The Vowels of American English has 12 simple vowels and 3 diphthongs There are some differences in the articulation of some vowel sounds

American English Vowels Front Central Back High i beat u boot I bit U put Mid e bait  sofa o boat  bet  but  bought Low Q bat a pot

Front vowels /i/ high front unrounded tense vowel feet, meat, teacher, relieve, meet /I/ high front unrounded lax vowel bit, big, did, mist, building, women, selfish /e/ mid front unrounded tense vowel Jame, cake, make, brain, age, okay, bay, straight

Front vowels // mid front unrounded lax vowel bet, get, met, letter, bed /Q/ low front unrounded lax vowel bat, hat, vat, can, man, ant

Central vowels /a/ low central unrounded tense vowel hot, not, stop, father, // lower mid central unrounded lax vowel cup, but, was, mud, done, love // mid central unrounded lax vowel learn, turn, burn, churn, worm, standard, sentence

Back vowels // lower mid back rounded tense vowel naughty, all, salt, bought, more, war, jaw /o/ mid back rounded tense vowel wrote, cold, though, mold, old, don’t Note: /o/ corresponds to British vowel /U/ as in no, show, know, go

Back vowels /U/ high back rounded lax vowel book, look, wood, should, good, cool /u/ high back rounded tense vowel two, you, choose, knew, do,

Diphthongs There are 3 diphthongs for American English. /aI/ high, hi, bye, why, mine /aU/ wow, round, found, about, brown /I/ coin, soil, voice, choice

Some differences of vowels between British English and American English Pronunciation BE AE // /a/ dog, not, doctor, Potter, bother /A/ /Q/ chance, dance, ask, last, blast Can you think of more examples?

2. The use of symbol BE AE /U/ /o/ know, no, show, go, mobile /eI/ /e/ head, face, rain, made, same /e/ // bet, red, dead, set, bed, men

3. The pronunciation of final consonant /r/ in American English (Rhotic accent) BE AE skt skrt skirt tn trn turn pAt part part bi bir beer ed rd aired

4. The change of /t/ to /R/ /R/ voiced alveolar flap Flap = the tapping of tongue tip against alveolar ridge only once This is quiet common for American English. letter /leRr/ paRI bJuRI kWalIRI sQRde