Examples of Round and Unrounded Vowels in English

In English, we know basic vowel letters such as a, e, i, o, and u. But for the spelling itself, these 5 words are used to represent at least 14 different single sound vowels called monophthongs and up to 5 dual sound vowels called diphthongs. And those sounds of vowel letters can be classified into few groups based on the characteristic of the pronouncement. But we will focus on the rounded and unrounded vowels category in this article.

What is Round Vowel?

The rounded vowels are letters that make our lips form an ‘o’ when it’s pronounced.

    How Can We Identify a Rounded Vowel?

1. When we articulate the letter, our lips tend to form into a circle.
2. It makes a huger amount of roundness from our lips when we spell it. 

    Type of Rounding Vowel :

There are two kinds of rounding when we’re spelling a word. These are the explanation

1. Protruded Round 

In protruded rounding, the tip of the lips are drawn to each other so, it will protrude like a tube with the inner surface visible.

2. Compressed Round 

In compressed rounding, the tip of the mouth will be merged horizontally, so it’s compressed but didn’t protrude, and only the outer lips surfaces are visible.

Examples of Rounded Vowels 

1. Goose        ?        /y:/
2. Nurse        ?        /ø:/
3. Goat        ?        /œ?/
4. Dog        ?        /?/
5. Lot        ?        /?/ with o
6. Stop       
7. Sorry
8. Restaurant
9. Want
10. Quality 
11. Wash        ?        /?/ with a
12. Ooze        ?        /u/
13. Prune   
14. Put
15. Book        ?        /?/   
16. Look
17. Mouth        ?        /a?/
18. Towns
19. Down 
20. South
21. House
22. Bone        ?        /??/
23. Alone
24. Pole
25. Oat         ?        /o/

What are Unrounded Vowels?

The unrounded vowels are letters that are spelled with more relaxed lips.

    How Can We Identify an Unrounded Vowel?

1. When we articulate the letter, our lips will be more wide horizontally
2. Our lips are more relaxed when we pronounce a word with unrounded vowels. 
3. It makes a smaller amount of roundness from our lips when we spell it. 

Examples of Unrounded Vowels

1. Fleece        ?        /i:/
2. See
3. Diva
4. Hit        ?        /?/
5. Square        ?        /e:/
6. Bait        ?        /e/
7. Made
8. Cat        ?        /æ/
9. Laugh
10. Plaid
11. Spa        ?        /?/
12. Summer    ?        /?/ with u
13. Sun
14. Thunder
15. Won        ?        /?/ with o
16. Honey
17. Another 
18. Done
19. Arm        ?        /a:/ 
20. Class
21. Star 
22. Example    ?        /?/   
23. Second
24. Area
25. Pure        ?        /?e/
26. Allowence
27. Endure
28. Life        ?        /a?/ 
29. Quite
30. Sometimes 

Keep exploring EnglishBix to learn more about different types of vowels in English and how they are pronounced.

Quick Links

Cardinal Vowels

12 Pure Vowel Sounds