In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the vowel sounds of a language are represented using a set of symbols that represent the different vowel sounds that occur in spoken language. These symbols are arranged in a chart known as the IPA vowel chart, which organizes the vowel sounds according to the position of the tongue in the mouth and the shape of the lips during pronunciation.
There are 12 vowel sounds represented in the IPA vowel chart:
- /i/ as in “beat”
- /ɪ/ as in “bit”
- /e/ as in “bake”
- /ɛ/ as in “bet”
- /æ/ as in “bat”
- /a/ as in “bat”
- /ɑ/ as in “father”
- /ɒ/ as in “hot”
- /ʊ/ as in “put”
- /u/ as in “boot”
- /ʌ/ as in “but”
- /ɔ/ as in “bought”
Each vowel sound is represented by a single symbol in the IPA, and the position of the symbol on the chart reflects the position of the tongue and the shape of the lips during pronunciation. For example, the vowel sound /i/ is pronounced with the tongue in a high, front position and the lips in a neutral position, while the vowel sound /ʊ/ is pronounced with the tongue in a mid, back position and the lips rounded.