English vowels. Vowel letters of the English alphabet with transcription and Russian pronunciation

The phonetic system of many European languages ​​is generally the same and has a certain structure.

Of course, intonation plays a big role in the pronunciation of vowels in English words. There are certain rules for leading it up and down, as well as for individual turns, for example, there is and there are.

However, in the phonology of the English language the presentation is ordered English letters and their corresponding phonemes properly.

Let's try to process and structure the existing extensive material for compact and easy assimilation, applying the principle of comparative studies - comparison with the phonetics of the Russian language where possible.

There are 6 vowels in English language:

If you look closely at the capital and uppercase versions of the same letter, you will notice that vowels such as O and U have identical spellings.

Transcription of vowels in English

Absolutely everyone who has encountered the study of English phonetics experiences difficulties in correctly understanding the transcription of vowel sounds.

The fact is that in the transcriptional embodiment the pronunciation of English vowels is not similar to the pronunciation, for example, of identical Russian vowels. This circumstance is explained primarily different history origin.

Thus, the system of English vowel phonemes goes back to diphthong combinations of sounds.

For reference: diphthong combinations (diphthongs) are a combination of two or more sounds. At the same time, they can have different overtones and are designated by one letter.

Graphically, a transcribed sound is indicated by enclosing it in either square brackets () or slashes (/ /)

Let's look at the transcription of English letters:

The sign “:” after a vowel sound indicates the so-called longitude. This means that the sound must be pronounced in a somewhat drawn-out manner.

Rules for reading vowels in English

However, the table above does not yet indicate that all sounds represented by the five English letters are transcribed in the same way.

As you know, there are only six vowel letters, but there are much more sounds that can graphically represent these letters - about 24.

To make it easier to learn the rules for reading such sounds, scientists have come to the conclusion that reading vowels depends on the type of syllable.

There are two types of syllable:

• open,
• closed.

Speaking about the openness/closedness of a syllable, it should be understood that this is a uniquely organized phonetic system of phonemes in one word.

A word can have from one to several syllables, and can also contain both open and closed ones. According to statistics, almost all English words end with a closed syllable.

The theory of dividing a word into syllables in almost all languages ​​is based precisely on vowels. When studying our native language, we always say to ourselves or out loud when we have to divide a word into syllables: “The number of vowels in a word, the number of syllables.” This is indeed true and fits well with the division of English words into syllables.

So, to determine the number of syllables in a syllable:

• find the vowels in the word,
• Mentally or graphically draw vertical lines after each vowel. How many cut off sectors there are are the number of syllables in a word.

For example, take the word independent:

• count the vowels: 4 (i, e, e, e)
• draw perpendicular lines: in-de-pen-dent
• It also turned out to be 4 segments, therefore 4 syllables containing 4 vowels.

Vowels in an open syllable type

An open syllable is a syllable that either consists of a single vowel or ends with a vowel.

For example: the word bar has only one syllable, the word ru-ler has two syllables, the first of which is an open syllable, since it ends with the vowel u.

Vowels in a closed syllable type

A closed syllable is a syllable that ends with a consonant.

For example: in the word book there is one syllable, ending with the consonant k, in the word dif-fi-cult there are three syllables, the first and third of them are closed (on f and t), the second is open.

Peculiarities of vowel pronunciation in English

Depending on the type of syllable, vowels are read differently. The letter R r stands out in the reading rules. It greatly affects reading in both syllables.

For example, in open type syllable sound [r] seems to merge with the diphthong and sounds neutral - [ǝ]. And in closed type so-called short vowels are combined with the semi-consonant sound [r].

The result is this combination:

• [a] — ,
• [ɔ] — [ɔ:] ,
• [e], [i], [u] — [ǝ:] .

That is, short ones turn into long ones.

As for the rules for reading stressed vowels in a syllable, the letters u, a, o acquire the ability to be reduced (that is, become super-short) and even drop out completely. Produces a neutral sound [ǝ].

For example: in words like sofa [‘soufǝ] or today. Letters i,e,y, being reduced, pronounced as sound [i]. For example: enemy [‘enimi].

If the vowel is unstressed, then the corresponding vowel sound may manifest itself in shortening its length. Therefore, one can often observe (especially in colloquial speech) how pronouns she, he, we, me often pronounced not with long , and with a short [i].

Also, the absolute loss of sounds (when it is not heard at all) can be observed in such examples as: lesson [‘lesn], open [‘oupn], pencil [‘pensl].

Short vowels in English, examples

Before characterizing short and long vowels, it should be noted that they differ from each other not only in the time of pronunciation, but in articulation - those means of the oral cavity that are involved in their formation.

