Short vowels in Standard British English Accent. Part 1

English short vowels include [ə] as in doctor, [ɪ] as in sit, [ʌ] as in button, [ɒ] as in lock, [e] as in bed, [ʋ] as in wood, and [æ] as in bat. 

                                                                                      

[ə] as in doctor

The sound [ə], also known as schwa, is a neutral short vowel sound. It can only appear in an unstressed syllable and can be graphically represented by a number of letters and groups of letters, including:

• a, e.g. agree [ə'griː]
• u, e.g. surprise [sə'praɪz]
• e, e.g. accent ['æksənt]
• or, e.g. doctor ['dɔktə]
• er, e.g. under ['ʌndə]
• ure, e.g. in figure ['fɪgə]
• ar, e.g. standard ['stændəd]
• our, e.g. in colour ['kʌlə]

Native English speakers claim that [ə] is the laziest sound, meaning that they have to do almost nothing to produce it. However, for English learners it doesn't seem to be as easy…

When pronouncing [ə], keep your lower jaw half open, and your tongue and lips relaxed. The middle of the tongue should be going up, while the tongue shouldn't be going forward. Please, see the video below to practise this sound (posted with kind permission by Anna Tyrie, the head vocal coach at www.elocutiononline.com).

[e] as in bed

[e] is a front vowel sound, that is it’s generated at the front of the mouth. It can be graphically represented by the following letters and groups of letters:

• e, e.g. pen [pen]
• eo, e.g. jeopardy ['ʤepədɪ]
• ea, e.g. head [hed]
• ei, e.g. leisure ['leʒə]
• ie, e.g. friend [frend]
• ay, e.g. says [sez]

To pronounce [e], keep your jaw half open, place the tip of your tongue behind your bottom teeth, and raise the front of your tongue. Check out the video below for more information on this sound (posted with kind permission by Anna Tyrie, the head vocal coach at elocutiononline.com).

[æ] as in bat

[æ] is also a front vowel sound, which appears in stressed syllables. In writing it is represented by the letter a, and mostly appears in closed syllables (a syllable ending in a consonant), for example pat [pæt], understand [ˌʌndə'stænd], actually ['ækʧuəlɪ], etc.

This sound is pronounced with an open jaw, neutrally open lips, and an almost flat tongue at the bottom of the mouth. Please, see the video below for some practice (posted with kind permission by Anna Tyrie, the head vocal coach at elocutiononline.com).

[ʌ] as in button

[ʌ] is another short vowel sound, which is produced in the middle of the mouth. In writing it can be represented by the following letters:

• u, e.g. cut [kʌt]
• o, e.g. love [lʌv]
• ou, e.g. double ['dʌbl]

To pronounce this sound, open your jaw quite wide (but not as wide as when you are about to take a bite of a huge burger), and slightly raise the middle of your tongue. The tongue and lips should be relaxed. You can use the video below to practice this sound (posted with kind permission by Anna Tyrie, the head vocal coach at elocutiononline.com).

P.S. … does this look familiar? :)