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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Phonetics and Phonology

Vowel

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈvaʊəl/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, vowel means: A speech sound made with the air flowing freely through the mouth, without the tongue or lips blocking it, such as the sounds in see, cat and boot.

In Turkish: ünlü, sesli harf

How it is used

Teachers separate vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) from vowel sounds: English has five vowel letters but around 20 vowel sounds in standard British English. Vowels are described as short or long, front or back, high or low.

Example sentences

  1. Turkish has eight vowels, but English has many more vowel sounds, which is why ship and sheep are tricky.

  2. The vowel in 'cup' does not exist in Turkish.

Common collocations

  • vowel sound
  • long vowel
  • short vowel
  • vowel harmony
  • vowel chart
  • consonantA speech sound made by partly or completely blocking the air in the mouth or throat, such as /p/, /s/ or /m/; also a letter that usually spells such a sound.
  • schwaThe short, weak, central vowel /ə/, the most common vowel sound in English, heard in unstressed syllables such as the first sound of 'about' or the end of 'teacher'.
  • syllableA unit of pronunciation built around a vowel sound, often with consonants before or after it; 'banana' has three syllables: ba-na-na.
  • phonemeThe smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a particular language, such as /p/ and /b/, which make pin and bin different words in English.

More terms: Phonetics and Phonology

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