Under stress, vowel sounds are read in a truncated form, that is, they are closely adjacent to the consonant sound that follows them.

Short sounds (otherwise reduced sounds) may differ in quality and quantity. They mainly manifest themselves in prepositions and other functional parts of speech.

There they are usually unstressed, so theoretically they cannot take on longitude. But depending on the pronunciation situation, they can be pronounced drawn out or when emphasized in a rhythmic manner (phrase stress).

Qualitative reduction is a weakening of a vowel, accompanied by a change in its quality and transformation into a sound of a neutral type.

Quantitative reduction is accompanied by a reduction in the duration of the vowel sound.

There is also a zero (complete) reduction, when the vowel is completely dropped.

Thus, all reduced forms can be called weak.

For example:

weak forms - you, at [әt].

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Long vowels in English, examples

There are much more long vowel sounds in the language. For the most part, they are pronounced in monophthongs - the articulation does not change throughout the entire duration of the sound.

As already mentioned, in transcription such vowels are indicated by the sign “:”.

For example:

• Good
• Arduous
• Green

Diphthongs in English, examples

Diphthongs (or two-vowel sounds) are not peculiar to the Russian language, so it is not so easy to learn them.

They are complex (composite) sounds that consist of two vowel sounds that must be pronounced as closely as possible. It turns out that two sounds simply merge into one.

The stressed and syllabic sound is the first of the sounds to be merged. This is the nucleus of a diphthong. The second vowel in a diphthong is called a glide. It complements the core, making the combination more harmonious and easy to pronounce.

Due to the fact that the core is a long sound, and the glide is a short sound, the pronunciation of a diphthong in terms of the amount of pronunciation effort and duration is approximately equal to the classic English monophthong. Although in general we can say that diphthongs are not pronounced long, but drawn out.

Affects the pronunciation of the diphthong and its position in the word in relation to the consonants. So, before voiced consonants it is pronounced briefly, and if the consonant is voiceless, then very briefly

For example: sofa (affected by the voiceless consonant f).

Table of English diphthongs

So, there are 8 diphthongs: [ͻi] [ʊə] [əʊ].

They read more than clearly - as in the above transcription. However, there are words, for example, dear (dear) and deer (deer), in which the combinations of vowels ea and ee are pronounced the same way - .

Such cases must be remembered. Thus, we see that phonemic difficulties in the English language lie in wait for the student at every turn.

There can only be one piece of advice: compiling a “cheat sheet” for yourself with tables of English vowels, as well as tireless practice in pronouncing sounds. This can be achieved by reading texts out loud.

It is best to consult an experienced tutor about the correct pronunciation of certain vowels or diphthongs, who will carefully and painstakingly show how certain sounds are pronounced in various types syllables.

Hello reader! 🙂 Today we have once again prepared a whole training for you to learn the pronunciation of English sounds. In this series of articles (this is already the 3rd in a row) we will analyze the intricacies of the English phonetic system and find the differences between the sounds of the English language and our Russian ones.

Today we will look at the analogues of the /o/ sound in English. Or rather, they are not exactly analogues, but our phonemic hearing plays a cruel joke on us, and we:

1. replace all three English sounds with Russian /o/,
2. We don’t see the difference between these 3 sounds and, thus, we change the meanings of some words.

We will practice the sounds of the English language as before: with the help of educational videos, a special set of words, exercises, tongue twisters and a song with a standard pronunciation. Let's go!

Attention: The article uses the British version of pronunciation. I will indicate below exactly what differences Americans have.

Pronunciation of the sound /ɜː/ – long vowels in English

Pronounced in words girl, nurse, learn, etc. The sound is very complex: something between our /o/ and /e/ (indicated in the letter eate d) And e (me l) respectively), while being neither one nor the other.

I would say that you need to take the position of your lips as for /e/, hold your mouth in that position, but try to pronounce /o/. Reminds me e in a word Ge those. The sound is long.

The dorsum of the tongue lies flat, the middle part of the tongue is slightly raised, higher than the front and back of the tongue. The tip of the tongue is located at the lower teeth. The edges of the tongue do not touch the upper teeth. The distance between the upper and lower teeth is quite narrow. The lips are tense and stretched, slightly revealing the teeth.

Errors in pronunciation of English words in Russian

What are the main mistakes of Russian speakers:

1. Complete replacement into Russian / e / in words like pearl(obsolete Russian is pronounced like this pearl), were and etc.

Advice: you need to give the sound / ɜː / a hint of the Russian sound / o /. The position of the lips is the same as for /e/, but we pronounce /o/.

