Vowel series

Here is the vowel tension charts of vowel sets that I recently derived.

This is my second Vowel Model hypothesis, which has problems. View the others via the buttons below.

Vowel Model v3 is the tidiest and most concise, but I have yet to integrate it with my teaching methodology.

Vowel Model v1 is the model that I am currently using to teach English pronunciation.

Vowel Model v1

Vowel Model v2

Vowel Model v3 (latest)

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Vowel Model version 2

This is my second Vowel Model hypothesis, which has problems.

It is a nice theory, it works pretty well, and I will keep developing it until it breaks or is resolved.

View the others via the buttons above.

Vowel Model v3 is currently the most stable and symmetrical.

Vowel class table

class	glide vowel	rhotic vowel	checked vowel
A series: aɪ – ɑɹ – ʌ	ɑj	ɑɹ	ʌ
E series: eɪ – eɚ – e	ɛj	ɛɹ	ɛ
I series: iː – ɪɹ – ɪ	ɪj	ɪɹ	ɪ
O series: ɔɪ – ɔɹ – ɒ	oj	oɹ	ɔ
U series: uː – ʊɹ – ʊ	ɵʉ	ɵɹ	ɵ
Ə series: aʊ – a – ɜː	aʉ	ɜɹ	a

Notes about the document:

• The rhotic pattern is used primarily. This can be parsed into your own accent easily:

  • /ɹ/ mutates to /ɚ/, /ə/ or an elongated base vowel, e.g. /ɛɹ/ → /ɛː/.

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A series: aɪ – ɑɹ – ʌ

Reanalysis: ɑj – ɑɹ – ʌ

This is A like in star, far, bar, car; and not A like in cat, hat, sat, mat.

Qualities

1. ɑj – tense, long, glide-bound

2. ɑɹ – rhotic, long, R-bound

3. ʌ – relaxed, short, checked

Accent classes

	glide	rho	checked
Rhotic acç	ɑj	ɑɹ	ʌ
Non-rho acç	ɑj	ɑː	ʌ
Standard IPA	aɪ	ɑː	æ

Examples

diphthong	long, tense ah	short, relaxed uh
kite /kɑjt/	cart – /kɑːt/	cut /kʌt/

Complex example table

	glide	rho	checked
Standard	aɪ	aː, aɹ	ʌ
CUBE	ɑj	ɑː, aɹ	ʌ
Rhotic	ɑj	ɑɹ	ʌ
difference	glide	tense, longer	relaxed, shorter
example	kite /kʰɑjt/	cart /kʰɑːt/	cut /kʰʌt/

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E series: eɪ – eɚ – e

Reanalysis: ɛj – ɛɹ – ɛ

This is E like in bed, ten, spell.

Qualities

1. ɛj – tense, long, glide-bound

2. ɛɹ – rhotic, long, R-bound

3. ɛ – relaxed, short, checked

Accent classes

	glide	rho	checked
Rhotic acç	ɛj	ɛɹ, ɛɚ	ɛ
Non-rho acç	ɛj	ɛə, ɛː	ɔ
Standard IPA	eɪ	eɚ	ɒ

Examples

diphthong	long, tense eh	short, relaxed e
bait /bɛjt/	bear /bɛə/	bed /bɛd/

Note that there is a characteristic difference here between the British Englishes and the American Englishes: the diphthong /ɛə/ is a closing diphthong in British English, while it’s an opening diphthong /eə/ in American English.

Real speech

Many accents simplify the /ɛə/ diphthong into a simple long vowel, /ɛː/ or /eː/. In a Rhotic accent, this may manifest as /ɛ˞ ː/ or /e˞ ː/. This is the same effect as with /ɪə/ becoming long, /ɪː/ (see Diphthongs).

bait /bɛjt/ – bear /bɛː/ – bed /bɛd/

Complex example table

		glide	rho	checked
standard		ɛɪ	ɛə/eə, ɛɚ/eɚ	ɛ
modern	stressed	ɛj	ɛə, ɛɚ	ɛ
	strong	ɛj	ɛː, ɛɚ	ɛ
	weak	ej	eː, eɚ	e
difference		tense, longer, glide	tense, longer, rhotic	relaxed, shorter, checked
example		they /ðɛj/	there /ðɛː/	then /ðɛn/

The "strong" form is used in important words and stressed words, such as when the point of the word needs to be emphasized in a word that is usually unstressed.

The "weak" form is what emerges in unimportant, common and casual words.

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I series: iː – ɪɹ – ɪ

Reanalysis: ɪj – ɪɹ – ɪ

This is i like in big, trick, spin.

Qualities

1. ɪj – tense, long, glide-bound

2. ɪɹ – rhotic, long, R-bound

3. ɪ – relaxed, short, checked

Accent classes

	glide	rho	checked
Rhotic acç	ɪj	ɪɹ, ɪɚ	ɪ
Non-rho acç	ɪj	ɪə, ɪː	ɪ
Standard IPA	iː	ɪɚ	ɪ

Examples

long, tense ee (also a diphthong)	long, tense ih	short, relaxed ih
seat /sɪjt/	seer /sɪə/	sit /sɪt/

Complex example table

		glide	rho	checked
standard		iː	ɪə, ɪɚ	ɪ
modern	stressed	ɪj	ɪjə, ɪjɚ	ɪ
	strong	ɪj	ɪə, ɪɚ	ɪ
	weak	ɪj	ɪː, ɪ˞ː	ɪ
difference		tense, longer, glide	tense, longer, rhotic	relaxed, shorter, checked
example		heat /hɪjt/	here /hɪə/	him /hɪm/

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O series: ɔɪ – ɔɹ – ɒ

Reanalysis: oj – oɹ – ɔ

This is O like in top, stop, pond.

