Vowels

Introduction

We turn our attention to the vowels and consonants of English, beginning with vowels. Vowels play a central role in the phonetics of English. While words can consist of vowels alone (e.g. ‘eye’, ‘awe’), they cannot consist of consonants alone. Typically, consonants adapt to an adjacent vowel, but not vice versa. When an English speaker starts talking, we can often tell within a few syllables where they are from because of the vowels they use.

Vowels are syllabic sounds made with free passage of air down the mid-line of the vocal tract, usually with a convex tongue shape, and without friction. They are normally voiced; and they are normally oral. As we will see, there are exceptions to this generalization.

There is considerable discussion about the definition of vowels; suggestions for further reading are given at its end.

The vowels of English vary enormously by variety. We will introduce the concept of keywords, a way of referring to whole sets of vowels by using the spelling of English. Keywords are written here in small capitals. When we say ‘The vowel of goose’, we mean the vowel of ‘goose’ and words like it, such as ‘loose’, ‘boot’, and ‘rude’.