Theory Best way to memorize IPA vowel charts

[owaisi_supporter]

There are many different criteria for the classification of vowels. The three commonly used criteria are height, backness and roundness. Moreover you can have criteria like pitch accent, tones, tenseness and length. The approach can be confusing and varies across publications. Usually you take a specific language and try to classify vowels of that language. The labels you end up assigning to the vowels may vary if you were studying the phonology of a different language.

The best and most standard way should be like this:

Height of the vowel exists in the following spectrum: Close, near-close, close-mid, mid, open-mid, near-open, open
Backness of the vowel can only exist in the three categories: Front, central, back
Roundness can only be rounded or unrounded

Length, pitch accent, tone, tenseness and other notions should really be treated as language-specific.

 

[owaisi_supporter]

for which language?

I'm saying this is a language-agnostic way of classifying vowels based on height, backness and roundness. Other criteria like tones and length, deal with it based on the language.