Proof that English has 12 Vowels

Do you think that English has five vowels? Wrong! English has 12 vowels!

There are twelve vowels and diphthongs in the English language. This is more than almost any other language and makes English one of the richest languages in the world. It also explains why words in English tend to be short as compared with words in French and other languages.

Proof that English really has twelve vowels is obtaining by comparing word pairs, where the only different between the two words is a vowel in the middle.

We can prove that English has 12 vowels by finding that there are 12 differently pronounced words which begin with the letter "b", end with the letter "t" and have only one vowel in the middle. Here are those 12 words:

Bat
Bet
Bit
Boat
But
Beet
Bait
Bite
Bout
Boot
Bought
Baht

Baht is a unit of currency in Thailand. The "a" is pronounced as in "father".

Sam Sloan


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