/ ə/ as in kingd om, ph otogr aphy, ph ilos ophy, ketch up, and h undred./ ʊ/ as in c ook, sh ould, p udding, f oot, and r ook./ u/ as in c ool, t une, s oup, and kung f u,./ æ/ as in at, apple, f at, and m atter./ ɛ/ as in end, b et, l ess, and l etter./ ɪ/ as in it, s it, k ick, m yth and b itter./ i/ as in pol ice, f eet, eat, and sill y.

In the IPA, each symbol represents a different sound, so using the IPA is helpful in pronouncing words.Ĭommon monophthongs in English (these are for General American English) include: (The IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet).

The letters, like / ɪ/, are the IPA letters for each vowel sound in English.

The rest of the letters of the alphabet are consonants:ī, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, and Z.

This means there are many more vowel sounds than letters in the English alphabet, and the English spelling systems doesn't always help us figure out what the English sounds are. In written English the six vowel letters are used to represent the 13-15 vowel sounds (depending on the variety) in English. In some languages, like Welsh, the letter W represents the vowel sound / ʊ/, like cwm (a kind of valley). The letter W can be used as a consonant sound at the beginning of in the words when, where, wet. In these words the vowel has the sound of / aʊ/. The letter W can sometimes be the second part of a vowel sound as in words like such as cow, bow, or how. Y is a consonant about 2.5% of the time, and a vowel about 97.5% of the time. It can also be a consonant sound called a glide as in the beginning of these words: yellow, yacht, yam, yesterday. In words like only, quickly, and folly, Y represents the vowel sound /i/. In words like myth and synchronize, Y represents the vowel sound /ɪ/. In the words cry, sky, fly, my and why, letter Y represents the vowel sound / aɪ/. It is said that Y is 'sometimes' a vowel, because the letter Y represents both vowel and consonant sounds. All English words are written with vowel letters in them. The sounds of American English are written with letters in the English alphabet, as either vowels or consonants. In English there are five vowel letters in the alphabet. In English it is important to know that there is a difference between a vowel sound and a in the. A vowel is a particular kind of speech sound made by changing the shape of the upper vocal tract, or the area in the mouth above the tongue.

What are the vowels in the alphabet