,1

Primary CardinalVowel Chart

SecondaryCardinalVowel Chart

Mapping the RP vowels on the chart

The approximate positions of the 12 RP vowel phonemes are presented in Figure 62.
They are distributed as follows: four front /i:, I, e, rei, five back lu~, v, 0:, 0, a:1 and
three central ones 13:, a, AI. Out of these,four are close li:, IT U:, vi. They are also
termed high. Four of them are mid le, 0:, 3:, al (appearing between the half-close
and half-open positions) and four are roughly open Ire, 0, 0:, N. These are also
termed low. It is important to note that vowels are traditionally not represented as
dots at specific points on vowel charts, but as little circles. This is because there is no
one specific point of articulation for each vowel that all speakers of a particular accent
use. Instead, there is a larger area of articulation, depending on the various idiolects.

0:
A

The RP vowels
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