Indian languages are scientific and rich with the most salient characteristic that is their pronunciations. They are written according to their pronunciations, unlike English language. While reading in English language we find that the sound is varied from the letters those are written.
One of the major reasons behind the diversion of the pronunciations is the vowel system of English language. They are quite confusing for the beginners as well as for the foreign students. There are only five vowel letters i.e. ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’ and ‘u’, but the language is rich with more than 15 different vowel sounds. The key is that each vowel letter has about five to six basic sounds, and it is important to learn the basic sounds of each one.
We have studied about the various diction of letter ‘a’ earlier in January ’24 issue of LinguaZine. Now let’s proceed with another vowels.
Let’s begin with the letter ‘e’ with different examples:
Generally, ‘e’ is pronounced as /ˈiː/ but it has common sounds as /e/, /i:/, /ɪ/, /ə/, /iə/ with its different uses.
‘e’ read as ‘/e/’ sound;
egg
bed
envelope
‘e’ read as /i:/
me
Chinese
Egypt
‘e’ read as /ɪ/
rocket
pretty
cricket
‘e’ read as /ə/
broken
pollen
jewel
genre
‘e’ read as /iə/
material
bacteria
cafeteria
[Notable: ‘e’ sounds /ɒ/ in the French loan word ‘genre’: genre /ˈʒɒnrə/]
We have seen how variously the vowel ‘e’ is read. Now, let’s study about it’s multigraphs.
When ‘e’ comes with other vowels…
‘ee’ sounds as /i:/
tree /triː/
feet /fiːt/
eel /iːl/
‘ee’ also sounds as /ɪə/
cheer /tʃɪə(r)/
engineering /ˌen.dʒɪˈnɪər.ɪŋ/
pioneering /ˌpaɪəˈnɪə.rɪŋ/
‘ea’ sounds as /e/
bread /bred/
head /hed/
thread /θred/
‘ea’ also sounds as /i:/
pea /piː/
beach /biːtʃ/
teacher /ˈtiːtʃə(r)/
‘ea’ also sounds as /eɪ/
break /breɪk/
steak /steɪk/
breaker /ˈbreɪkə(r)/
‘ea’ also sounds as /ɪə/
idea /aɪˈdɪə/
theater /ˈθɪətə(r)/
‘ei’ sounds /eɪ/
veil /veɪl/
rein /reɪn/
reign /reɪn/
‘ei’ also sounds as /i:/
ceiling /ˈsiːlɪŋ/
protein /ˈprəʊtiːn/
receipt /rɪˈsiːt/
‘ei’ also sounds as /aɪ/ or /ˈiː/
either /ˈaɪðə(r)/, /ˈiːðə(r)/
neither /ˈnaɪðə(r)/, /ˈniːðə(r)/
‘eo’ sounds as /ə/
dungeon /ˈdʌndʒən/
sturgeon /ˈstɜːdʒən/
‘eo’ also sounds as /i:/
people /ˈpiːpl/
‘eu’ sounds as /juː/
eucalyptus /ˌjuːkəˈlɪptəs/
neutral /ˈnjuː.trəl/
Eugene /juːˈdʒiːn/
‘eu’ also sounds as /jʊə/:
Europe /ˈjʊərəp/
euro /ˈjʊərəʊ/
neuro- /njʊə.rəʊ-/
There are some other features also related with the unique vowel ‘e’.
Long-e
The sound of long-e is the same as the name of the letter ‘e’ when we say the alphabet. A few words are: he / we / be / maybe / she / see / three / seem / feet / seen / feel / street / green / week / deep / free.
Short-e
Short-e is pronounced in the front middle (not low, not high) part of the mouth — the mouth needs to be open, but not quite as much as for Short-a-1. And of course, it is very important to relax the tongue, if not, the sound of Short-e can be easily confused with Long-A (see Sell or Sale).
Words with Short-e: get / help / tell / end / men / left / next / egg / red / best / ten / less / yet / yes / kept / seven.
Schwa sound
Besides the basic sounds, any vowel letter can use the schwa sound. This happens in weak (unstressed) syllables.
Some words in which the “e” is in the unstressed syllable and has the schwa sound:
item / college / faces / escape / define/ the / them / then.
Silent -e
Words with silent-e are
Safe / use/ one / those / are .
How wonderful it is to read ‘e’ with different sound in various words!
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