| # English | |||||
| - [Short Vowels](#short-vowels) | |||||
| - [Long Vowels](#long-vowels) | |||||
| - [Rhotic Vowels](#rhotic-vowels) | |||||
| - [Reduced Vowels](#reduced-vowels) | |||||
| - [Diphthongs](#diphthongs) | |||||
| - [Split Vowels](#split-vowels) | |||||
| - [References](#references) | |||||
| ---------- | |||||
| The English language support uses a vowel system based on John Wells' Lexical | |||||
| Sets<sup>\[<a href="#ref1">1</a>\]</sup>. These were created by Wells in 1982 | |||||
| by comparing the Received Pronunciation British (RP) and General American | |||||
| (GenAm) accents in use at that time. | |||||
| ## Short Vowels | |||||
| | Lexical Set | RP | GenAm | | |||||
| |-------------|-------|-------| | |||||
| | KIT | ɪ | ɪ | | |||||
| | DRESS | e | ɛ | | |||||
| | TRAP | æ | æ | | |||||
| | LOT | ɒ | ɑ | | |||||
| | STRUT | ʌ | ʌ | | |||||
| | FOOT | ʊ | ʊ | | |||||
| ## Long Vowels | |||||
| | Lexical Set | RP | GenAm | | |||||
| |-------------|-------|-------| | |||||
| | FLEECE | iː | i | | |||||
| | PALM | ɑː | ɑ | | |||||
| | THOUGHT | ɔː | ɔ | | |||||
| | GOOSE | uː | u | | |||||
| ## Rhotic Vowels | |||||
| These are vowels that are followed by an `r` that is not part of the next syllable | |||||
| when considering the root form of the word containing that vowel. | |||||
| | Lexical Set | RP | GenAm | | |||||
| |-------------|-------|-------| | |||||
| | NURSE | ɜː | ɝ | | |||||
| | START | ɑː | ɑɹ | | |||||
| | NORTH | ɔː | ɔɹ | | |||||
| | FORCE | ɔː | oɹ | | |||||
| | CURE | ʊə̯ | ʊɹ | | |||||
| | NEAR | ɪə̯ | ɪɹ | | |||||
| | SQUARE | eə̯ | ɛɹ | | |||||
| ## Reduced Vowels | |||||
| These are unstressed vowels that differ from the vowels in the main lexical sets. | |||||
| | Lexical Set | RP | GenAm | | |||||
| |-------------|-------|-------| | |||||
| | HAPPY | ɪ | i | | |||||
| | COMMA | ə | ə | | |||||
| | LETTER | ə | ɚ | | |||||
| ## Diphthongs | |||||
| | Lexical Set | RP | GenAm | | |||||
| |-------------|-------|-------| | |||||
| | FACE | eɪ̯ | eɪ̯ | | |||||
| | PRICE | aɪ̯ | aɪ̯ | | |||||
| | CHOICE | ɔɪ̯ | ɔɪ̯ | | |||||
| | GOAT | əʊ̯ | oʊ̯ | | |||||
| | MOUTH | aʊ̯ | aʊ̯ | | |||||
| ## Split Vowels | |||||
| These are lexical sets defined by John Wells that are merged with other lexical | |||||
| sets in both RP and GenAm, so have split from one of those lexical sets and | |||||
| merged with the other. | |||||
| | Lexical Set | RP | GenAm | | |||||
| |-------------|-------|-------| | |||||
| | BATH | ɑː | æ | | |||||
| | CLOTH | ɒ | ɔ | | |||||
| ## References | |||||
| 1. <a name="ref1"></a> Wikipedia. | |||||
| [Lexical set](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_set). 2017. | |||||
| Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). |