Pronunciation rules for vowel combinations ie, ia, iou and iew
Combination of vowels Pronunciation Example words Example word pronunciation My own example words
ie /ē/ field /fēld/
/ě/ friend /frěnd/
/ǐ/ fierce /fǐrs/
/ə/ an cient /’ān-shənt/
pa-tient /’pā-shənt/
ia /ə/ spe·cial /’spě-shəl/
iou /ə/ pre·cious /’prě-shəs/
view /ū/ view /vū/
The letter combination composed of the vowel letter i can be divided into three groups for discussion: the pronunciation of the letter combination ie /ē/, /ě/ and /ǐ/ is the first group; the pronunciation of the vowel letter combination ie, ia and iou/ ə/ is the second group; the pronunciation of the letter combination iew is the third group.
The first group, the vowel combination ie, is pronounced as the long vowel /ē/ of the vowel e, the short vowel /ě/ of the vowel i, and the short vowel /ǐ/ of the vowel i.
First, the vowel combination ie is pronounced as the long vowel /ē/ of the vowel e, as in the words fiēld and mov·iē①. At this time, its pronunciation falls on the vowel letter e, so it can also be said that ie is a combination of letters formed by the vowel letter e. Second, it is pronounced as the short vowel /ě/ of the vowel letter e, as in the word friend (ě). Finally, when it is in the r-syllable letter combination ier, it is pronounced /ǐ/, as in the word fierce (ǐ). At this time, the pronunciation of the r syllable letter combination ier is /ǐr/, namely fierce (ǐr).
The second group, the vowel combination ie, ia and iou are pronounced as universal light vowel /ə/. At this time, they are in unstressed syllables, and often after the consonant c, as in the words an·cient, spe·cial, and pre·cious (ə). Among them, ie can also be located after the consonant letter t, as in the word pa·tient (ə). At this time, the consonant letters c and t are both pronounced /sh/.
The third group, the letter combination iew is pronounced as the long vowel /ū/ of the vowel letter u, and the common words are view, review, interview and preview (ū).
