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The Classification of English Vowel Phonemes

The English vowels are divided into two groups:

1. 
   Monophthongs and 2. Diphthongs.
   

The Monophthongs

A monophthong is a pure (unchanging) vowel sound. In its pronunciation the organs of speech do not change their position throughout the duration of the vowel.

There are twelve monophthongs in English [ i:,i,е,а;,u,u:,ӕ,ɔ,ɔ;,ᴧ,ә:,ә ]

The English monophthongs may be classified according to the following principles:

1. 
   According to the position of the tongue
   
2. 
   According to the position of the lips
   
3. 
   According to length of the vowel the
   
4. 
   According to the degree of tenseness
   

In the vowel production the tongue may move in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction.According to the position of the bulk of the tongue (or the horizontal movement of the tongue) vowels are divided into five groups:

1. 
   Front [ i:,e:,ӕ]
   
2. 
   Front - retracted [ i ]
   
3. 
   Central [ ᴧ,ә:,ә ]
   
4. 
   Back [ u:,ɔ:,ɔ ]
   
5. 
   Back-advanced [ a:,u ]
   

According to the height of the raised part of the tongue (or the vertical movement of the tongue) vowels are divided into three groups:

1. 
   High [i:,u:,u,i]
   
2. 
   Low [a, ɔ, ᴧ, ӕ]
   
3. 
   Mid [e, ә:, ә, ɔ:]
   

According to the position of the lips the vowels may be:

1. 
   Rounded [ u, u:,ɔ:, ɔ]
   
2. 
   Unrounded [ i:, i, e, a:, ᴧ, ӕ, ә:, ә ]
   

According to their length the vowels may be:

1. 
   Long [ i:, a:, u:, ɔ:, ә: ]
   
2. 
   Short [ e, u, i, ɔ, ᴧ, ӕ, ә ]
   

According to the degree of tenseness the vowels may be:

1. 
   Tense [ i:,а:,u:,ɔ:, ә: ] when they are produced, the organs of speech are tense.
   
2. 
   Lax [ i, e, u, ɔ, ᴧ, ӕ, ә] when they are produced the organs of speech are not tense.