ABSTRACT
This chapter explains about the vowels of African languages. Many African languages have a seven-vowel system: a few have more than seven, others have five or six only. Some languages may have vowels of a less normal type, such as central vowels, front rounded vowels, or back unrounded vowels. In this chapter, the vowels of African languages which have been analysed and for which records are given have been 'placed' in relation to the cardinal vowels. It is sometimes useful for the learner to use a narrower transcription and mark in some special way some of the subsidiary members of the phonemes: this is especially the case if the phoneme usages vary considerably from those of the learner's mother tongue. But it should be remembered that this is a device to assist the foreign learner and has nothing to do with orthography for the native reader.
