Vowel sounds

Monophthongs

• Front vowel

  • The back of the tongue points towards the palatal. With stricture it would create the palatal approximant /j/. With further stricture it would create the palatal nasal NH (a Vietnamese sound).
  • In tense vowels, concentrate on the palatal.

• Back vowel

  • The back of the tongue points towards the velar. With stricture it would create the velar approximant /w/. With further stricture, it would create the voiced velar stop /g/.
  • In tense vowels, concentrate on the velar.

• Central vowel:

  • The mouth is most relaxed compared to front or back vowels.
  • In tense vowels, concentrate on the glottal. With further stricture it would crate the glottal fricative /h/.

• Close vowel:

  • The front of the tongue is near the alveolar ridge and behind the bottom front teeth.
  • In lax vowels, concentrate on the front of the tongue is behind the bottom front teeth.

• Mid vowel:

  • The front of the tongue is not near the alveolar ridge and behind the bottom front teeth.
  • In lax vowels, concentrate on the front of the tongue is behind the bottom front teeth.

• Open vowel:

  • The front of the tongue is not near the alveolar ridge and behind the bottom front teeth.
  • In lax vowels, concentrate on the front of the tongue is behind the bottom front gum.

Front vowels

/i/ - front-close-tense

Practicing words:

• east, eat, easy, equal, even
• dream, keep, seem, team, believe, machine, police, succeed, material, serious
• free, tea, agree, body, degree, movie, agency, employee, ability, reality

/ɪ/ - front-close-lax

Practicing words:

• ill, it, gift, limb, since, infant, instant, into, issue, incident, building, listen, window, history, minimum
• admit, commit, impose, initial, impossible

/ɛ/ - front-mid-lax

Practicing words:

• end, any, enter, extend, except, educate, emphasize, energy, excellent
• bed, friend, guess, said, yes, again, many, reflect, unless, memory,

/eɪ/ - front-mid-tense

Practicing words

• age, aid, able, agent, angel, alien
• cake, paid, same, wave, afraid, attain, famous, remain, dangerous, potato
• day, play, say, stay, away, display, okay, today, yesterday

/æ/ - front-open-lax

Practicing words

• act, ask, at, after, answer, apple, adventure, avenue, application
• chance, class, plan, staff, attack, classic, exam, standard, faculty, international

Central vowels

/ə/ - central-mid-lax

Practicing words

/ɜ/ - central-mid-tense

Practicing words

• earth, early, urban
• burn, learn, work, world, concern, modern, worry, encourage, universe, emergency
• stir, were, after, never, over, refer, water, popular, elevator

/ʌ/ - central-open-lax

Practicing words

• cut, sun, love, truck, stuff

/ɑ/ - central-open-tense

• odd, on, honest, honor, onto, option, obvious, operate, oxygen
• box, drop, lot, not/knot, body, college, follow, problem, possible, economy

Back vowels

/u/ - back-close-tense

Practicing words

• food, move, school, truth, approve, duty, improve, movie, institute, nutrition
• blue/blew, clue, grew, new/knew, shoe, through/threw, who, pursuit, withdrew, avenue,

/ʊ/ - back-close-lax

Practicing words

• book, could, foot, look, push, put, would/wood, sugar, woman, neighborhood

/oʊ/ - back-mid-tense

Practicing words

• old, owe, own, ocean, only, open, over, occasionally
• both, goes, most, road, going, moment, promote, suppose, total, episode
• go, snow, throw, ago, below, follow, hero, shadow, potato, studio

/ɔ/ - back-open-tense

Practicing words

• off, ought, almost, always, author, offer, office, often, audience, authority
• boss, cause, cost, dog, soft, talk, want, closet, coffee, daughter
• draw, jaw, law, raw, withdraw

Diphthongs

/ɑɪ/

Practicing words

• eye/I, ice, ideal, island, item, isolate
• child, kind, smile, type, define, device, private, science, analyze, exercise
• die, fly, shy, sky, why, deny, nearby, supply, classify, identify

/ɔɪ/

Practicing words

• oil
• choice, join, joint, noise, point, avoid, loyal, poison, appointment, employee
• boy, toy, destroy, enjoy

/aʊ/

Practicing words

• hour/our, ounce, out
• brown, count, doubt, down, mouse, sound, amount, flour/flower, surround, towel
• cow, how, now, eyebrow

References

Pronuncian.com