gnomes. Nightly the nurse told nursery tales about gnomes to the twins.
12 Here’s an early bird with a squirming earth-worm. There’s a serpent, lurking amid the ferns.
13 Pearl is a circus girl. An earl gave Pearle a fur and a circle of pearls for her thirty-first birthday.
Vowel No 12. / ə / - mixed, open, non-rounded, short, lax, broad variation.
1. get ready to articulate / ɑ׃ /;
2. make a small opening between the teeth and pronounce / ʌ /, if you hear the
/ o / - shade spread the teeth a little;
4. the neutral vowel / ə / occurs only in unstressed position and sounds in
different ways:
a) in the word-final position before a pause it has the shade /ə ʌ/;
e.g. butter, sister, lighter.
b) at the beginning and in the middle of the word it has the shade / ə ɜ׃/;
e.g. a duck.
c) in the neighborhood with / k / and /g/ - shade / ə ɪ/;
e.g. again, to go, to come.
d) before /d/ and /z/ representing morphemes in words spelt with 'r' it is pronounced as intermediate / ə ɜ׃/ and /ə ʌ/;
e.g. letters.
Graphical rules
1) the suffixes - er; e.g. worker,
- or ; e.g. doctor,
- ou; e.g. famous.
2) the articles a /ə/,the /ðə/;
3) the letter “ а” as a prefix; e.g. asleep.
4) prefixes con-, com-; e.g. consist.
5) the letters о, u, а in the unstressed position; e.g. sofa, seldom.
Exercise 1famous rector asleep consist
fabulous reader assist comprise
marvelous doctor appease contact
hideous breeder accuse commence
Imitation Skills Development
1 Peter is afraid of the doctor.
2 Alderman Sir Edward Anderson is a prosperous government official at the Treasury. The comfortable apartment of Sir Edward Anderson is at Oldenburg. A professional burglar has entered the apartment by a ladder that was at the back of the house. But an observant amateur photographer has focused a camera on the burglar and summoned a police constable. As the burglar leaves there is a policeman at the bottom of the ladder.
Section 2. The system of English DIPHTHONGS
Diphthong is a monophonemic combination of 2 vowel elements with a gliding articulation. The stressed element (which is always first) is called the nucleus, and the 2nd one is called the glide.