2. Complete replacement with the Russian sound / o /, denoted by the letter ё in writing, in words like, worse, sir etc.

Advice: give the English sound a touch of Russian /e/. The lips should be stretched, the teeth should be brought closer together, the tongue should be flat.

And, accordingly, do not round your lips, as for Russian /o/. It is recommended to pronounce / ɜː / with almost the same extended lip position as for the phoneme / i: / => see /si:/ – sir /sɜː/, fee /fi:/ – fir /fɜ:/, heat /hi:t / – hurt /hɜːt/.

A stretched lip position is especially necessary when pronouncing / ɜː / after / w / => we /wi:/ – world /wɜːd/, we /wi:/ – work /wɜːk/, we /wi:/ – worm /wɜːm/.

3. Also note that the consonant before this vowel does not need to be softened (we’ll talk about this). In words like girl, first, bird and other consonants will be hard.

Advice: do not raise the middle back of the tongue towards the hard palate when pronouncing a consonant. First pronounce the hard consonant, and then start pronouncing the vowel.

Examples for English vowel sounds

Got it? Now we move on to establishing the correct pronunciation of words in English. Setting up the speech apparatus in desired position and start training:

first /ˈfɜːst/

stir /stɜːr/

fir /ˈfɜːr/

Great! And now I’ll tell you about the difference in pronunciation performed by an American (I didn’t say it before so as not to confuse). American transcription looks like this:

firm – /f ɝ ːm/ (or /fɜrm/ as in our language).

In British pronunciation, we can only hear the overtone /r/ at the junction of words, when the next word begins with a vowel: si r A lec /sɜː r æ lɪk/.

English tongue twisters for vowel sounds will help us consolidate the result:

• G e rman l ea rners l ea rn G e rman w o rds, T u rkish l ea rners l ea rnT u rkish w o rds.
• An ea rl gave P ea rl a f u r and a c ir cell of p ea rls for h er th ir ty–f ir st b ir thday.
• The f ir stsk ir t is d ir tier than the th ir d sh ir t, The f ir st sh ir t is d ir tier than the th ir dsk ir t.

Finally, let’s find this English sound in a famous song so that it is imprinted in the auditory memory. Since we took British pronunciation as a basis, the example will be exclusively British - The Beatles “Girl”

From 0:18 to 0:30

Sound /ɒ/ – pronunciation of short vowels in English

“Inverted a in English transcription” is pronounced in words doll, hot, what. The English sound is similar to the Russian /o/ under stress (as in the word PO st) But:

• our lips are more rounded (and protrude forward),
• for our sound the language rises higher, therefore the Russian sound is less open,
• our sound is longer.

How the speech apparatus works: the articulation is much like the sound /a:/, as in the word part(). But the root of the tongue is retracted back and down even more than with /a: /, and is not tense. The tip of the tongue is pulled further from the lower teeth than with /a:/ and is lowered down. The distance between the jaws is large. The lips are slightly rounded, lip protrusion is completely absent. The sound is short.

Advice: Since the English sounds /a:/ and /ɒ/ are somewhat similar, you can try this: start saying the word part /pa:t/(listen to the British pronunciation), but move the root of the tongue back as much as possible, DO NOT round your lips too much and make the sound short - you will get the correct pronunciation of the word pot /pɒt/(listen to the British version).

To avoid accidentally replacing the sound with Russian / o /, open your mouth wider, lower and move your tongue lower. When rounding your lips, do not protrude them forward and reduce the sound.

Let's move on to practice. Let's put correct pronunciation English using a set of words:

Once again I draw attention to the differences in American pronunciation. In AmE there is practically no “short o”, and they pronounce the above words with the sound / a: / (we talked about it above) – not /nɑːt/.

Watch from 2:01 to 3:22

Let's reinforce the pronunciation with tongue twisters in English to practice sounds:

• R o b o ften dr o ps his w a llet in sh o ps, T o m o ften dr o ps his w a llet at st o ps.
• D o lly w a nts to w a tch n o vels o n TV, P o lly w a nts to w a tch h o rrors o n TV.
• Kn o tt and Sh o ttf o ught a duel. Kn o tt w a s sh o t and Sh o tt w a s n o t. It w a s better to be Sh o tt than Kn o tt.

In conclusion line from a song. By the way, finding an example was not so easy... This sound is short, and I wanted it to be heard in the song. But singers have the right to stretch out even short sounds :) Therefore, we take as an example the rather fast and rhythmic song “13 Little Dolls” by British performer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Fight them hard then keep them safe
Those 13 little do lls
One for each moodo f the day
Those 13 little do lls
Cro ss your heart and try to sleep
Leave them out to play
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 little do lls

From 1:00 to 1:18

Sound /ɔː/ – pronunciation of vowel sounds in English

The sound /ɔː/ is pronounced in words horse, wall, law and etc.

