Watch to learn how Vowel EE /i/ is typically spelled, common words with this vowel, and common error patterns.
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Pronouncing American English vowels can be tricky because written English does not have letter-sound correspondence, which is to say that one letter does not represent one sound. This is particularly true for the letters which represent vowels, namely A, E, I, O and U. Below you will find a guide to the spelled vowels and the sounds they can represent. For an overview sorted by sounds with recordings of each vowel sound, read more here.
The way you pronounce vowels in American English is influenced by the vowel system in your native language. The Speech Modification Accent Reduction Technique, or SMART, has labels for the American vowels for ease of understanding, but we also use the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols or IPA, in order for you to see which vowels are the same in your native language and in American English, and which are different. Many languages have the following vowels: Vowel ee, /i/, vowel ay, /e/, vowel ah, /a/, vowel oo, /u/ and vowel o, /o/. Less common in other languages are vowel ɪ, /ɪ/, vowel eh, /ɛ/, vowel A, /æ/, vowel U, /ʊ/, vowel schwa /ə, ʌ/ and vowel er /ɹ/. These are more commonly mispronounced in English because they are not present in the vowel inventory of your native language.
Even if you do not have error patterns on some of the vowels, you likely would benefit from practice on them. Why is this? Because even the vowels common in other languages are pronounced differently in American English. While many other languages simple say one sound for these vowels, the American style is to use more than one sound, and to have a change in pitch. This requires holding vowel sounds a little bit longer. So, how do American vowels sound? In general, we use two sounds for each vowel, and two pitches, high to low. So, vowel ee does not sound just like /i/, but rather ee-uh, starting with the /i/ and sliding to /ʌ/. Start with a higher pitch and slide to a lower pitch. Ee-uh. Easy! Well, not so easy if you aren’t used to it. But using SMART practice, you can shift your habitual patterns and start to make American vowels in common words and phrases. Let’s try the vowels which are most common in languages other than English. Remember we are talking about vowel sounds, not written letters.
Try practicing these words by themselves, and then in short phrases. Remember to lengthen your vowel and slide from the high to the low pitch.
When a word ending in a vowel is followed by a word with a vowel, we often link the words together by inserting an extra “y” or “w” sound. You are sounds like you-ware. He is sounds like he-yis. The pattern is as follows: 1) When the word ends with vowel ee /i/, vowel ay /e/, or diphthong ai /aɪ/ or oy /oɪ/, insert a “y” sound before the next vowel.
2) When the word ends with vowel oo /u/ or vowel o /o/, insert a “w” sound before the next vowel.
Listen to the phrases above. First they are pronounced separately, then linked. Practice running the words together for a more natural, American-sounding pronunciation.
Want more like this? Purchase a subscription to our SMART online practice. One aspect all accents share is a tendency to make errors when pronouncing American English vowels. The patterns of pronunciation are influenced by the vowel system in your native language. Vowels are especially difficult due to the fact that the letters we use to represent vowel sounds are inconsistent and do not provide us with a means for describing the sounds. A useful way to gain understanding of American English vowels is to look at how they are formed in the mouth. The position of the tongue, both front-to-back and high-to-low, is the primary factor in vowel shaping. In addition, we use rounded or non-rounded lips, and tense or lax lip and facial muscles. The chart below shows these elements for each of the vowel sounds. Click on the symbols to hear the vowel sounds. In the top left corner of the chart, we find /i/, or "Vowel ee," as in eat. This vowel has tense lips, a high front tongue and no lip rounding. Notice that /ɪ/, "Vowel ɪ," as in it, also has a high front tongue, but is slightly lower and further back than vowel ee. The lips and face are more relaxed (less of a smile) for this sound. Because they are made in a similar way and sound similar, many people substitute vowel ee for vowel ɪ. Their native language may not contain vowel ɪ, and vowel ee is the closest vowel. You can read more about producing these two sounds here, and watch a video. You can practice words with these sounds using free online audio recordings here. The diagram above uses IPA symbols to represent the sounds. This website uses a combination of IPA symbols and our own naming system for the vowel sounds. Below is a list of the vowels, their IPA symbol and name, and example words and spellings. Click on the IPA symbol or vowel name to hear the vowel sound and a sample word. For more examples of common words with these vowels and recordings to practice, check out our online courses.
In addition to these single vowel sounds, or monophthongs, we also slide from one vowel to the next in some words. These 2-vowel slides are called diphthongs, and are represented in the graphic below by the arrows pointing from the first vowel in the slide to the second. Also included here are words with each of the vowels. You can listen to these vowels below.
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