LINGUISTICS
ANTHIMERIA
BLENDING
CLIPPING
COLLOCATIONS
CONPOUND WORDS
CONNECTORS
CONVERSION
CONPOUND WORD
FIXED EXPRESSIONS
DISCOURSE MARKERS
FILLERS
"It" SENTENCES
PHRASAL NOUNS
PHRASAL VERBS
PHRASAL-PREPOSITIONAL VERB
PLEONASTIC "It"
PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
THE BARE VERB
THE INFINITIVE
THE GERUND
THE SUBJUNCTIVE
THE PARTICIPLE
VERBALS
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1. I'm
a taxi-driver
What do you do?; What do you do for a living?; What is your profession / occupation / job?
THE VOWEL IN ENGLISH
A
vowel is a
speech sound made by the
vocal cords. It is also a type of
letter in the
alphabet.
The letters of the English alphabet are either vowels or
consonants or both. A vowel sound comes from the lungs, through the vocal cords, and is not blocked, so there is no
friction. All English words have vowels.
These letters are vowels in English:
- A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y
The letter Y can be a vowel (as in the word "cry" or "candy"), or it can be a consonant (as in "yellow").
These five or six letters stand for about 20 vowel sounds in most English accents.
[1] This important fact helps to explain why
pronunciation can be difficult for both native speakers and learners of English.
- The rest of the letters of the alphabet are consonants:
- B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y (sometimes), and Z
VOCALIC SONDS IN ENGLISH
Vocalic sounds are basically vowels, but not in an alphabet point of view. A vowel, from the phonetic point of view, is a sound which once it's past the glottis, is not obstructed, i.e. it can pass freely through the mouth. Vocalic sounds can vary from language to language, and here are the vocalic sounds for English and French.
The five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].
The usage is determined by the pronunciation and not by the spelling, as many people wrongly assume.
It isn't before a vowel, it is before the vowel sound. Only before a vowel sound: One is pronouced won, Universal is pronounced you-niversal. It depends on how the word is pronounced, if the pronunciation sounds like a vowel use "a" if it does not use "an"
You should say, therefore, “an hour” (because hour begins with a vowel sound) and “a history” (because history begins with a consonant sound).
Similarly you should say “a union” even if union begins with a “u.” That is because the pronunciation begins with “yu”, which is a consonant sound.
The sound in front of Unicorn is the consonant Y sound while umbrella is
the shwa sound. Therefore we say "an umbrela".
Any open sound (therefore a vowel) sound requires An.
That is why there is an "An" in front of herb in American English.
Because it has a vowel sound.
Depends on the vowel length - the difference is apparent in the examples you give. As a general guid it is that which sounds the most natural - as an aid to pronunciation.
Some of us like to say an hotel - to show off that we know it is French and the aitch is silent.
Source(s): I have a degree in linguistics.
Schwa
1: an unstressed mid-central vowel (as the usual sound of the first and last vowels of the English word America)
2: the symbol ə used for the schwa sound and less widely for a similarly articulated stressed vowel (as in cut)
The
schwa is the vowel sound in many lightly pronounced unaccented syllables in words of more than one syllable. It is sometimes signified by the pronunciation "uh" or symbolized by an upside-down rotated
e.
A
schwa sound can be represented by any vowel. In most dialects, for example, the schwa sound is found in the following words:
The a is schwa in adept. The e is schwa in synthesis. The i is schwa in decimal. The o is schwa in harmony. The u is schwa in medium. The y is schwa in syringe.
Authorities vary somewhat in the range of what is considered a schwa sound, but the above examples are generally accepted.
Some browser fonts will show the schwa symbol here: ə. Others may show either a box, a question mark, or capital Y.
English Vowel Sounds
A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any ['eni].
The same vowel sound is often represented by different vowel letters in writing: [ei] they, weigh, may, cake, steak, rain.
Open and closed syllables
Open syllable: Kate [keit], Pete [pi:t], note [nout], site [sait], cute [kyu:t].
Closed syllable: cat [kæt], pet [pet], not [not], sit [sit], cut (the neutral sound [ə]).
Vowel Sounds. Vowels and vowel combinations
The vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y alone, in combination with one another or with R, W represent different vowel sounds.
| Sounds | Letters | Examples | Notes |
| [i:] | e, ee
ea
ie, ei | be, eve, see, meet, sleep,
meal, read, leave, sea, team,
field, believe, receive | been [i];
bread, deaf [e];
great, break [ei];
friend [e] |
| [i] | i
y | it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner,
system, busy, pity, sunny | machine, ski,
liter, pizza [i:] |
| [e] | e
ea | let, tell, press, send, end,
bread, dead, weather, leather | meter [i:]
sea, mean [i:] |
| [ei] | a
ai, ay
ei, ey
ea | late, make, race, able, stable,
aim, wait, play, say, day,
eight, weight, they, hey,
break, great, steak |
said, says [e];
height, eye [ai] |
| [æ] | a | cat, apple, land, travel, mad;
AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half | |
| [a:] | ar
a | army, car, party, garden, park,
father, calm, palm, drama;
BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half | war, warm [o:]
|
| [ai] | i, ie
y, uy | ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die,
my, style, apply, buy, guy | |
| [au] | ou
ow | out, about, house, mouse,
now, brown, cow, owl, powder | group, soup [u:]
know, own [ou] |
| [o] | o | not, rock, model, bottle, copy | |
| [o:] | or
o
aw, au
ought
al, wa- | more, order, cord, port,
long, gone, cost, coffee,
law, saw, pause, because,
bought, thought, caught,
hall, always, water, war, want | work, word [ər]
|
| [oi] | oi, oy | oil, voice, noise, boy, toy | |
| [ou] | o
oa, ow | go, note, open, old, most,
road, boat, low, own, bowl | do, move [u:]
how, owl [au] |
| [yu:] | u
ew
eu
ue, ui | use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune,
few, dew, mew, new,
euphemism, feud, neutral,
hue, cue, due, sue, suit | |
| [u:] | u
o, oo
ew
ue, ui
ou
| rude, Lucy, June,
do, move, room, tool,
crew, chew, flew, jewel,
blue, true, fruit, juice,
group, through, route;
AmE: duty, new, sue, student |
guide, quite [ai];
build [i] |
| [u] | oo
u
ou | look, book, foot, good,
put, push, pull, full, sugar,
would, could, should | |
| neutral sound [ə] | u, o
ou
a, e
o, i | gun, cut, son, money, love,
tough, enough, rough,
about, brutal, taken, violent,
memory, reason, family | Also:
stressed, [ʌ];
unstressed, [ə]. |
| [ər] | er, ur, ir
or, ar
ear | serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir,
work, word, doctor, dollar,
heard, earn, earnest, earth |
heart, hearth [a:] |
Note 1: The letter Y
The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i], [ai]. As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.
[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;
[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;
[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.
Note 2: Diphthongs
A diphthong is one indivisible vowel sound that consists of two parts. The first part is the main strong component (the nucleus); the second part is short and weak (the glide). A diphthong is always stressed on its first component: [
au], [
ou]. A diphthong forms one syllable. American linguists usually list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].
Note 4: The neutral sound
Transcription symbols for the neutral sound are [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables (fun, son) and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables (about, lesson). In American ESL materials, the neutral sound is often shown as [ə] (schwa) in both stressed and unstressed syllables.
