[i], [I], [e], [E], [æ], [A], [o], [U], [u], [^], [aj], [aw], [Oj] []

English vowels

We will be covering the vowels used in most dialects of Canadian English. Other dialects may not make all the distinctions given here, may make more distinctions, and may use different vowels for some of the words.

The transcriptions of the vowels are somewhat simplified. The way the symbols have been used is very close to the way they should be used in IPA, but the correspondence is not perfect.

Remember that the same vowel sound should be represented by the same symbol, regardless of a word's conventional spelling. This means:


[i]
machine[m6Sin]
heed[hid]
beat, beet[bit]
sneak[snik]

[I] "small capital I"
bit[bIt]
miss[mIs]
hid[hid]

[e]
passé[pæse]
bait[bet]
hayed[hed]
make[mek]
steak, stake[stek]

[E] the Greek letter "epsilon" -- [Eps6lAn]
head[hEd]
bet[bEt]
many[mEni]

[æ] "diagraph"
had[hæd]
bat[bæt]

script-a "script-a"
father[fAD6r]
bought[bAt]
caught, cot[kAt]
law[lA]

o
hoed[hod]
boat[bot]
low[lo]
beau[bo]

U
put[pUt]
hood[hUd]
book[bUk]

u
blue[blu]
who'd[hud]
boot[but]
drew[dru]

^ "caret"
but[b^t]
cup[k^p]
double[d^b6l]

aj
I, eye[aj]
fly[flaj]
bite[bajt]
hide[hajd]
might[majt]

aw
cow[kaw]
bout[bawt]
how'd[hawd]

)j
toy[t)j]
Boyd[b)jd]
noise[n)jz]

The symbol before the [j] is called "open o". The "open o" sound is used as a sound by itself in many dialects of English, and in many other languages, but in Canadian English it is usually only found as the first half of the "oy" sound (and for many people before r).


6 "schwa" -- the neutral vowel
banana [b6næn6]
enough [6n^f]
Manitoba [mæn6tob6]
In English, schwas only occur in unstressed syllables. (Rogers also transcribes them as part of the "er" sound in stressed syllables.)


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