Most human languages are transmitted by sounds and one of the most obvious differences between languages is that they sound di

Figure 2: English vowels (Southern British variety) 
Symbol 
Example 
Symbol 
Example 
Symbol 
Example 

bead [

] 

pieces [

] 

food [

] 

bid [

] 

about [

] 

put [

] 

bed [

] 

were [

] 

port [

] 

bad [

] 

but [

] 

pot [

] 

part [

] 



Table 1: Tables of English vowels (Southern British variety) 
English vowels are usually oral. In French, there is a regular series of nasal vowels, 
that is, vowels which are produced by passing air through the nasal cavity by lowering 
the soft palate, shown by the symbol [ 

] written over the vowel. The nasal vowels of 
French are [

] vent ‘wind’, [

] pain ‘bread’, [

] pont ‘bridge’ and for some 
speakers [

] un ‘one’. Another feature of English is that front vowels are unrounded 
and back vowels are rounded, but this is not true of all languages. French, for 
high 
low 
front 
back 
central 
mid 













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7 
example, has a series of front rounded vowels: [

] tu ‘you’, [

] peu ‘few’ and [

] 
peur ‘fear’ 
In some languages vowels may be voiceless, that is, they are made without vibrating 
the vocal cords. This is shown by the symbol [ 

] written under the vowel, as in 
Japanese hito ‘person’ [

], suki ‘like’ [

]. 
Diphthongs 
Diphthongs are vowels in which the tongue starts in one position and moves to 
another. Diphthongs are very common in English: 
tile 
[

] 
tail 
[

] 
comb 
[

] 
shout 
[

] 
toy 
[

] 
hair 
[

] 
here 
[

] 
tour 
[

] 
It is possible to have vowels sounds in which the tongue moves to more than one 
addition position during articulation. Some varieties of English in the UK, Australia 
and New Zealand have triphthongs with three different tongue positions, for example: 
fire 
[

] 
hour 
[

] 
Consonants 
Consonant sounds have three basic features in their articulation: place of articulation, 
manner of articulation, and voicing. 

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8 
Place of articulation refers to where in the vocal tract the constriction is made using 
the tongue or other parts of the mouth. The most commonly used places of articulation 
are shown in Table 2. 
Place of articulation 
Articulators 
Examples 
Bilabials 
Both lips 
English p, b, m 
Labio-dentals 
Upper teeth and the lower 
lip 
English f, v 
Dentals 
Upper teeth and tongue 
French t, d 
Interdental sounds are 
produced by placing the 
tongue between the teeth 
English th 
Alveolars 
Tongue and the alveolar 
ridge (the bony ridge just 
behind the upper teeth) 
English t, d 
Postalveolar 
Tongue and the front edge 
of the hard palate 
English sh, r in some 
varieties 
Palatal 
Tongue and the hard palate Italian gn, gl, English y 
Velar 
Tongue and the soft palate 
English k, g, ng 
Uvular 
Tongue and the uvula 
French r 
Pharyngeal 
Pharynx wall 
Arabic ع 
Glottal 
Glottis (vocal folds) 
English h, Samoan ’