The articulation sound is similar to the previous / ɒ / - the tongue moves back and down, BUT the back of the tongue is raised half the distance (and in the previous sound the root of the tongue is relaxed), so in this sound you feel how the hole in the throat “closes”. The lips are pressed together into a small hole, as if you are planning to kiss someone. The sound is long.

That is, in essence, we pronounce a very, very deep sound /o/, but the position of the lips is the same as for the sound /u/.

Understanding the difference between these sounds is also important because replacing a sound can change the meaning of a word:

cock /kɒk/ (rooster) – cork /kɔːk/ (bark, wine cork)

pot /pɒt/ (pot) – port /pɔːt/ (port)

wad /wɒd/ (a pack of something – banknotes, chewing gum) – ward /wɔːd/ (hospital ward)

Correct pronunciation of words in English

I hope you were able to catch the articulation of this sound. Let's move on to training in words:

store /stɔːr/

shore /ʃɔːr/

floor /flɔː r /

chalk /tʃɔːk/

fourth /fɔːθ/

thought /θɔːt/

brought /brɔːt/

Note that here too there is a difference from British pronunciation. In words like ball, small, low Americans are pronouncing the sound /a:/ again, and in words like horse /hɔːrs/ and north /nɔːrθ/– /r/ is pronounced. Read more about American pronunciation at.

Now let's move on to tongue twisters:

• A ll P au l's d au ghters were b o rn in C o rk, A ll W a lt's d au ghters were b o rn in Yo rk.
• F ou r expl o rers expl o re f o rty w a terf a lls, F o rty expl o rers expl o re f ou r w a terf a lls.
• D o ra's d au ghter is t a ller than N o ra's d au ghter, N o ra's d au ghter is sh o rter than D o ra's d au ghter.

As a musical example, I suggest taking the British group Pink Floyd and the song “Another Brick In The Wall” (or rather, one word from it - wall).

From 3:05 to 3:25

We do not say goodbye!

There are 44 (!!!) sounds in the English language. We have already examined 10. In the next article of this section we will focus on consonants. We haven’t decided which ones yet, so tell us in the comments :)

Read the continuation of the section: .

The English language is becoming more widespread every day. Today it is spoken by most of the world's population, which automatically makes it an international language of communication. In addition to the American continents, it is studied in Europe and Asia. Australia, being part of the former British Empire, recognized English long ago state language. If in Western Europe American and British English are studied by children from a very early age, but in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries they treat it very mediocrely. The school curriculum briefly goes over the most common words, but the rules for their use are not properly explained to children. All this forces people to learn on their own, which is much more difficult. Today we will look at how vowels are used English alphabet in words. They influence the quality of pronunciation and perception of the language.

The consonants of the English alphabet are the basis of all words. Total There are 26 letters, of which there are 20 consonants, and there are only 6 vowels in English. Despite such a meager number, they can take various shapes pronunciation, as a result, about 20-24 sounds are obtained from 6 letters. All vowels and consonants are listed in the table below:

As you can see in the picture, the vowels in the English alphabet are highlighted yellow. Next to each letter there is a transcription, thanks to which you can learn how to correctly pronounce a particular letter. There has always been a need for transcription due to the fact that it is simply impossible to explain correct pronunciation using the example of the Russian language. If in Russian one letter is equal to one sound, then most of the vowels in the English alphabet are pronounced using a combination of two phonemes.

The final letter "Yy" can be a vowel or a consonant depending on the type of syllable. This should be taken into account when reading and morphemic analysis of words. Which sound will be determined by a particular letter depends on its position in the word and syllable.

Types of syllables of the English alphabet

In Russian language lessons, everyone learned an unshakable rule: the number of vowels in a word, the number of syllables in it. This also applies to the English language, which makes learning it much easier. For example, let’s take the word “octopus”, which means “octopus”. Oc-to-pus – three vowels and three syllables. The example is remarkable because it has everything we need: open and closed syllables.

Open syllable

This concept means a syllable that ends with a vowel or consists of one vowel letter:

1. A [hey] - indefinite article, consisting of one letter, is an open syllable. Therefore, the article is read as indicated in the transcription.
2. Rules (rules) - consists of two syllables, but only the first is open. Therefore, “u” is read as in transcription, and “e” practically disappears from the word when pronounced.
3. Far (far) – the syllable is closed. Therefore, instead of [ey], a long [a] is pronounced.

