The Sounds of English

There are more than 40 sounds in Standard English: 26 consonants; 20 vowels.

Vowels

Vowels are made by placing the tongue in a high, mid, or low position in the mouth. The main part of the tongue can also be moved to the front or back of the mouth. The tongue can also be held in a central position in the mouth. There are 2 types of vowel sounds. These are 'monophthongs' (single vowels sounds) and 'diphthongs' (double vowel sounds).

You can learn more about how to make vowels by watching a BBC video about the sound.Click on a symbol to link to a youtube video.

Monophthongs

	front	central		back
high	i:	ɪ	ʊ	u:
mid	e	ə	ɜ:	ɔ:
low	æ	ʌ	ɑ:	ɒ

Diphthongs

centring to /ə/	gliding to /ɪ/	gliding to /ʊ/
ɪə	eɪ
ʊə	ɔɪ	əʊ
eə	aɪ	aʊ

Go to consonants

Go to pronunciation guides

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