/u:/

Most important spellings:

• oo: spoon, shoot, troop, boom
• ou: soup, route
• o: do
• u: June, flu

/u:/	/ʊ/
Fool	Full
Luke	Look
Cooed	Could
Shoed	should
Pool	Pull

/ʊ/

Approximate Castilian production: The Spanish sound is produced at the back and it is tenser. A similar sound can be heard when it is next to "r" and "l": hurto, pulso...

Articulation: the tongue and jaw are raised as the back of the tongue is used to articulate this vowel. Hence it is a back, close (high) voquel. The lios are rounded. 

Most important spellings

• u: full put
• oo: book, look
• ou: could, should
• o: woman 

/ɔ:/

Most important spellings

• o: horse
• oor: poor
• ore: more
• aw: saw, law
• oar: board
• ou: bought
• our: four
• a: all
• au: taught

Minimal pairs

 

/ɒ/	/ɔ:/
Cot	Caugth
Spot	Sport
Shot	Short
stock	stalk

/ɒ/

The organs of articulation maintain similar position to the ones of /a:/. The rongue and jaw are lowered as the back of the tongue is used to articulate this vowel. The lips are slightly rounded (portal, cortar, cordial, loro).

Most important spelling that represent /o/

• o: not, box, dog. 
• a: want, what, watch

Minimal pairs

/a:/

-Approximate Castillian Production: It does not exist in Spanish. This sound and /ae/ and /^/ are a focus of confusion for begginers. Some Spanish people pronounce /g/ as a guttural instead of velar, specially between vowels, this /a/ is similar to English corresponding. e.g. Haga, traga, saga.

The importat aspect is to give double quiantity, because it's a long vowel.


-Most important spelling that represent /a:/:

 1. a: ask, grass, car
 2. er, ear: clerk, heart
 3. al: half, calm
 4. au: aunt, laungh

Minimal Pairs

/æ/

-Approximate Castillian Production: in Castillian there is not a similar vowel, on the other hand it is in the speech of many Valencians. The most approximate sounds would be in syllables that had a palatal consonant. e.g. chanza, ancha, llano, fallo.

(at: /æt/)

-Most important spelling that represent /æ/:

 1. "a": hand, match, lamp

Minimal Pairs

/e/

- Production:

-Approximate castillian production: The Castillia /e/ is usually more closed and tenser than the English equivalent. Nevertheless you can get a more opern realization in the following cases.

                  

The most important speellings

       1. Ea: Head, dead

       2. E: bed

       3. A: many

/I/

- Production: When you say this vowel sound, the front of the tongue is raised towards the palate. In fact, the position of the whole tongue is relatively high in the mouth, making it a closed vowel. The lips are slightly spread.

-Approximate castillian production: in the first stages of learning English, Spanish-speakers usually have difficulties in distinguishing /i/ and /i:/, since both are varieties but don't make any difference in meaning. We can find an approximate production when the Castilian /i/ is unstressed position. (último, cursi, pitar)

The Castillian vowel us more closed and tenser nevertheless, as the English /I/ is more relaxed and lightly more centralized, some perceive it as /e/ especially in milk, fill, pin.

The most important speellings

    1. Mainly: "i" and "y"

         - Rich, lady, body, milk,...

         - In unstressed position it may be represented by any vowel: Language [ laen.gwid3]; Wanted                 [wan:ntid].

         - Money ['m^n.i]

         - Minute ['min.it]

Minimal Pairs

/i:/

- Production: Being a long vowel, it almost sound like a diphtong in RP. It is long enough to be one, but it does not actually glide into another vowel sound. The lips are only slightly spread.

-Approximate Castillian Production: It is found in the tonic Castilian /i/ accompanied by dental or palatal consonants. (Capilla, castillo, sí, chino)

Most important spellings that represent /i:/

      1. ee: see, feed, bee.
      2. ea: read, eat
      3. ie: shield, field
      4. e: scene [si:n], be, these

Vowels

Most sonorant (audible) sounds, which is caused by vocal fold vibrationl. Its usual function as syllable.

- Tongue height: high/mid/low

- Tongue backness: front/central/back

- Lip rounding: round/ unround

- Tenseness: tense/lax

Tongue Height

Put your hand under youu chin and say seat, set, sat.

High: leak, lick, luke, look

        - [í:][I][u:][u]

Mis: bait, bet, but, bought, boat

        - [eI][e][^][]

Low: cat, car

         -[][a:]

Tongue Advancement

Front: seek, sick, sake, sec sack

         - [i:] [I] [ei] [e] [ae]

Central: luck

          - [^]

Back: look, road, law, dot

          - [u] [] [] []

Tenseness

- Tense vowels: the tongue is at an extreme height or backness.
- Lax vowels
            The tongue is not an extreme position.
                  Compare Pete and pit.

Voiced/ Voiceless

The level of vibration of the vocal cords determines wheter a sound is voiced or unvoicd. If the vocal cords are apart, the air can escape unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are said to be voiceless. If the vocal cords are very close together, the air will blow them apart as it forces its way through. This makes the cords vibrate, producing a voiced sound

Phonetics

What is Phonetic?

Phonetics is the study of speech: how speech is produced and how it is perceived and it differs from phonology. The subject matter of phonology  is the investigation of sound systems by mean of observation.

ICT for 

Thanks to the ICT you can listen to authentic English on the radio stations, TV, music, and so on. Moreover you can use dictionaries, either on-line or off-line, or word processors together with sound. Make of use of your own recordings.

The Organs of Speech

Vowels in English