Monophthongs

2

Classification of English
Monophthongs
In terms of the position of the tongue
In terms of the openness of the mouth
In terms of the shape of the lips
In terms of the length


In terms of the position of the tongue
A. front: i: , e ,
(The front part of the tongue is raised towards the
hard palate )
B. central: , , , , : , :
(The central part of the tongue is raised towards
the area along the hard and soft palate)
C. back: , u: , :
(The back part of the tongue is raised towards the
soft palate)

In terms of the openness of the mouth

A. close: , , i: , u:
(The jaw makes the mouth fairly closed)
B. semi-close / semi-open : e , , : , :
(The jaw keeps the mouth in neutral
position)
C. open: , , , :
(The jaw makes the mouth fairly open )
In terms of the shape of the lips

A. unrounded:
(all the front vowels, central vowels, and
[a:].)
B. rounded:
(all the back vowels except [a:].)
In terms of length
A. short: e

B. long: i: u: : : :
Contrasting monophthongs in pairs
[i:] [i]
lead lid, feel fill, heel hill, leave live;
[i] [e]
bill bell, fill fell, till tell, him hem, pin
pen, tin ten, win when, bid bed,
[e] []
bed bad, said sad, beg bag, leg lag,
hem ham;
[] [a:]
bad bard, Pam palm, cat cart, hat
heart, mat mart,
[] []
fan fun, ran run, sang sung, land lung,
[a:] []
barn bun, calm come, drama drum, march
much,
[a:] [:]
far four, car core, tar tore, star store, card
cord, bard board, barn born;
[u:] [u]
fool full, pool pull, womb woman, food
foot, tooth took,
[u] []
book buck, look luck, took tuck, put
but, push hush, full dull,