Tools of the trade - IPA part 2.

So, we've had a quick tour of the consonants, now let's focus on the vowels. This is the vowel quadrilateral found on the IPA. As you can see there are lots of symbols, some will be familiar and others not. Before we get into specific symbols I'll explain how to read this chart.

The shape you can see here is a stylized version of the vowel space within the vocal tract where each one is formed. The figures below should make that a bit clearer.

Labels on the chart

Front - made with the body of the tongue bunched towards the front of the mouth. In reality this is not right at the front. If you start trying to make vowels with the tongue near the teeth, this will result in one of two things... either you'll make a fricative (see IPA part 1.) or end up looking like this...

Fabulous gurning from Les Dawson - legend.

Central - made with the body of your tongue bunched up towards or pulled down away from the roof of your mouth, practice by producing a schwa.

Back - made with the body of your tongue pulled back in the direction of your throat.

Close - the space between the body of the tongue and the roof of the mouth is minimal. However, not close enough to cause friction (see 'fricatives' IPA part 1.)

Mid - more open than close vowels. The jaw moves down slightly to achieve this, unless you are a ventrilaquist - in which case, you are creepy so stop reading my blog!

Open - more open again, but not jaw-swingingly so.

Rounded - produced with rounded lips (circular). These symbols are found to the left of each bullet point at the edge of the chart.

Unrounded - produced with spread lips (wide). The symbols to the right of each bullet point.

To help you think about this, consider the following British English vowels and their labels:

/iː/ close-front unrounded
/ɪ/ close-front unrounded
/e/ close-mid front unrounded
/æ/ open-front unrounded
/ɑː/ open-back unrounded
/ɒ/ open-back rounded
/ʌ/ open-mid unrounded
/ɔː/ open-mid back rounded
/ʊ/ close-back rounded
/uː/ close-back rounded


The more familiar you become with the vowel quadrilateral and the concept of the vowel space, the more able you'll be to correct your students. Whether it's Vlad and the /e, æ/ distinction, Marta with her love of /iː/ or the universal absence of poor old schwa /ə/, helping students with vowels will greatly improve their chances of being understood.

Practice activity

I use a vowel warm up activity with my students (link below), this helps them to feel the position of each vowel in the list above. If they can do this activity in front of a mirror then all the better.

Vowel warm ups