For next week, please read the following book chapter, which can be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website.

Giegerich, Heinz. 1992. English Phonology: An Introduction, Chapter 3 (“Some English vowel systems”). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

And for those of you who are interested to know more about the historical development of English vowels, have a look at pgs. 29-36 of the following, optional reading, which is (still) available from the “Readings” section:

Minkova, Donka & Robert Stockwell. 2008. Phonology: Segmental Histories. In A Companion to the History of the English Language, H. Momma and M. Matto (eds), 29-42. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.