How many vowel sounds are there in British English?
There are 5 vowels in the English alphabet (A, E, I, O and U), and sometimes Y is included. But there are 20 vowel sounds in standard British English, in other words, in Received Pronunciation (RP).
1) The 12 Monophthongs
A monophthong is a vowel in which the tongue stays in the same position.
Note: You do not have to learn the phonetic symbols that correspond to these sounds, but many students find them useful.
There are 7 short monophthongs:
1. /ɪ/
sit /sɪt/
build /bɪld/
2. /ʊ/
good /gʊd/
should /ʃʊd/
3. /e/
pen /pen/
said /sed/
4. /ə/ (this is the schwa)
the /ðə/
teacher /ˈtiːtʃə(r)/
polite /pəˈlaɪt/
5. /æ/
ant /ænt/
cat /kæt/
6. /ʌ/
duck /dʌk/
fun /fʌn/
some /sʌm/
7. /ɒ/
hot /hɒt/
what /wɒt/
There are 5 long monophthongs.
We call them long vowels because they are normally longer than short vowels. (the two dots indicate a long vowel)
1. /iː/
seat /siːt/
sheet /ʃiːt/
2. /uː/
food /fuːd/
through /θruː/
3. /ɜː/
girl /gɜːl/
word /wɜːd/
4. /ɔː/
four /fɔː(r)/
walk /wɔːk/
5. /ɑː/
ask /ɑːsk/
fart /fɑːt/
2) The 8 Diphthongs
There are also 8 diphthongs.
A diphthong is a vowel in which the position of the tongue changes. Basically, it is a combination of two vowels.
1. /ɪə/
near /nɪə(r)/
here /hɪə(r)/
2. /eɪ/
day /deɪ/
rain /reɪn/
3. /ʊə/
pure /pjʊə(r)/
mature /məˈtʃʊə(r)/
4. /ɔɪ/
toy /tɔɪ/
coin /kɔɪn/
5. /əʊ/
go /gəʊ/
boat /bəʊt/
6. /eə/
hair /heə(r)/
where /weə(r)/
7. /aɪ/
buy /baɪ/
like /laɪk/
8. /aʊ/
cow /kaʊ/
house /haʊs/