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Newbie here.

If I wanted to spell out the sounds short vowels make, would these be accurate? a - ah, e - eh, i - ee, o - ou, u - uh

Hetty
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    In what system? For example, that would not be correct in IPA, not even close. – Laurel Mar 19 '19 at 03:33
  • I am trying to find a way to teach kids the short vowel sounds. a - ah - ah-choo! e - eh - ehhh? i - ee - eeek! o - ou - ouch! u - uh - uh-oh – Hetty Mar 19 '19 at 08:12
  • The alternative to IPA would be to use words that have the relevant vowels (in your accent). And ideally find minimal pairs such as "hit"/"heat" –  Apr 18 '19 at 22:50

1 Answers1

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No, you have to use standard but specialized symbols.

  • ɑ as in father.
  • æ as in ham.
  • ɛ as in dress.
  • ɪ as in kit.
  • ɔ as in fought.
  • ʌ as in cut.

There’s also:

  • ə as in the unstressed syllable of about.
  • ɝ as in nurse.
  • ɚ as in the unstressed syllable of farmer.

and several more like those.

This is because no so-called “spelling pronunciations” are unambiguous in all cases and accent-neutral.

tchrist
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  • I am trying to find a way to teach kids the short vowel sounds. a - ah - ah-choo! e - eh - ehhh? i - ee - eeek! o - ou - ouch! u - uh - uh-oh – Hetty Mar 19 '19 at 08:10
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    @Hetty - This is near impossible. For example, the vowel a can have a wide range of sounds; such as the a in hat and the a in father. This is why we use IPA. – Lordology Mar 19 '19 at 08:54
  • I assume you mean not accent neutral. –  Apr 18 '19 at 18:45
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    @JamesRandom No, no spelling pronunciations are accent neutral. They are all of them not accent neutral. – tchrist Apr 18 '19 at 22:39
  • @tchrist Sorry, I missed the "no" earlier in the sentence. –  Apr 18 '19 at 22:44
  • As an example, I remember looking at a Japanese phrase book in a bookshop but decided it wasn't for me when it had 'a as in pot' (in my accent either 'a as in pat' or 'o as in pot' would work) –  Apr 18 '19 at 22:46