>how many vowels English language
has?
Depends on
(a) the dialect
(b) the speaker
(c) the way you analyse them: e.g. do
you count triphthongs in "fire" etc as one vowel, or two?
I distinguish 22 vowels
in my speech:
bad bed bid bod
bud book bed[azzle]
bard bird bead
bored booed
bade bide
buoyed
bough
bode
bared beared
pure
byre bower
That is to say,
6 short vowels +
schwa / A E I O V U &/
5 long vowels
/a: 3: i: o: u:/
8
diphtongs /eI aI oI aU oU E@ i@
u@/
2 triphthongs /aI@
aU@/
Rhotic dialects would not have
triphthongs.
Some of the vowels I distinguish are not
distinguish in other dialects.
Some dialects have monophthongised mydiphthongs
(e.g. "spire" as /spa:/)
For what it's worth, I distinguish 27
consonants.
Peter