A vowel is a speech sound A vowel is a speech sound that is produced without any that is produced without any obstruction air in the speech obstruction air in the speech tract. There are twenty tract. There are twenty vowels in English. These are vowels in English. These are sub-divided into two: pure sub-divided into two: pure vowels(monothongs) impure vowels(monothongs) impure vowels(diphthongs). vowels(diphthongs).

Vowels are described based on the following criteria:

(i) The height of the tongue

(ii) The part of the tongue that is raised or lowered

(iii) The position of the lips

A vowel may be short or A vowel may be short or long. Long vowels take two long. Long vowels take two dots in front of them, e.gdots in front of them, e.g

/i:/, /a:/ while short vowels /i:/, /a:/ while short vowels e.g /i:/, /e/ do not.e.g /i:/, /e/ do not.

/i:/ it is a long vowel

common spellings.

ee, as in tree e, as in complete

as in cheese as in jesus

as in canteen as in be

as in seen as in these

as in been i, as in machine

cene, as in scene as in prestige

as in suite

ea, as in leaf ey, as in key

as in reason as in storey

as in sea as in money

as in beat

ie, as in piece ie, as in piece

as in fieldas in field

ei, as in seigeei, as in seige

as in receiptas in receipt as in deceiveas in deceive

2. /i/ it is a short vowel common spellings i, as in bit o, as in women as in sit a, as in village as in rich as in private y, as in lorry as in manage as in bury ay, as in monday as in any as in sunday e, as in pretty rhy, as in rhythm as in naked as in careless

minimal pairsminimal pairs

/i:/ /i//i:/ /i/

beat bitbeat bit

deed diddeed did

bead bidbead bid

neat hitneat hit

seat sitseat sit

3. /e/ It is a short vowel. common spellings e, as in set ea, as in heaven as in get as in feather as in beg as in thread as in let as in threat as in peck as in dread as in peg a, as in many as in any

as in thames as in ate as in says

ea, as in dead u, as in ea, as in dead u, as in burybury

as in head eo as in as in head eo as in leopardleopard

as in as in GeoffreyGeoffrey

4.

It is a short vowel.

common spellings

a, as in sat a, as in badge

as in bat as in mary

as in pack ai, as in plait

as in back as in plaid

as in hat

as in bag

as in batch

minimal pairsminimal pairs

/i:/ /i/ /e//i:/ /i/ /e/

neat knit netneat knit net

reach rich wretchreach rich wretch

read rid redread rid red

pet pat

peck pack

ten tan

EXERCISEEXERCISE: : Construct one Construct one sentence each with the following sentence each with the following pairs of words.pairs of words.

1. neat, knit1. neat, knit

2. reach, rich2. reach, rich

3. read, rid3. read, rid

4. pet, pat4. pet, pat

5. peck, pack5. peck, pack

write 5 minimal pairs each of the following sounds.

5. 5. /a://a:/

It is long Vowel. It is long Vowel.

common spellings:common spellings:

/a://a:/ It is long in the following It is long in the following wordswords

arar, as in march, as in march

as in largeas in large

as in chartas in chart

as in hardas in hard

ear, ear, as in heart as in heart

er, as in clerk as in Derby

al, as in calf as in palm as in alms au, as in laugh as in aunt

minimal pairsminimal pairs

cart cutcart cut

harm humharm hum

march muchmarch much

lark lucklark luck

dance duncedance dunce

EXRCISE. Write ten contrastive pairs of EXRCISE. Write ten contrastive pairs of the following sounds. .the following sounds. .

6. It is a shot Vowel common spellings. o, as in dog as in pot as in hot a, as in was as in swan as in want ou, ow, as in cough as in trough au, as in because as in Australia as in laurel as in qualify

7. 7.

It is a long Vowel It is a long Vowel

common spellings;common spellings;

or, as in cordor, as in cord

as in swordas in sword

as in bornas in born

aw, as in sawaw, as in saw

as in lawnas in lawn

as in dawnas in dawn

as in yawn as in yawn

ore, oor, as in before

as in more

as in floor

as in door

oar, our, as in oar

as in board

as in court

as in four

minimal pairsminimal pairs

sport spotsport spot

board boughtboard bought

stork stockstork stock

cord codcord cod

8.

It is a short Vowel

common spellings:

u, as in put oo, as in good

as in full as in book

as in cushion as in cool

o, as in wolf ou, as in could

as in woman as in would

as in bosom as in should

9. 9.

It is a long VowelIt is a long Vowel

common spellings:common spellings:

oo, as in food ou, as in groupoo, as in food ou, as in group

as in moon as in through(N)as in moon as in through(N)

as in spoon as in woundas in spoon as in wound

o, as in do u, as in rudeo, as in do u, as in rude

as in move as in juneas in move as in june

as in lose as in Susan as in lose as in Susan

ew, as in chew ui, as in juiceew, as in chew ui, as in juice

ue, as in blue oe, as in shoe ue, as in blue oe, as in shoe

minimal pairs

shoe shoot

jews juice

lose loose

10. 10. It is a short Vowel It is a short Vowel common spellings:common spellings: uu, as in hut , as in hut ouou, as in rough, as in rough as in cut as in troubleas in cut as in trouble as in Sunday as in as in Sunday as in

countrycountry as in sun as in young as in sun as in young oo, as in won as in cousin, as in won as in cousin as in one as in as in one as in

couragecourage as in loveas in love as in amongas in among

minimal pairs

cop cup

long lung

dock duck

doll dull

stock stuck

11.11.

It is a long VowelIt is a long Vowel

common spellings: common spellings:

ir, yrir, yr, as in bird , as in bird ur, urrur, urr, as in turn, as in turn

as in first as in churchas in first as in church

as in myrtle as in purras in myrtle as in purr

er, err, earer, err, ear as in her as in her W+orW+or, as in word, as in word

as in serve as in worldas in serve as in world

as in err as in workas in err as in work

as in earth as in earth ourour, as in , as in journeyjourney

as in heard as in as in heard as in scourgescourge

12. (schwa) It is a short Vowel common spellings: i, as in possible e, as in gentleman a, as in woman o, as in oblige u, as in suppose ar, as in particular er, as in mother or, as in doctor ou, as in famous our, as in colour ure, as in figure

AssignmentAssignment provide ten common spellings provide ten common spellings

each of /i:/ and /i/each of /i:/ and /i/