American English Pronunciation: Vowel Sounds

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American English....Single Vowel Sounds
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		the, a, seven, letter, calendar, an, and, but, madam, normal, ocean, Arab, comedy, couragious, nation, woman, around, controversy, circuitous, to, at, from, for*
		bird, heard, herd, work, world, were, curl, urge, girl, early, firm, circuit
		beat, seat, sheet, receive, brief, pier, fear, seizure, obscene, here, hear, beer, serene, prenatal, breathe, the (before vowels), leisure, we, he, she
		bit, kit, mint, hill, hymn, women, it, which, av(e)rage, cyclical, bicycle, pretty, forage, pigeon, lettuce, busy, business, build, Jesus's, mountain, waited, beloved
		bet, let, set, weather, whether, when, pleasure, measure, friend, breath, ahead, instead, feather, realm
		air, where, wear, there, their, they're, various, pear, welfare, fair, aware, hair, care, scare, scarce, square
		bat, cat, hat, add, madam, and (strong form), back, have, can, can't, ask
		bad, mad, sad, glad, man, ma'am, land, fast, last, rather, class, half, halve
		father, palm, balm, calm
		cart, heart, arm, radar, hard, charm, guard
		but (strong form), putt, cup, some, mother, come, other, above, shovel, love, enough, tough ('gh' = 'f')
		should, put, good, would, could, wood, wool, woman, wolf
		shoe, to ('strong' form), two, too, true, food, wooed, lieutenant, chew, cruise, new, knew, flu, you, who, whose, sue, through, poor, moor, tour, sure, dour
		cot, hot, dog, got, God, on, from (final), what, walk, controversy, caught, bought, taught, ought**
		clause, auto, call, all, claw, prawn, paw, raw, awe
		more, mourn, tore, door, four, sore, roar, pour, pore

* This is the commonest sound in the English language, called the Schwa. "To", "the", "at", "from" and "for"are pronounced like this except at the end of a phrase, in which case the 'strong' form (Eg 'to' rhyming with 'shoe') may be used. The strong forms of "the" (rhyming with "tea") and "to" may also be used before a vowel. The strong forms of "and" and "but" are used for emphasis. See Other Sounds to hear Schwas in a sentence.

** Several pronunciations here conflict with those given in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The sounds speak for themselves. Please let us know if you have any comments on our classifications.

Last reviewed/extended March 16, 2006

Our warmest thanks go to ...

Speaker	Geographical origin	Date of recording	Approx age
Mr Cory A Perrin Ms Meg Moir Mr Tarek El Messidi	Virginia Idaho Tennessee	Oct 31, 2000 Nov 24, 2000 Mar 2, 2006	20 20 25