Category Archives: Vowel sequences

Vowel Sequences 4 –sort of!!

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In Vowel Sequences 1 and Vowel Sequences 2, we learned about the strategy of using the end part of a Long-vowel (the off-glide) to create a transition to another vowel after it. This creates a clear boundary between two vowels and also serves as a bridge to help your tongue move from the first vowel to the second.

NOTE: If you have not yet seen Vowel Sequences 1 or Vowel Sequences 2, it will probably help to start there first, so that you can see some examples and better understand this topic.

We can use the same vowel-sequence strategy, to help us more clearly and easily say words that have a Long-vowel followed by “R” or “L”. This is because the “R” of English has some phonetic properties that are similar to vowels, and this is also why “R” can sometimes even act as a vowel. For example, in the word “never” the second syllable is just an R-sound, and the “E” is silent. (See more examples in: The Power of R). Likewise, the “L” can also sometimes be a substitute for a vowel sound, for example, in the word “buckle” the second syllable is just an L-sound, and the “E” is silent.

Example 1: The word “more”

I have noticed that many students have difficulty clearly saying words with a Long-O followed by “R”, such as, “more”, “form”, “course”, or “board.” For example, the word “or” sometimes sounds more like the word “are”, or “all”, or “owe” or even “awe.”

Using the vowel-sequence strategy for “O+R” can make these words easier to pronounce and sound better.  Let’s look at how this works with the word “more”:

  • looking at the IPA symbol for Long-O (/ow/) reveals the off-glide that we need
  • the off-glide, /w/, will be used for the transition — so we make it a little bit stronger
  • so for the word “more” the lip and tongue movements actually follow the same sequence as the word “mower”
  • in fact, when the word “more” is spoken emphatically, it does sound just the same as “mower,” for example, when somebody is expressing a strong desire and says “But I want more!”

Example 2: The word “fair”

The word “fair” has a Long-A followed by “R”:

  • the IPA symbol for Long-A (/ey/) shows us the off-glide we need
  • the off-glide, /y/, gets strengthened a bit to be used for the transition
  • the word “fair” is really more like saying “fayer” (rhymes with “prayer”)
  • an unhappy child will often emphasize the /y/ part when they say “That’s not fair!”

More examples

Here are words with each of the long vowels followed by an “R” or “L.” Listen for the /y/ transition after Long-A, Long-E, and Long-I, and the /w/ transition after Long-O and Long-U.

Words with a long-vowel + “R”: scare / here / fire / core / lure

Words with a long-vowel + “L”: nail / feel / pile / stole / mule

All of the words shown here are just one syllable, and they would never be split apart for writing purposes. However, when you are speaking, it almost feels a little bit like they are two syllables for your mouth, so thinking of it that way, can be a helpful strategy as you train your mouth to say these sequences.

Vowel Sequences 3

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In Vowel Sequences part 1 and part 2, we learned that a vowel sequence is two vowels next to each other which belong to separate syllables and both of the vowels need to have their own sound.

Vowel sequences can be tricky to pronounce clearly, unless you know the secret trick of using the end part of the first vowel as a separator for the two sounds and as a bridge for your tongue.

Many linguists call the end part of the long vowels an “off-glide”. The off-glide for Long-A, Long-E, and Long-I is a /y/ sound, and the off-glide for Long-O and Long-U is a /w/ sound.

If you find it difficult to use the off-glide between two vowels, it might help to look at some examples of words that have a visible [y] or [w] between vowels. For your tongue, the process of pronouncing vowel sequences is similar to saying these kinds of words: layer / saying / growing / vowel

So, imagine a [y] between the vowel sequences in these words: chaos / being / ion
And imagine a [w] between the vowel sequences in these words: proactive / January

Vowel sequences between words

Once you know how to correctly pronounce vowel sequences, you can use the same strategy to speak more clearly when there are two words that have adjacent vowels.

Examples:

  • A vowel sequence happens in the phrase “see it”. So use the /y/ part of the vowel of the first word as the bridge to the next word, so that it sounds like {see-yit}. If you do not use the /y/ part between them, then it could sound more like the word “seat” instead of “see it”.
  • In the phrase “go out”, use the /w/ part of the first vowel as the bridge, and say {go-wout}.

Listen for the /y/ or /w/ off-glide between the vowels as I say these phrases and sentences:

  • the answer: What was the answer?
  • we all: Do we all want the same color?
  • three oranges: There are three oranges left.
  • go on: Let’s go on the bridge.
  • blue icon: Click the blue icon.
  • who ate: Who ate my sandwich?

Learning to say vowel sequences well can make your English sound much nicer and easier to understand.

