English Vowels

Describing the vowels of English is a much more complex task than doing the same for the consonants. The main reason for this is the magnitude of variation and differences in the inventories of different varieties of English. The number of consonant phonemes is the same in all varieties of English (24), and the dialectal variations are relatively small. When we look at the vowels, however, we see that the number of phonemes varies, and the phonetic realizations of these phonemes may differ from one variety to another. Thus, in order not to overwhelm the primary readership– students and practitioners of Applied Linguistics, TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), and Communication Disorders in the United States – our main focus will be American English.