Have you ever noticed your tongue movement while speaking? Most of you might have not. Our tongue plays a very important role in our speech. The tongue movements help us create distinct sounds and pronounce letters. Without this we couldn’t speak accurately.
Majority of the words in English language have the five vowels a,e,i,o,u in them. But have you noticed, each of these vowels has more than one sound of its own too? Yes, that’s true! For example, the sound of a in about and hat is different. The International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) recognises each of these sounds individually. They have their own names according to the way their sound is created. Not only this, according to the IPA, these have their own symbols as well.
What is a Front Vowel?
The mouth and tongue movement is vital when we have to pronounce a word with vowels in it. Speaking such words requires our tongue to move forward and backward. The letters which need a forward movement are known as Front Vowels, whereas those letters which require backward movement are known as Back Vowels. Here we will discuss these two in detail with examples for your reference.
Front Vowels, as mentioned earlier, need the tongue to move forward as they are lighter, higher and more echoing. These are produced with the front part of the tongue without any break of a consonant.
Examples of Front Vowels
Here is the list of front vowels with their International Phonetic Alphabet symbols and names, their traditional names and examples of words with their use.
| Symbols | International Phonetic Alphabet Names | Traditional Name | Example Words |
| i | high front unrounded vowel | the long e sound | Enemy, greatly, healthy |
| ? | high front lax unrounded vowel | the short i sound | May, stay, way |
| e | mid-front unrounded vowel | the long a sound | Make, say, same |
| ? | mid-front lax unrounded vowel | the short e sound | Get, met, let |
| æ | low front unrounded vowel | the short a sound | cat, laugh, plaid |
What is a Back Vowel?
Back Vowels are vowels that require the tongue to move backward. They are comparatively lower, darker and duller in sound. These are created with the part of the tongue closest to the throat without a consonant pause.
Examples of Back Vowels
Have a look at this list of back vowels with their International Phonetic Alphabet symbols, names and examples.
| Symbols | International Phonetic Alphabet Name | Traditional Name | Example Words |
| u | high back rounded vowel | the long u sound | Evaluation, together |
| ? | high back lax rounded vowel | the short u sound | Education, today |
| o | mid-back rounded vowel | the long o sound | Location, employer |
| ? | low back rounded vowel | – | Hot, project, holiday |
| ? | low back unrounded vowel | – | Spa, how, already |
Front vs Back Sounds – Difference
Consider this sentence, “The church bells go ding dong”. Here the sound of the word ding is much lighter than the sound of dong. You can see in the word ding, the vowel ‘i’ is a front vowel, therefore the sound is higher and ringing. Whereas in dong, the vowel ‘o’ is a back vowel, making it sound dull and heavier. Front vowels are sometimes also called bright vowels because they are perceived as sounding brighter than the back vowels. Whilst Back vowels are sometimes also called dark vowels as they are perceived to sound darker.
It is amazing to know how the same letter can have several sounds and can be used so vividly in different words, isn’t it! We know you must have loved this new information. Explore our wonderful activity worksheets at EnglishBix for more such fun facts and study material. Also, don’t forget to have a look at the Vowels Worksheets and Printables section for fun surprises!
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