FrontVowels.doc

Front Vowels / i: / and / I /

Brief Descriptions Of /i: /
a. The front of the tongue is raised to a height slightly below and behind the front close position;
b. The lips are spread
c. The tongue is tense
d. The side rims make a firm contact with the upper molars;
e. It is generally long
Brief Descriptions Of / I /
a. The RP vowel / I / is pronounced with a part of tongue nearer to the centre than to front. It is raised just above the close-mid position;
b. The lips are loosely spread
c. The tongue is lax
d. The side rims make a light contact with the upper molars
e. It is generally short

Spelling and Sound Of / i: /
e—be, these, evening, complete
ee—see, tree, been, need, cheese, wheel
ea—sea, leaf, reason, east, meat, read
ie—piece, field, belief, yield
ei,ey—seize, receive, key
i--machine, police, magazine, sardine, routine, suite
Spelling and Sound Of / I /
i—it, sit, fifth, with, rich
y—city, pity, rhythm, symbol
e—pretty, wicket, except, BBC English
a—village, language

The English / I:/ is longer than the <i> in Chinese. The difference between /i:/ and /I/ is not merely the length of sound. There is also a difference in tongue position or quality. For/i:/ the part of the tongue that is highest is the centre of the “front” while for/I/ it is the hinder part of the “front”. Thus the quality of the two sounds is different.

/i:/ /I/ /i:/ /I/
deep dip leak lick
steal still green grin
keeper kipper feel fill
beans bins beach bitch
bead bid wheat wit
mead mid peak pick
peel pill seat sit
scene sin deed did
jean gin leaving living
heat hit
team tim
sheep ship

Read for fun
See the breeze teasing the tree,
Weaving the leaves or shaking them free.
Tossing the fleece of sheep, that keep
On peacefully feeding, half a sleep.

The fish in the river swiftly swim,
And slip through the weeds with a silver gleam,
Till they flick their fins and rise with a swish
To nibble the midges that skim the stream.

Silly Billy! Silly Billy
Why is Billy silly?
Silly Billy hid a shilling,
Isn’t Billy silly?