Vowels and Consonants

Vowel

Vowel is a sound that we make when the breath flows out through the mouth freely without being blocked. The word vowel ultimately comes from the Latin vox, meaning “voice.”

A vowel is a speech sound that is made without the significant constriction of the flow of air from the lungs. The tongue can be at various heights in the mouth (e.g., high, mid, or low) and at various positions (front, central, or back). The lips can be variously rounded (cf. a long O and E). Vowels can vary in pitch and loudness, too.

The English letters a,e,i,o,u are called vowels, because these represent such sounds. There are 20 vowel sounds in English, divided into 3 types of vowel sounds.

Pure Vowels	Long Vowel Sounds	5 Sounds
	Short Vowel Sounds	7 Sounds
	Diphthongs	8 Sounds
Vowels	5 letters	20 Sounds

 

Pure Vowels – 12 Sounds
Short – 7 Sounds	Long – 5 Sounds	Diphthongs – 8 Sounds
/ɪ/      –      bit, busy, started	/ɑː/     –     bath, car, safari	/ɪə/       –      year, beer
/e/      –      bed, said, dead	/ɔː/     –     door, saw, walk	/eə/     –      chair, there
/æ/     –      cat, mat, apple	/ɜː/     –     bird, work, hurt	/əʊ/       –      joke, vote
/ʌ/    –      cup, up, money	/iː/     –     sheep, eagle, field	/eɪ/      –      they, bathe
/ʊ/    –      good, put, should	/uː/    –     moon, grew, through	/aɪ/     –      my, dice
/ɒ/     –      got, what because		/ɔɪ/     –      joy, noise
/ə/      –      about, the, police		/aʊ/       –      out, vow
		/ʊə/       –      poor, moor

Consonant

Consonant is a sound we make which is not a vowel. The breath is somehow blocked on its way out of the mouth. For Example, in rat, R and T are consonants. The English letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z. The letters W and Y sometimes act as vowels, as in the words my, show and happy.

There are 24 consonants sounds in English divided into 2 types of :-

Voiced Sounds – 15 Sounds
Voiceless Sounds – 9 Sounds

Consonants – 21 letters – 24 Sounds

Voiced Sound  (15 Sounds)

/b/	ball, hobby, herb
/d/	dog, added, played
/dʒ/	jam,fudge, danger
/g/	green, hug, league
/v/	video, move, of
/ð/	this, with, mother
/z/	has, cozy, zebra
/ʒ/	visual, leisure, television
/m/	man, lamb, tummy
/n/	no, funny, knife
/ŋ/	sing, uncle, angry
/j/	yes, onion, view
/l/	light, feel, smelly
/r/	right, berry, wrong
/w/	win, one, where

Voiceless Sound (9 Sounds)

/p/	pen, jump, happening
/t/	table, little, watched
/tf/	itch, chips, picture
/k/	key, car, luck
/f/	fire, laugh, phone
/θ/	thick, teeth, healthy
/s/	see, city, notice
/ʃ/	shop, nation, special
/h/	house, hungry, who

 

Note – Every voiceless sound has a similar voiced sound.