The EE Sound
So the first vowel we will talk about is the EE-sound. For me, it’s easier to remember what sound I am referring to by writing it as EE.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol for this sound is /i/. Sometimes, you may see it with a colon on other websites like /i:/. The colon just means the sound is held for a longer duration - which is typically true. Hence, why this sound is also sometimes referred to as the “long E” sound.
SYMBOL
On the IPA vowel chart, it is located on the top left side.
The Color Vowel® Chart, created by Karen Taylor and Shirley Thompson in 1999, is another visual organizer for spoken English and represents how to learn and think about vowels. It refers to this sound as the ‘Green Tea’ sound or the Green vowel. Notice the consistent placement on the top left corner of each respective chart.
The Color Vowel® Chart, 5th Edition © 2019. ColorVowel.com. Used with Creative Commons licensing (CC BY-NC-ND).
And yes, I know I’m describing it as the EE-sound even though it’s the letter i. That fact has not been lost by me. You just need to remember that for the IPA, each letter is actually a symbol and some of those symbols are similar to the English alphabet and some of those symbols are not or represent different things now.
SOUND
So the EE-sound occurs in most spoken languages - not ALL but most.
It is the sound in the word ‘meet’ in English or chic in French. If you want to argue semantics about vowel length and slight diphthong features, then this article isn’t for you. This article is for your basic comprehension, not splitting hairs.
Often called the long-E in American English, this sound has additional length (usually being represented as /iː/ where the colon suggests extra length).
The sound is described as a close front unrounded vowel.
FEATURES
Its vowel height is close, aka high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth. A slight opening of your mouth beyond a closed jaw is perfect.
Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth.
It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Your tongue stays inside the mouth. It is fairly relaxed. Same with your jaw. A slight smile is appropriate. Your lips should spread a little, like a smile.
A similar consonant sound that shares this mouth, tongue, and lip position is the palatal approximant [j] (aka Y-Sound).
VISUAL REPRESENTATION
In English, this sound is reflected in spelling in many different ways.
This sound can be represented typically by 8 different spelling patterns:
E – be, me, Peter
E_E – eve, Steve, eleven, eternal
EE – meet, beet, week, fee
EA – beach, meat, weak, feature
EI – protein, leisure (American English pronunciation), conceited
IE – piece, eerie, faerie, achieve, belief
EY – key, hockey, nosey, attorney, abbey
Y – candy, windy, agility, closely, charity
The reason why I’m especially showing you the different spelling combinations that can create this sound is that there will ALWAYS be exceptions, weird spellings, or other things that impact how reliable the written representation will be.
Like PEOPLE or QUAY or POLICE.
You need to be able to identify the sound; rhyming is an excellent way to match it properly. So, if you are not good already, start practicing rhyming and hearing the sound.
I’m breaking down every single sound down for you so that you can learn how to produce each sound in English accurately. Sometimes, we’ll have easier sounds and sometimes we’ll have harder sounds.
If you’ve grasped this sound, then great! But if you’ve got a tip that might work for others, or you took a while to produce this sound correct but something clicked for you, let me know down below in the comments. My goal is to have a community know what to do when they’re stuck!
