BAST ENGLISH Free language learning resources.
© Samuel Haldane 2005-2006
BAST Home English Common Errors Grammar Summary Pronunciation Problem Areas Reference Verbmaster
Pronunciation and Spelling:
Pronouncing Single Vowel-Letters

This website uses symbols to transcribe phonemes (sounds). For an explanation of what these symbols represent, click here: vowels, consonants. The following special symbols are used:
ə Λ ā ē ī ō ū ű œ θ δ š ž č ĵ ŋ
If your browser cannot display any of these characters, you are advised to move to a browser which can, such as Internet Explorer 6.0.
Note: an apostrophe ' is placed before the accented vowel.
Closely related pages: History of the vowels. Forming derivatives. Spelling rules for adding suffixes.

Each of the vowel-letters a, e, i, o and u has a 'long' and a 'short' pronunciation. The letter y, when used to represent a vowel sound, behaves like the letter i.

These letters, when written alone (with no other vowel-letter next to them) are most typically used for a long or a short pronunciation at follows. Of course, this is only a tendency: there are many exceptions.

Letter Most typical short pronunciation Most typical long pronunciation Examples of exceptions
a /a/
cat /k'at/
happen /h'apn/
contract /k'ontrakt/
antique /ant'īk/		 /ē/
face /f'ēs/
table /t'ēbl/
invade /inv'ēd/
invasion /inv'ēžn/		 Shangri-la /Sangril'ā/
ma /m'ā/
ta /t'ā/
e /e/
bed /b'ed/
pendant /p'endnt/
invest /inv'est/
elevation /eliv'ēšn/		 /ī/
be /b'ī/
Eden /'īdn/
eve /'īv/
complete /kmpl'īt/
completion /kmplīšn/
below /bil'ō/
ace /'ēs/
i, y /i/
sit /s'it/
bitten /b'itn/
commit /km'it/
commission /km'išn/
tryst /tr'ist/		 /ai/
fly /fl'ai/
site /s'ait/
chitin /k'aitin/
deride /dir'aid/
derisive /dir'aisiv/		 very /v'erī/
pizza /p'ītsə/
o /o/
dog /d'og/
rotten /r'otn/
compost /k'ompost/
periodic /pīrī'odik/		 /ō/
go /g'ō/
rose /r'ōz/
opaque /ōp'ēk/
erode /ir'ōd/
erosion /ir'ōžn/		 move /m'ūv/
love /l'Λv/
u /u/
put /p'ut/

or /Λ/
putt /p'Λt/
supple /s'Λpl/
undo /Λnd'ū/
instruct /instr'Λkt/		 /ū/
rude /r'ūd/
prune /pr'ūn/
illuminate /il'ūminēt/

or /ű/
cute /k'űt/
puny /p'űnī/
mutant /m'űtnt/
mutation /műt'ēšn/

or /jū/
use /j'ūs/

Guidelines on vowel-letter pronunciation

Guideline 1. Most commonly, a single vowel-letter (a, e, i, o or u) written alone at the end of a word is pronounced with its 'long form':

be /b'ī/, he /h'ē/, maybe /m'ēbī/ or /mēb'ī/
fly /fl'ai/, by /b'ai/, try /tr'ai/
go /g'ō/, info /'infō/, halo /h'ēlō/

Exception 1.1. At the end of a word, a will usually be pronounced /ā/ or /ə/:

ta /t'ā/, pizza /p'ītsə/

Exception 1.2. At the end of a word, e is usually silent (not pronounced) unless this would leave the word with no syllables:

gate /g'ēt/, rhyme /r'aim/, poke /p'ōk/

Exception 1.3. At the end of a word, y is more often used than i. If they represent an unaccented vowel, this is usually pronounced /ī/.

quickly /kw'iklī/, ready /r'edī/, silly /s'ilī/

Exception 1.4. In some words, usually very basic elements of the English language, o at the end of a word is pronounced /ū/.

do /d'ū/, to /t'ū/, two /t'ū/

Do and to have many compounds, all with /ū/, like
undo /Λnd'ū/, redo /rīd'ū/, into /'intū/, onto /'ontū/, unto /Λnt'ū/.

Guideline 2. Adding one or more consonant-letters after a single vowel-letter converts the vowel-letter to its short pronunciation:

be /b'ī/ versus bet /b'et/, beck /b'ek/
we /w'ī/ versus well /w'el/, west /w'est/
go /g'ō/ versus got /g'ot/, god /g'od/
so /s'ō/ versus sock /s'ok/, sop /s'op/

Guideline 3. Writing a vowel-letter (including silent e) after a single vowel-letter followed by a single consonant-letter converts the vowel-letter to its long pronunciation:

bid /b'id/ versus bide /b'aid/, biding /b'aidiŋ/
rot /r'ot/ versus r'ote /rōt/, r'ota /rōtə/

Guideline 4.
But if more than one consonant-letter comes between the vowel-letters, the first vowel letter keeps its short pronunciation. The multiple consonant-letters 'protect' the vowel-letter from being made long:

bid /b'id/, bidden /b'idn/, bidding /b'idiŋ/
rot /r'ot/, rotten /r'otn/, rotting /r'otiŋ/

Guideline 5. This means that a root with a long vowel sound followed by a single consonant sound is often written with a silent e. When an ending starting with a vowel-letter is added to the root, the silent e is removed in spelling:

bake /b'ēk/, baking /b'ēkiŋ/
ride /r'aid/, riding /r'aidiŋ/

The silent e of the root form and the vowel-letter in the suffix perform the same function in spelling: they make the preceding vowel-letter 'long' (guideline 3).

Guideline 6. Conversely, a root with a short vowel sound followed by a single consonant sound is often written with a single consonant-letter in the root form, but when an ending starting with a vowel-letter is added to the root, the consonant-letter is doubled in spelling:

bat /b'at/, batting /b'atiŋ/
pop /p'op/, popping /p'opiŋ/

Doubling the consonant-letter 'protects' the preceding vowel-letter from being made long (guideline 4).

The following spellings illustrate how the system works:



Consonant-letter Ending Pronunciation of vowel
ride /r'aid/ single silent e long
riding /r'aidiŋ/ single starts with vowel-letter long
rid /r'id/ single none short
ridding /r'idiŋ/ double starts with vowel-letter short

Note that there are many roots with a short vowel spelt with two consonant-letters in all forms. These do not change in this way:

back /b'ak/, backing /b'akiŋ/
spell /sp'el/, spelling /sp'eliŋ/
miss /m'is/, missing /m'isiŋ/

Many of these end with ck, ll or ss. It is usual (but not required) that roots ending in /k/, /l/ or /s/ are spelt with ck, ll or ss, especially in words of Old English origin.

Words spelling these sounds with single consonants tend to be more recent loan-words like anorak and gas.

See also:
History of the vowels.
Forming derivatives.
Spelling rules for adding suffixes.

1
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws