Long and Short English

The English vowels are A, , I, O, & U. (Sometimes Y is a , pronounced as if it were I, and sometimes W substitutes for U.) Each can be pronounced in several ways. 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 ostrich, upon, or motto, • and ŭ, pronounced /ʌ/ as in umbrella, pun, or mutt.

(The International Phonetic symbol for each sound is inside the backslashes://) When end in a vowel and then consonant (as in the examples above), the vowel is usually short. If there is more than one consonant, the vowel is almost always short. This becomes important as a way to keep the same vowel sound when adding -ed to put a verb into the past tense. We often double an ending consonant to keep a short vowel short.

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/ in mite or might,

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

• Long U (ū), pronounced /juː/ in mute.

Silent ‘E’ Rule: When a vowel and consonant are followed by an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is almost always silent, but it causes the preceding vowel to be long. (Examples: ate, plane, Pete, bite, nine, rope, note, cube, flute.)

This rule does not apply when the “i” is followed by the consonants th, ch, or sh, as in:

 Fish  Wish  Rich  With

Other Long Vowels: A vowel at the end of a is almost always long. Examples: I, we, he, she, go, try, potato and tomato.(Some English speakers use a short ‘a’ in the 2nd syllable, while others use a long ‘a,’ but both ‘o’s are long for everyone.) -Igh and -ight are usually long I (and silent GH): bright, fight, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, tight.

Often the first letter of the vowel combinations, especially ‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘ea’ (sometimes-- see Digraphs, below), ‘ee’, & ‘oa,’ will be long & the second will be silent. (An old rhyme for children says “when 2 vowels go walking, the first does the talking.”) So ’plain’ sounds just like ‘plane,' ‘meat’ and ‘meet’ like ‘mete,’ etc.

However, there are many exceptions. (See the link to English Vowel Digraphs, at the bottom of this page, for the most common ones.)

Common Examples of Short and Long Vowels

These contrasts demonstrate the rules (in each column, first short, then long):

Short Long Short Long i Short Long Short Long Short u Long u vowels a /æ/ a i /ai/ e /ɛ/ e o o /ʌ/ /juː/ /ei/ /iː/ /ɒ/ /oʊ/

can bake bit blight peck seat Sop Soap umbrella cute Example plan Fade tim high set peek Got Goat cute university tap made sit mind pet eat frog snow upon shy

A long vowel sound is created when a vowel is followed by a consonant and a silent “e” in a syllable, as in:

 Stripe  Stake  Concede  Bite  Size  Rode  Cute

Diphthongs (a combination of two vowel sounds)

1. What are ?

In English, there are two types of vowel sounds: monophthongs and diphthongs.

A monophthong is a vowel with a single sound, such as the long E sound in "meet" and the ʌ sound (short U) in "rust." Monophthongs make one single vowel sound in a syllable. You do not have to change the shape of your mouth while saying the vowel sound.

A is a more complex vowel sound.

Diphthongs begin with one vowel sound and change to another vowel sound in the same syllable. Your mouth position changes slightly through the vowel sound.

Diphthongs are often (but not always) made when two vowels are next to each other in the same syllable.

Try saying these : (the diphthongs are in red)

 brown

 fair

 share

 slow

 guy

 boy

 ouch

 away

 eye

/eɪ/ (Long A sound)

This diphthong is pronounced as a long I sound sliding into a long E sound.

/aɪ/

This diphthong is pronounced as a long I sound sliding into a long E sound.

Again, this sound can vary from dialect to dialect. Some dialects pronounce the long I sound in the following words as one single sound. Some dialects pronounce the vowel sound more like the "AH" sound you would here in "ball". Others pronounce it as two vowel sounds.

Try saying these words with two vowel sounds: (the diphthong is in red)

 sky

 try

 fry

 die

 cry

 tie

 why

 eye

/ɔɪ/

This diphthong is pronounced as a long O sound that quickly slides into a long E sound.

Try saying these words: (the diphthong is in red)

 boy

 toy

 annoy

 enjoy

 ploy

 soil

 foil  boil

/ɪə/

This diphthong is pronounced as a long E sound sliding into an Ur sound.

Try saying these words: (the diphthong is in red)

 pier

 hear

 steer

 clear

 fear

 deer

 ear

/eə/

This diphthong is pronounced as a long A sound sliding into an Ur sound.

Try saying these words: (the diphthong is in red)

 bear

 hair

 fair

 stairs

 pair

 wear

 where

/aʊ/

This diphthong is pronounced as a short A sound sliding into an "oo" sound.

Try saying these words: (the diphthong is in red)

 brown

 cow

 how

 frown

 now

 wow

/oʊ/

This diphthong is often just pronounced as a single long O sound. As a diphthong, it has a long O sound sliding into an "oo" sound.

Try saying these words using the two vowel sounds: (the diphthong is in red)

 yellow

 coat

 float

 though

 toe

 no

 low

 although