Long English vowels

Long English Vowels

• We call them ‘long’ because we hold them slightly longer than the short sounds. 
• However, they are completely different sounds - not a longer version of the same sound.
• Standard English pronunciation has 5 long vowel phonemes:

/iː/, /uː/, /əː/, /ɔː/, /ɑː/

Open your mouth, the back of your tongue goes up to the back of the palate, bright your lips slightly forward and make them round.

a ll, f al l, p aw , au tumn, w ar m, d augh ter, bo ugh t, d oor , bef ore , f our

Open your mouth very little. Make your lips into a tunnel shape. Put your tongue further back and down to make the longer this sound.

f ew , m oo d, tw o , gr ou p, sh oe , bl ue , fr ui t.

Open your mouth. Put your tongue further back and down to make longer this sound. When you pronounce this sound put your jaw down.

f ar , p al m, b a th, au nt, h a lf, p a rk, cl a ss

Open your mouth very little, like a smile to make this sound. Your tongue touches the sides of your lower teeth.

sh ee t, l ea f, n ie ce, ea t, s e cret, k ey , sk i , p eo ple

Put your tongue forward and up a little more, your tongue, lips and jaw should be relaxed to make this sound.

f ir st, b ur n, w or st, j our ney, ea rly, pref er