1. The Primary and the Secondary Meaning of Letters.

In English one letter can denote a few different sounds (polysemantic letters). That’s why there are the primary and the secondary sound meanings of them. The primary meaning of a letter is the sound which this letter:

1. denotes in the alphabet: a – [eI], e – [i:]. E.g. bake, be;

2. doesn’t correspond to the alphabetical letter: a – [æ]. e.g. cat;

3. approximates the alphabetical letter: f – [f], y – [aI].

The secondary meaning of a letter is the one which differs from its primary alphabetical meaning and depends on the consonants preceding or following this letter. E.g. a – [ a:] - staff, [æ ] – wander, [ɔ:] – war.

The sound formation of the English language distinguishes long and short vowels. According to this peculiarity in English each stressed vowel can have two meanings: alphabetical (long) and short.

Reading of vowels in stressed syllables

Letter	Primary meaning		Secondary meaning
	long	short	Vowel + r	Vowel +re
a	Kate	cat	car	hare
e	he, Pete	hen, help	her	here
i\y	I, Mike, mine	sit, gym	bird, Byrd	hire, tyre
o	no, stone	not	for	more
u	use	but	turn	cure

2. The Primary Sound Meanings of Vowels in Different Types of Syllables.

In disyllabic and polysyllabic words the vowel letter has its alphabetical (long) primary meaning if:

1. it is used in word final position e. g. he, no, my;

2. it is separated from the following vowel letter or from the combinations –le, -re by only one consonant letter e.g. pilot, idle, fibre;

3. it is followed by a consonant + r +vowel e.g. library, April;

4. in some vowel combinations* e.g. diet, going.

The vowel letter has its short primary meaning:

1. if it is separated from the following vowel or the combination –le by two or more consonants e.g. render, silly, fiddle.

2. if the vowel letter (apart from “u”) is in the third stressed syllable from the end e.g. family, cylinder; but: funeral;

3. if the vowel letter is followed by a single letter “v” e.g. river, never; but: uvula [^\ju:vju:lə], fever [^\fi:və], over [^\əυvə];

4. if the vowel letter is followed by a consonant and one of the combinations, such as –-ic, -ish, -ity e.g. tragic, polish, cavity;

5. in disyllabic words with the sound [I] and [ju:] in the last unstressed syllable the vowel letter of a stressed syllable has a short meaning: e.g. tribune, facet; but: stupid.

But if the word ends in –y, -ie as in the words ladies, Edie the letters “a”, “e” have their alphabetical (long) meaning.

Reading single vowel letters in stressed non-final syllables

meaning	spelling	examples	exceptions
I. Primary long	1) vowel + vowel	diet
	2) vowel + consonant + vowel vowel + consonant + “r” + vowel vowel + consonant + “le” vowel + consonant + “re”	pilot library idle fibre
II. Primary short	1) vowel + consonant cluster + vowel vowel + consonant cluster +“le”	Render fiddle
	2) vowel + consonant + “ic” vowel + consonant + “ish” vowel + consonant + “ity”	tragic polish cavity
	3) vowel + “v” + vowel	never	∙fever ∙over ∙uvula
	4) vowel + syllable + syllable	fa∙mi∙ly	cases with “u”: funeral
	5) vowel + [ı]-closed syllable vowel + [(j)u:]-closed syllable	fa∙cet tri∙bune	stupid