VOWEL SOUNDS By Dinzei Maureen Marris

 

Topic:     Vowel Sounds By Dinzei Maureen Marris 

Learning Objectives:

As the lesson progresses, students should be able to:

* Define a Monophthong

* Mention types of vowel sound

* differentiate between the short vowel and the long vowel.

*Give examples of  monophthongs

* Identify them in sentences

Introductory Activity 

Read these pairs aloud: 

ship/sheep

 full/fool, 

hat/heart.  

Identify whether the vowel sounds are the same or different.

Content:

          Vowel sounds are sounds produced from the mouth without an instruction of air from the lungs. 

The English vowel sounds are twenty five in number. These vowels consist of twelve monophthongs and eight diphthongs and five triphthongs . 

Monophthongs refer to a single vowel sound. They are twelve in number. They can be sub-divided into long and short vowel sounds:

The short vowel sounds are seven (7). They are:

1. / I /

‘a’        -           village, adage

‘e’        -           before, women, English

‘u’        -           business, busy, minute

‘ei’       -           foreign

‘ui’       -           build, guilt

‘y’        -           symbol, lynch, myth

‘O’       -           women

‘I’        -           sit, pig, big, pit, kid

2. /e /

‘a’        -           many, any

‘ou’      -           said

‘ay’      -           says

‘e’        -           bed, peg, egg, net.

‘ea’      -           dead, bread, head

‘ue’      -           guess, guest

‘eo’      -           leopard, jeopardy, Geoffrey

‘ie’       -           friend

‘u’        -           bury

3. / æ /    

‘a’        -           pat, hat, track, bag, trap

‘ai’       -           plait

4. / ɒ/

‘a’        -           watch, want, what

‘ou’      -           cough, trough

‘au’      -           laurel, because, sausage

‘o’        -           cot, cod, pot, hot

‘ow’     -           knowledge

5. / ʊ /

‘o’        -           woman, bosom, wolf

‘oo’      -           book, took, wood, wool

‘ou’      -           would, should, could

‘u’        -           pull, bull, put, sugar

6. / ʌ /

‘o’        -           mother, colour, money

‘oe’      -           does

‘ou’      -           country, tough, double

‘oo’     -          blood, flood,

‘u’        -           cut, hut, but, much 

7. /ə/ (The schwa sound)

‘ae’      -           away, above, ago

‘er’       -           daughter, brother

‘or’      -           doctor, monitor

‘our’    -           clamour, colour, favour

https://youtu.be/C2c0zG47k3k?si=kCv1YWWqHyp8grcn

The long vowel sounds are five (5). They are:

8. / iː /

‘uay’    -           quay

‘ae’      -           Caesar, aesthetic

‘e’        -           mete, procedure, eve,

‘ee’      -           peel, meet, seek,

‘ae’      -           heat, seat, meat

‘ai’       -           machine, prestige

‘ei’       -           receive, deceive

‘ie’       -           relieve, believe

‘oe’      -           foetus, amoeba

‘ui’       -           suite

‘eo’      -           people

9.  ɑː /

‘a’        -           father, pass, vase

‘ar’       -           car, park, mark

‘ear’     -           heart

‘er’       -           clerk, sergeant

‘al’       -           palm, calm, half

‘au’      -           laugh, aunt

10. / ɜː/

‘er’       -           germ, verve, fertile,

‘ear’     -           learn, yearn, pearl

‘ir’       -           shirt, skirt, firm

‘ur’      -           burn, turn, curl, burden

‘our’    -           journey, mourners, courtesy.

11. / ɔː/

‘a’        -           water, wall, talk

‘aw’     -           hawk, awe, law

‘au’      -           laud, caught, daughter

‘oa’      -           board, roar, hoard

‘ou’      -           bought, sought, fought

‘or’      -           fork, north, stoke

‘oo’      -           door

‘o’        -           floral, Florence

‘our’    -           count, bourdon

‘ar’       -           warm, war, wharf

12. / uː/

‘eu’      -           feudal, leukaemia

‘ew’     -           ewe, stew, blew

‘o’        -           move, tomb, prove

‘oe’      -           shoe

‘ou’      -           soup, coup, youth

‘oo’      -           pool, tooth, school

‘u’        -           tune, rude, prune

‘ue’      -           sue, cue, blue

‘ui’       -           juice, fruit, suit

Diphthongs (Gliding Vowels)

These are vowel sounds in which the tongue glides from one vowel position towards another within the same syllable. Video Link https://youtu.be/dg2Ep3DF8VY?si=pMlEmytH5eJIyzar

Triphthongs

These involve a glide through three vowel qualities within one syllable. Their pronunciation varies by accent, and some speakers simplify them.

fire                  /faɪə/

hour              /aʊə/

player          /pleɪə/

lower          /ləʊə/

Sentence Examples

 Read these sentences aloud and identify the target vowel sound in each sentence.

1. The cat sat on the mat. Target sound: /æ/

2. The ship sailed across the sea. Target sound: /ɪ/

3. I can see a sheep on the farm. Target sound: /iː/

4. The bird is sitting in the tree. Target sound: /ɜː/

5. Please close the door. Target sound: /ɔː/

6. The children went to their home. Target sound: /əʊ/

7. The boy bought a toy. Target sound: /ɔɪ/

8. The rain fell throughout the day. Target sound: /eɪ/

9. We found a mouse in the house. Target sound: /aʊ/

10. The car stopped near the park. Target sound: /ɑː/

 

 Identify the vowel sounds underlined in the words below:

Perm                            /   /     Money / /

Gracious                      /   /

Brother                        /   /

Nuisance                     /   /

Quality                        /   /

Psalm                           /   /

Crack                           /   /

Jeopardy                      /   /      

People                         /   /