Vowel Sequences 2

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Vowel sequences are two vowels next to each other in a word, that belong to separate syllables, and each one makes its own sound. In Vowel Sequences 1, we learned that the first vowel of a sequence uses its Long-vowel sound, and we need to use the ending part of the first vowel to help establish a boundary between the two vowel sounds.

Examples:

science — The first vowel is Long-I (/ay/), so we need to use the /y/ part of that vowel as a link to the second vowel, so that it sounds like {sci-yence}.

coerces — The first vowel is Long-O (/ow/), so we use the /w/ part as the link to the second vowel, and it sounds like {co-wer-ces}.

Using the /y/ or /w/ part of the first vowel has two main advantages:

  1. It creates a boundary between the two vowels, so that the two syllables can be clearly heard.
  2. The vowel sequence is much easier to pronounce because the /y/ or /w/ is like a bridge for your tongue.

By the way, don’t be afraid to exaggerate the “bridge” a little bit!

In these words, the first vowel of the sequence is a Long-A, Long-E, or Long-I sound, so the bridge sound is /y/:
area / aorta / client / idea / diet / giant / medium / museum / period / piano

(They sound like: {A-re-ya}, {a-YOR-ta}, {CLI-yent}, {i-DE-ya}, {DI-yet}, {GI-yant}, {ME-di-yum}, {mu-SE-yum}, {PE-ri-yod}, {pi-YA-no}. The capitalized letters show the stressed syllable.)

In these words, the first vowel of the sequence is Long-O or Long-U, so the bridge sound is /w/:
cooperate / doing / fluid / fuel / oasis / ruin / situation / usual

(They sound like: {co-WO-per-ate}, {DO-wing}, {FLU-wid}, {o-WA-sis}, {RU-win}, {si-tu-WA-tion}, {U-su-wal}.)

Finally, here is an extra tricky word: “bioethics”. It has a sequence of three vowels! The first vowel is Long-I, so the /y/ part is used, and the second vowel is Long-O, so the /w/ part is used, and the word sounds like {bi-yo-WE-thics}.

Vowel Sequences 1

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When you find a new word that has two vowels next to each other, you need to check whether the two vowels make just one vowel sound together (a vowel pair), or whether they make two separate sounds (a vowel sequence).

Vowel Pair: This is when two vowels are together in a word, and together they make just one vowel sound and they belong to the same syllable. For example, in the words “rain” or “head”. (see more examples in Vowel Pairs)

Vowel Sequence: This is when two vowels are next to each other in a word, and they make two separate sounds, and belong to different syllables, as in the words “diet” or “eon”.

Vowel sequences can be tricky to pronounce, and there are many students of English who have trouble saying them clearly.

Sometimes, there are words that can be confused, if the vowel sequence is not clear. Here are some common examples:

science: The [i] and the [e] both need to be clear, otherwise this word is often confused with “signs”.
coerces: If the [o] and the [er] are not both clearly pronounced, this can be confused with “courses”.
create: This could sound like “crate”.
quiet: This could sound like “quite”.

Even when there is not a similar sounding word, an unclear vowel sequence could make the word unclear. Here is a funny example: I once had a student who told me that when she first arrived in the U.S., she went to the store to buy deodorant, but she couldn’t buy any, because she couldn’t pronounce the word “deodorant” right, and nobody at the store understood what she wanted. She told me this story the day we were learning about vowel sequences, because suddenly she realized that her trouble with pronouncing “deodorant” was mostly about not knowing that the “eo” sequence needed to be two different vowel sounds.

So then, how do native-speakers of English pronounce vowel sequences clearly? Here is the secret…

FIRST: The first thing to know is that in a vowel sequence, the first vowel almost always has a Long-vowel sound.

SECOND: The secret key is to use the end part of the first vowel. This is where the IPA symbols are useful. When we look at the IPA symbols for the Long-vowels, and look at the 2nd part of each one, we can see a little pattern…

These have a /y/ sound at the end:
Long-A (/ay/)
Long-E (/iy/)
Long-I (/ay/)

These have a /w/ sound at the end:
Long-O (/ow/)
Long-U (/yuw/ or /uw/)

The little /y/ and /w/ parts at the end of the Long-vowels are the secret tool that you need to use to clearly pronounce vowel sequences.

The way to use them is by making them a little bit stronger than usual, so that they make a little bridge between the two vowels of the sequence.

Let’s try this with a few words:

science: The first vowel is Long-I, so the /y/ part should be pronounced a little more strongly, so that it sounds like {sci-yence}.
coerces: The first vowel of the sequence is Long-O, so the /w/ part needs to be used, to make it sound like {co-werces}.
create: Emphasize the /y/ part of the Long-E, to make it sound like {cre-yate}
quiet: Use the /y/ ending of the Long-I to separate the two vowels, like {qui-yet}

Now you know how to more clearly say a word such as “deodorant”!

We will see more examples in Vowel Sequences 2.