Consonants and their combinations often change the phonetic meaning of vowel letters in the English alphabet, forming different types of syllables.

Closed syllable

Book, cook, root, meet, flat and other words where a consonant closes a syllable are words with closed syllables. In the examples listed above, “oo” is read as Russian “u”, “a” instead of [ey] is read as Russian “a”.

Vowel letters of the English alphabet: reading features

You already know that there are much fewer vowel letters in the English alphabet than their sounds. What else can affect the quality of phoneme pronunciation besides the type of syllable in a word? We will look at a few basic rules that will help you start pronouncing words correctly and improve your reading success in a foreign language.

1. The presence of the letter “R” in a word. If a letter is present in an open syllable, it is practically unreadable and merges with the adjacent vowel. This produces a sound similar to the Russian “e”. If the letter is in a closed syllable, then it affects the duration of the vowel pronunciation: long sounds become short and vice versa.
2. Emphasis. If the emphasis falls on the letters “a”, “o” or “u”, then their pronunciation is practically not performed. They are read casually; the duration of emphasis on these sounds is extremely short. The result is again a sound similar to the Russian “e”. For example, the combination sofa-bed (sofa-bed) is pronounced together, its transcription looks like [‘soufǝbǝd]. If the emphasis falls on “i”, “e” or “y”, they are pronounced like the Russian “i”. For example: city, enemy.
3. Pronunciation speed. When speaking quickly, it may happen that the stress in the word is not recognized at all. This results in the fact that a long vowel sound shortens the length of its pronunciation or disappears from the word altogether. All pronouns in English are pronounced with short vowels, although according to the rules it is necessary to speak with long sounding phonemes.
4. Weak and strong forms. Short vowels are automatically considered weak because they cannot take on stress, but when combined with other letters they can form new sounds. Weak short forms are mainly expressed in particles, articles and pronouns. In full-fledged words, strong long phonemes are much more common.

The most incomprehensible thing for a Russian-speaking person in learning the vowels of the English alphabet is the analysis of diphthongs. The combination of two sounds to pronounce one letter is new to the Russian language. For a general understanding, it is worth noting that all diphthongs are pronounced briefly, but their position in the word relative to the consonants and the type of consonants themselves matter. Before voiceless sounds like “f”, “h”, “s”, “t” and others, diphthongs practically disappear from the sound pronunciation and become very short.

For a better understanding of speech and the rules of its origin, it is recommended to read texts in English with automatic voice acting. Will fit special courses or movies with subtitles.

Learn more about what the prime, colon, parentheses, and other symbols mean.

You can look at another version of the English transcription and, if necessary, print or copy it for editing in Microsoft Word
English Transcription

Pronunciation of English sounds.

Pronunciation of English vowels.

The pronunciation of English sounds is presented in Russian letters, you should understand what to convey the correct English pronunciation Using the Russian alphabet is not possible.

• ɑː long, deep
• ʌ short vowel a, as in the Russian word run.
• ɒ = ɔ - short, open about
• ɔː - long o
• zː - long vowel e, as in the Russian word hedgehog.
• æ - open e
• e - like e in the word these
• ə - unclear unstressed sound, similar to e
• iː - long and
• ɪ - short, open and
• ʊ = u - short u, pronounced with a slight rounding of the lips.
• uː - long u pronounced without strong rounding of the lips.

Two-vowel sounds

Pronunciation of English consonants.

• p - p
• b - b
• m - m
• f - f
• v - in
• s - s
• z - z
• t - resembles the Russian sound t, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• d - resembles the Russian sound d, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• n - resembles the Russian sound n, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• l - resembles the Russian sound l, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• r - very solid sound, pronounced without vibration of the tongue. Corresponds to the sound r in the word lot
• ʃ - soft Russian sh
• ʒ - soft Russian zh, as in the word yeast.
• tʃ- h
• ʤ - similar to the Russian sound j (voiced ch)
• k - k
• h - inhale, reminiscent of a faintly pronounced x sound
• ju - long yu in the word southern
• je - sound e in the word spruce
• jɔ - sound е in the word fir-tree
• jʌ - the sound I in the word pit
• j - resembles the Russian sound й before vowels. Occurs in combination with vowels.

English consonant sounds that have no approximate correspondence in Russianː

• w - formed with the help of rounded lips (as in whistling). It looks like a sound uttered with just lips. In translation it is denoted by the letters в or у ː W illiams - Williams, Williams.
• ƞ - Open your mouth slightly and say n without closing your mouth.
• ɵ - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian with
• ð - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian z