The Sounds of English

You can learn the sounds of English quickly by using an 'Interactive Phonemic Chart' made by Adrian Underhill. Click here to visit Adrian's chart.

Vowels

Vowels are made by placing the tongue in a high, mid, or low position in the mouth. The main part of the tongue can also be moved to the front or back of the mouth. The tongue can also be held in a central position in the mouth. There are 2 types of vowel sounds. These are 'monophthongs' (single vowels sounds) and 'diphthongs' (double vowel sounds).

You can learn more about how to make vowels by watching a BBC video about the sound.Click on a symbol to link to a youtube video.

Monophthongs

	front	central		back
high	i:	ɪ	ʊ	u:
mid	e	ə	ɜ:	ɔ:
low	æ	ʌ	ɑ:	ɒ

Diphthongs

centring to /ə/	gliding to /ɪ/	gliding to /ʊ/
ɪə	eɪ
ʊə	ɔɪ	əʊ
eə	aɪ	aʊ

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The Sounds of English

Vowels

Monophthongs

Diphthongs

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