What is phonetics?

Phonetics is the systematic study of speech and the sounds of language. Traditionally phoneticians rely on careful listening and observation in order to describe speech sounds. In doing this, a phonetician refers to a classificatory framework for speech sounds which is based on how they are made and on aspects of the auditory impression they make. The best known such framework is that of the International Phonetic Association . Much of our knowledge of the sounds of the world's languages comes from this kind of description, which is still an important aspect of phonetics today.

You need to learn to pronounce the 25 consonant sounds, the five vowels with 15 forms of pronunciation. Below shows the following schemes:

   Vowel:

Basic Vowel Symbols

Long and Short English Vowels

The English vowels are A, E, I, O, & U.  Each can be pronounced with different sounds. This page explains when each sound is commonly used.

Short Vowels

 The most common sound for each vowel is its “short” sound:

 ă, pronounced /æ/ as in apple, pan, or mat,

 ĕ, pronounced /ɛ/ as in elephant, pen, or met,

 ĭ, pronounced /ɪ/ as in insect, pin, or mitt,

 ŏ, pronounced /ɒ/ as in octopus, ostrich, upon, or motto,

 and ŭ, pronounced /ʌ/ as in umbrella, pun, or mutt.

Long Vowels

The alphabet sounds (when the vowel “says its name”) are called “long vowels.”

We call them ‘long’ because we hold them longer than the short sounds, but they are completely different sounds-- not a longer version of the same sound.

Long A (ā ), pronounced /eɪ/ as in ate or mate,

Long E (ē ), pronounced /iː/ as in eat or meat (or meet or mete-- all pronounced the same),

Long I (ī), pronounced /aɪ/ as in mite or might,

Long O (ō), pronounced /oʊ/ as in oats, mote or moat, and

Long U (ū), pronounced /juː/ in mute.

Other English Vowel Sounds (Schwa or R-Controlled)

Besides the long and short sounds, there are other vowel sounds.

Any vowel in an unaccented syllable has a neutral or“schwa”/ə/ sound:Examples: the ‘a’ in above, or approve, the ‘e’ in accident, camera or mathematics, the ‘i’ in family or officer, the ‘o’ in freedom or purpose, or the ‘u’ in industry or succeed.

if a vowel is followed by R, it changes in quality, and is neither long nor short. (ER, IR, and UR are often -- though not always--the same sound.)

Examples with phonetic symbols:

/ɑr/ -- arm, car, charge, dark, farm, start

/ɛər/-- air, bare/bear, hair, there

/ɪər/-- beer, ear, hear/here, near

/ɜr/ -- bird, burn, fur, herd, earth, service, sir, turn, urgent

/ər/ -- baker, doctor, letter, summer

/ɔr/ -- for, important, more, north, or