Qualities

1. oj – tense, long, glide-bound

2. oɹ – rhotic, long, R-bound

3. ɔ – relaxed, short, checked

Accent classes

	glide	rho	checked
Rhotic acç	oj	oɹ	ɔ
Non-rho acç	oj	oː	ɔ
Standard IPA	ɔɪ	ɔː	ɒ

Examples

diphthong glide	long, tense aw	short, relaxed o
boy /boj/	bought /boːt/	bottle /ˈbɔt.ɫ̣/
toy /toj/	taught /toːt/	top /tɔp/

Complex example table

	glide	rho	checked
standard	ɔɪ	ɔː	ɒ
modern	oj	oː	ɔ
difference	tense, longer, glide	tense, longer, rhotic	relaxed, shorter, checked
example	boy	bought	bottle

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U series: uː – ʊɹ – ʊ

Reanalysis: ɵʉ – ɵɹ – ɵ

This is U like /uː/, /uw/, /ɵʉ/.

The sound of its name, "U" is "you", /juː/.

Ironically, the letter U by itself never makes this sound in English.

The letter U makes /ʊ,ɵ/ and /ʌ/.

Paired with E, it produces its namesake sound, /juː/.

The pure /uː/ sound comes from oo, ou, ough.

Qualities

1. ɵʉ – tense, long, glide-bound

2. ɵɹ – rhotic, long, R-bound

3. ɵ – relaxed, short, checked

Accent classes

	glide	rho	checked
Rhotic acç	ɵʉ	ɵɹ, ɵɚ	ɵ
Non-rho acç	ɵʉ	ɵə, ɵː	ɵ
Standard IPA	uː	ʊɹ, ʊɚ	ɒ

Examples

long, tense oo (also is a diphthong)	long, tense oor	short, relaxed ooh
food /fɵʉd/	cure /kjɵː/	good /gɵd/

-ure (etc.) produces /ɵɹ/ in Rhotic accents, and long/tense /ɵː/ in non-Rhotic accents:

• pure, cure, injure, sure, adventure, posture, manicure

• jury, fury, furious, curious

Complex example table

	glide	rho	checked
standard	uː	ʊɹ	ʊ
modern	ɵʉ	ɵɹ, ɵɚ ɵə, ɵː	ɵ
difference	tense, longer, glide	tense, longer, rhotic	relaxed, shorter, checked
example	food	cure	good

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Ə series: aʊ – a – ɜː

Reanalysis: aw – a – ɜː

Here I’ve merged the orphaned sets of a–aw and ɜː–ə.

I’m not sure if it’s valid but it does work spatially on the graph. They could be related also in that stressed ER is /ɜː/, and unstressed ER and unstressed A are both /ə/.

• ɜː is a tense, elongated schwa.

• a is a tense but short sound, the default value of ⟨a⟩. ⟨a⟩ is the first to become the schwa /ə/ sound.

In Rhotic accents, stressed ER is /ɜ˞ ː/ or /ɚː/, unstressed ER is /ɚ/ and unstressed A is /ə/.

There is some asymmetry compared to the other vowel sets, in that the vowel at the mid-point along the path is long instead of the vowel at the end point… But this may be to distinguish it from the schwa position, as it’s really similar, and is even identical in many accents.

In summary these vowels may not really bear a true relationship. However, all the other vowels are connected via this relationship, and the two sounds that I've put into this set are both orphaned. So it works even just as a way to store them apart from the other vowels.

Qualities

1. aw – tense, long, glide-bound

2. a – relaxed, short, checked

3. ɜɹ – rhotic, long, R-bound

Accent classes

	glide	checked	rho	schwa	R schwa
Rhotic acç	aʉ	a	ɜɹ, ɜ˞	ə	ɚ
Non-rho acç	aʉ	a	ɜː	ə	ə
Standard IPA	aʊ	æ	ɜː, əː	ə	ɚ, ə

Examples

diphthong glide	short, wide a	long, tense er	short, relaxed schwa
house /haʉs/	sat /sat/	certain /ˈsɜː.tʰən/	a: about /əˈbaʉt/ er: hunger /ˈhʌŋ.ɡə/

standard	aʊ	æ	ɜː	ə
modern	aw	a	ɜː	ə
difference	tense, longer, glide	relaxed, shorter, checked	tense, longer, rhotic	it's a schwa, relax
example	house /hsaʉs/	sat /sat/	certain /ˈsɜː.tʰən/	a: about /əˈbaʉt/ er: hunger /ˈhʌŋ.ɡə/

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Reconsideratioin

if /ɛə/ is a diphthong, then it and its simplification /ɛː/ DON’T belong in the E series.

That leaves the E series with only 1 member!

Ok, visit another page to read my third model hypothesis: Vowel Model v3

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Declension series

The above vowel series theory emerged accidentally during an attempt to develop a model of vowel declension, intended to help English learners understand & predict how vowel sounds change in words depending on word stress in a sentence, syllable stress in a word, syllable position in a word, and base pronunciation value of a word part.

This declension series isn't part of the my Tension Path theories, but it is the origin of them, so I'll link to it here when I've actually come up with the model. As of now (May 2025), there is no model, because these vowel series theories have taken more time & focus than I expected!

I expect these vowel set series to provide the foundation for mapping out the declension series.

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source document in google docs

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