For English learners, it is very difficult to be able to read, as vowels in English are not pronounced the way they are written. For correct reading, you need to follow the transcription. It shows how vowels are read in English.
History of the English alphabet
According to the official version, the English alphabet is 500 years older than the Russian one. Before the arrival of Christians, the ancestors of modern English used runic writing. In the 9th century, the Anglo-Saxons officially began to use the Old English Latin script, which consisted of 20 Latin letters, 2 runes and 2 modified Latin graphemes.
Until the 11th century, there were attempts to streamline the English alphabet, but they were unsuccessful, because the Saxons used the old runic along with the new letter.
Today the English alphabet includes 26 characters:
- English vowels - 5 letters;
- English consonants - 21 letters.
It is worth noting that the letters Y and R stand apart, because, depending on the position in the word, they can denote both a consonant and a vowel sound.
Why do I need to know the English alphabet?
Knowledge is notonly spelling, but also pronunciation of letters is an important condition for English learners. Why? The fact is that the spelling and pronunciation of English words do not match, since their recording does not follow any rules. Therefore, carriers often resort to the so-called spelling (from the word spell) - spelling. This difference in the English language is easy to understand on the spelling of the surname Smith (Smith), which, in addition to the popular spelling, can also have the following options:
- Smithe;
- Smythe;
- Smyth,
- Psmith.
The pronunciation of all surnames is the same.
The spelling skill is necessary for all English-speaking people, so even from school, the formation of the ability to quickly spell words begins. For example, in geography lessons, the teacher, without requests from the students, names new geographical names for them. Any other teacher does the same if a word is difficult or unfamiliar to students in the lesson.
Therefore, when learning English, one should pay due attention to the formation of the spelling skill, in which one cannot do without knowing the alphabet.
How do you pronounce vowels in English ?
English vowels, depending on their position in the word, can be short or long. This means that short ones are simply pronounced and similar to Russian vowels, while the second ones need to be pronounced longer, almost sung or pronounced as if you need to know where to put the stress. When pronunciation, it is extremely important to observe this rule, since fromit depends on the meaning of the word. For example, in the word ship (ship), the sound [and] is pronounced as in the word “willow”. In the word sheep (sheep), the phoneme [and] is pronounced drawlingly, as if it needs to be stressed.
English vowels are divided into:
- short vowels - mother (mother), map (map), pencil (pencil), cup (cup), pot (bowler).
- long vowels - father (father, dad), soon (soon, soon), dawn (dawn), bee (bee).
- diphthongs - 2 English vowels that are pronounced as one phoneme - fuel (fuel), bow (bow), coat (coat), fine (good).
What are the rules for reading vowels?
English vowels, unlike consonants, follow a variety of reading rules:
- rules of closed and open syllables (c.s. and o.s.);
- vowel + r;
- vowel + r +vowel;
- Stressed vowel combinations.
Knowing these rules, you can develop the skill of almost error-free reading without knowing transcription. Consider the rules for reading 5 vowels and the letter Y with examples of words with transcription in Russian letters.
| A | O | E | I | U | Y | |
| o.s. | [hey] same | [oh] note | [and:] he | [ai] fine | [yuu] cube | [ai] my |
| c.s. | [uh] rat | [o] hot | [e] red | [and] bit | [a] run | [and] myth |
| ch+r | [a:] car | [o:] sort | [e:] term | [e:] tir | [e:] fur | [e:] Byrd |
| ch+r+ch | [ea] care | [o:] store | [ee] mere | [aye] fire | [yue] cure | [aye] tire |
Open - a syllable that ends in a vowel, even if it is mute. The mute in English is the letter E, which is not readable at the end of the word. In this case, the vowel is pronounced as it is called in the alphabet. Closed - a syllable that ends in a consonant.
- note ([note]) - note;
- nose ([nose]) - nose;
- rice ([rice]) - rice;
- type ([type]) - print;
- shy ([shay]) - shy, modest;
- he ([hee]) - he;
- name ([name]) - name;
- same ([same]) - same;
- nine ([nine]) - nine;
- fume ([fume]) - smoke;
- cap ([cap]) - cap;
- pen ([pen]) - pen;
- lot ([lot]) - lot;
- sit ([sit]) - sit, sit down;
- my ([may]) - mine, mine, mine, mine;
- nut ([nat]) - nut.
Vowel + r - the vowel is drawn out.
- card ([ka:d]) - card;
- fork ([fo:k]) - fork;
- turn ([tö:n]) - turn, rotate;
- girl ([gö:l]) - girl, girl;
- Byrd ([be:d]) is an English surname.
Vowel + r + vowel - the letter r is not pronounced, and the vowels are pronounced together as one sound.
- rare ([rea]) - rare;
- pure ([pyue]) - pure;
- here ([hie]) - here;
- fire ([fie]) - fire;
- store ([one hundred:]) - store;
- tyre ([taie]) - tire.
A separate group consists of English vowels that come in pairs and are called diphthongs. Diphthongs with examples are shown in the picture below.
In this article, we looked at the basic rules for how vowels are read in English. The main thing when learning a language is practice, and in order to learn how to read English well, you need to pay attention to the formation of reading and spelling skills every day.
