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Home » English » Grammar » Vowels and Consonants

Vowels and Consonants

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 By Mrs Shilpi Nagpal

Contents

  • 1 Vowel
  • 2 Consonant
    • 2.1 Voiced Sound  (15 Sounds)
    • 2.2 Voiceless Sound (9 Sounds)

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 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.

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Filed Under: English, Grammar

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Comments

  1. ANTHONY EFFAH says

    January 24, 2021 at 8:06 am

    That is wonderful. I love teaching tools you have provided. They’re useful materials for teachers. Thanks.

  2. ashour saed gomaa says

    February 28, 2022 at 10:18 am

    excellent

  3. Chimobi N says

    October 8, 2022 at 3:35 pm

    Thank you so much.This is wonderful.

  4. Promise Ubiomo says

    January 18, 2023 at 12:36 am

    Was helpful alot thanks to you people i now know the consonant and vowel sound

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