IPA English Vowel Phonemes (Stressed, Unstressed, and R-Colored)

/i/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: High 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: Tense 

Fleet, we, eke, piece, reach, seek, Easter, creek, teacher 

/ɪ/

• Front Vowel 

  • Tongue height: High 

  • Advancement: Front 

  • Lip: Unrounded 

  • Tense/Law: lax 

Sister, business, listen, pistol, in, win, prince, wince 

Unusual ones: glee, tea, see, coffee 

Used in final, unstressed syllables that end in "y" - many/gloomy 

/ɪŋ/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: High 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: lax 

Used if proceeds "ing"

Ingest, synchronize, pink 

/ɪɹ/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: High 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: lax 

R-colored vowel /ɪɹ/ represents "ear" - Hear, Clear, Steer 

/e/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: High-mid 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: tense 

Away, chaotic, rotate, shape, cake, donate, ate, crayola, prostrate, incubate 

/eɪ/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: High-mid 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: tense 

• In stressed syllable 

  • Neighbor, hooray, saber, basin, stay, 

• At end of word 

  • Hooray, stay 

• Monosyllable word 

  • Crate, stay 

/ɛ/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: Low-mid 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: lax 

Met, etch, relish, tender, intend, red, bell, head 

/ɛɹ/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: Low-mid 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: lax 

R-colored vowel represents “air”

Fair, stare, bare 

/æ/

Front Vowel 

• Tongue height: Low 

• Advancement: Front 

• Lip: Unrounded 

• Tense/Law: lax 

Trash, jazz, stand, asterisk, man, back, tank, laugh 

/u/

Back Vowel 

• Height: high 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

Chew, clue, truth, stupid, tuna, spew, loot, tulip, super

/ʊ/ 

Back Vowel 

• Height: high 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: lax 

Could, should, hood, wolf, sugar, would, put, full, bull, stood, took 

Ʊ Vs. U following /l/ 

• Tool, cool, fool, pool 

• Either way can be correct depending on how it is said 

/ʊr/ or /ʊɚ/

Back Vowel 

• Height: high 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: lax 

Tour, lure, obscure 

/o/

Back Vowel 

• Height: high-mid 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

  Prohibit, Rotation, only  

/oʊ/

Back Vowel 

• Height: high-mid 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

• Stressed syllable 

• Ends work 

  • Bowl, below, Slow 

/ɔ/

Back vowel  

• Height: low-mid 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

All, thought, sought, frog, gong, autumn, haul, wrong, gong 

Open "o" 

/ɔɹ/

Back vowel  

• Height: low-mid 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

• Rhotacized /ɔ/ 

• Represents “or” 

• Bored, orbit, corn, torn 

/a/

Back Vowel 

• Height: low 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: unrounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

Rotten, father, bond, plod, ostrich, stop, latte 

/ɑɹ/

Back Vowel 

• Height: low 

• Advancement: back 

• Lip rounding: unrounded 

• Tense/lax: tense 

• Rhotacized /ɑ/ 

• Represents “are” 

• Car, bark, art, charge 

/ə/

Central Vowel 

• Height: mid 

• Advancement: central 

• Lip rounding: unrounded 

• Tense/lax: lax 

Alone, salami, tuna, paraded, mountain, command, relevant 

/ʌ/

 

• Central Vowel 

  • Height: low-mid 

  • Advancement: central 

  • Lip rounding: unrounded 

  • Tense/lax: lax 

• Rub, flood, trouble, button, public, lucky, Monday 

• STRESSED syllables! 

  • So default in monosyllabic words 

/ɚ/

Central Vowel 

• Height: mid 

• Advancement: central 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: lax 

Pertain, luxury, treasure, runner, under

/ɝ/

Central Vowel 

• Height: mid 

• Advancement: central 

• Lip rounding: rounded 

• Tense/lax: lax 

• Curse, third, deter, rehearse, worry, thirsty 

• STRESSED syllables! 

  • So default in monosyllabic words 

/aɪ/

Diphthong

“I” : Lye, ice, light, tie, buy, feisty 

/ɔɪ/ 

Diphthong

“oy”: Toy, join, ahoy, coin, exploit, boy 

/aʊ/

Diphthong

“ow": Loud, sour, clow, cow," 

Alveolar Tap

Glottal Stop

Syllabic Consonants

Consonants that are their own syllable

Commonly… /l̩, n̩, m̩/