Vowel Chart

IPA Chart

The IPA chart is a system of symbols used to represent all of the possible human speech sounds. The symbols on the IPA chart are split into different sections:

• Pulmonic consonants

  • Consonant sounds created with air flowing from the lungs.

• Non-pulmonic consonants

  • Consonant sounds created without the use of air pressure from the lungs. Non-pulmonic consonants can be split into three different types: clicks, voiced implosives, and ejectives.

• Vowels

  • These are speech sounds created when there is no obstruction or friction caused during sound production.

• Diacritics

  • Small symbols used to show modifications to consonant or vowel pronunciations.

• Suprasegmentals

  • Small symbols used to represent prosodic features of speech, such as tone or stress.

• Other symbols

  • The other symbols section of the IPA chart shows other consonant sounds that can be produced but that don't fit into the pulmonic/non-pulmonic consonants table.

Fig 1. The IPA chart

IPA Chart Vowels

Now then, as this article is about vowels, let's have a closer look at what they are.

Vowels can be described according to their openness, front or backness, and roundedness.

Closed vs. Open Vowels

In terms of openness, a vowel can be open, open-mid, close-mid, or closed. These terms relate to the shape and positioning of the mouth when making the vowel sound.

Mid vowels are produced with the tongue in the vertically central part of the mouth, and open-mid and open-closed vowels are produced with the tongue slightly above or slightly below the vertically central position.

Here are some examples of open, open-mid, mid, closed-mid, and closed vowels.

Front vs. Back Vowels

Front and back vowels are defined depending on where the highest part of the tongue is in the mouth.

A front vowel is produced when the highest part of the tongue is at the front of the mouth, and a back vowel is produced when the highest part of the tongue is at the back of the mouth. A vowel can also be central when the highest part of the tongue is in a more central position in the mouth.

Here are some examples of front, central and back vowels:

Rounded vs. Unrounded Vowels

Vowels can be described as being either rounded or unrounded. These terms refer to the shape of the lips while a vowel is being produced.

Fig. 3. If you mimic this shape with your lips, you'll be able to make an 'oh' sound but not an 'eee' sound.

Vowel Chart Phonetics

The vowel chart in phonetics shows all of the monophthong vowels. Vowels can also be diphthongs, though, or even triphthongs.

Monophthongs

There are ten monophthong vowels used in English:

• /i:/ as in cheese - /tʃi:z/

• /ɪ/ as in big - /bɪg/

• /ɛ/ as in beg - /bɛg/

• /æ/ as in bag - /bæg/

• /ə/ as in ruler - /ru:lə/

• /u:/ as in dune - /dʒu:n/

• /ʊ/ as in could - /kʊd/

• /ʌ/ as in cup - /kʌp/

• /ɔ/ as in more - /mɔ:/

• /ɒ/ as in gone - /gɒn/

Diphthongs

There are eight diphthong vowels used in the English language. These are:

• /ɪə/ as in fear - /fɪə/
• /eɪ/ as in gate - /geɪt/
• /ʊə/ as in poor - /pʊə/
• /ɔɪ/ as in coin - /kɔɪn/
• /əʊ/ as in know - /nəʊ/
• /eə/ as in there - /ðeə/
• /aɪ/ as in eye - /aɪ/
• /aʊ/ as in loud - /laʊd/

Triphthongs

Now then, as well as monophthongs and diphthongs, vowels can also be triphthongs.

Triphthong vowels are the least common type of vowel in English and only appear in a few words in Standard English.

Here are some examples of words with triphthong vowels:

• tyre - /taɪə/
• power - /paʊə/
• greyer - /gɹeɪə/
• rower - /rəʊə/
• destroyer - /dəstɹɔɪə/

Vowel Chart for English

The IPA vowel chart has 28 vowel sounds. These are all the vowel sounds that can possibly be made in human speech. However, not all of these vowels are used in English. There are 12 monophthong vowels and eight diphthong vowels used in English.

The vowels specific to a language are displayed in phonemic charts.

Long and Short Vowel Chart

You may have noticed throughout this article that some vowels written using the IPA are followed by a colon, and some aren't (such as /æ/ and /u:/). When a colon follows a vowel, it means it is a long vowel.

Here is a chart of the long and short monophthong vowels used in English:

IPA Vowel Chart with Examples

Now that we've gone over all the possible vowel sounds in the English language, let's cover them again in one place with some examples.

^{1. O'Grady, G. 2013. Key Concepts in Phonetics and Phonology. p. 150}