Vowels Vowels are the most sonorant

(or intense) and the most audible sounds in speech.

They usually function as the nucleus (or core) of a syllable.

The consonants that surround vowels often depend on them for their audibility.

Vowels Take the word pop for example. The [p]’s are heard mainly

because of the way they affect the beginning and end of the vowel sound.

Vowels Ask someone to describe where the

tongue is at the beginning of a consonant and you will get a concrete answer.

Ask someone to describe where their tongue is at the beginning of a vowel, and you will get a variety of responses.

It is much more difficult to give a satisfactory articulatory description of vowels.

Vowels Vowels are sounds produced with

a relatively open vocal tract, so they do not have a consonant-like point of articulation or manner of articulation.

Instead, the vocal tract above the glottis acts as a resonator affecting the sound made by the vocal folds.

Vowels The shape of this resonator

determines the quality of the vowel.

Since vowels are so very different from consonants, we have to use different features than those used to describe consonants.

Vowels There are several ways in which

speakers can change the shape of the vocal tract, and thus change vowel quality.

Using a new feature system, we can create a chart to describe vowels.

Vowels Let’s begin by constructing a basic

representation of the mouth. You should keep in mind, however,

that this (unlike the representation of the articulators involved in producing consonants) is only an abstract representation of the mouth.

Vowels A representation of this abstract

mouth can be found on the inside cover of your textbook

Be aware, however, that we will have to modify this representation somewhat to fully use our new feature system

Vowels Tongue Height If you repeat to yourself the vowel

sounds in seat, set, sat, you will find that you open your mouth a little wider as you change from each sound.

These varying degrees of openness correspond to different degrees of tongue height: high, mid, low.

Vowels High vowels are made with the

front of the mouth less open because the tongue body is raised, or high.

Mid vowels are produced with an intermediate tongue height.

Low vowels are pronounced with the front of the mouth open and the tongue lowered.

Vowels Tongue Advancement Besides being held high or mid or

low, the tongue can also be pushed forward or pulled back within the oral cavity.

For example, in beat, the body of the tongue is raised and pushed forward so it is just under the hard palate.

Vowels In boot, however, the body of the

tongue is in the back of the mouth, toward the velum.

The tongue is advanced or pushed forward for all the front vowels, and retracted or pulled back for the back vowels.

Vowels Lip Rounding Vowel quality also depends on lip

position. When you say two, your lips are rounded.

For tea, however, they are unrounded.

Vowels To make our chart complete,

however, we are going to have to add in one more set of features

Tense vs. Lax Vowels that are called tense are

produced with an extra degree of muscular effort.

Lax vowels lack this extra effort.

Vowels For example, tense front vowels

are made with a stronger (i.e., longer and more extreme) tongue fronting gesture than lax front vowels, which are produced with a weaker fronting movement.

Tense rounded vowels are also made with stronger or tighter lip rounding than their lax counterparts.

Vowels Charting Vowels Starting from the upper left corner

again, the first vowel that we encounter, a front, high, tense, unrounded vowel, is represented by the symbol [i]

This is the sound in the word beat.

Vowels Next is a front, high, unrounded,

lax vowel, represented by the symbol called a small capital I:

This is the sound in the word bit. Here is what it looks like:

Vowels Moving downward, we next

encounter a front, mid, unrounded, tense vowel, represented by the symbol [e]:

This is the sound in the word bait.

Vowels Next is a front, mid, unrounded,

lax vowel, represented by the symbol called epsilon:

This is the sound in the word bet. Here is what it looks like:

Vowels Moving down again, we next

encounter a front, low, unrounded, lax vowel, represented by the symbol called ash.

This is the sound in the word bat.

Vowels Moving to the upper right corner of

our abstract mouth, we next encounter a high, back, tense, rounded vowel, represented by the symbol [u]:

This is the sound in the word boot.

Vowels Next is a high, back, lax, rounded

vowel, represented by the symbol called upsilon:

This is the sound in the word foot. Here is what it looks like:

Vowels Moving downward, we next

encounter a back, mid, tense, rounded vowel, represented by the symbol [o]:

This is the sound in the word boat.

Vowels Next is a back, mid, lax, rounded

vowel, represented by the symbol called open o (or sometimes backward c):

This is the sound in the word long (at least for me!!!).

Or maybe the first sound in “aw shucks”

Here is what it looks like:

Vowels Moving downward, we next

encounter a back, low, lax, unrounded vowel, represented by the symbol [a].

This is the sound in the word father.

Vowels Finally, moving to the middle of

our abstract mouth, we encounter a central, mid, lax, unrounded vowel, represented by the symbol called a schwa:

This is the last sound in the word sofa.

Here is what it looks like:

Vowels Schwa has a stressed counterpart

known as inverted v or wedge This is the vowel sound in the

words but and putt. It looks like this:

Vowels Diphthongs At this point, we still have not

described the vowel sounds of some English words (in many English dialects) such as hide, loud, and coin.

These words contain diphthongs or two-part vowel sounds in the same syllable.

Vowels If (most of) you say eye slowly,

concentrating on how you make this vowel, you should find that your tongue starts out in the position for [a] and moves toward the position for the vowel [i] or the corresponding palatal glide [y].

Vowels This diphthong, which consists of

two articulations and the two corresponding sounds, is written with two symbols: in IG as [aj] as in [hajd] hide (or as [ai] in the IPA and [ay] and [a] in various places elsewhere).

Vowels To make the vowel of loud, the

tongue and the lips start in position for [a] and move toward the position for [u] or [w], so this diphthong is written [aw], as in [lawd] loud (or as [au] in the IPA and [a] elsewhere).

Vowels In the vowel of coin, the

movement is from the open o position toward the position for [i] or [y], so the vowel of coin is written [j] as in [kjn] (or as [] in the IPA.

You may also see [oj], [o], [oi] and [oy] elsewhere.

PhoneticsOne last symbol you may be

familiar with is the symbol called right-hook schwa

In most American transcriptions, this sound is transcribed as [r] (schwa + r)

Vowels In truth, however, no sound is ever

pronounced in exactly the same way twice.

Pronunciation varies among speakers as well.

Variations in the way that a sound is produced are predictable, however.

Vowels A Narrow Transcription, or a

transcription that shows the fine details of the articulation of phones, can be used to record some of the more predictable variations in sound.

Aspirated stops Not all voiceless stops are the

same.

Vowels Take, for example the words pat

and spat. Can you feel the puff of air when

you say pat? This puff of air is called

aspiration.

Vowels Aspiration is transcribed as [], as

in [pt] Aspiration (in English) occurs on all

voiceless oral (nonglottal) stops occurring as the first sound in a stressed syllable.

Vowels To understand this better, contrast

the following words: Pat [p t] spat [spt] Kid [kd] skid [skd] Top[tap] stop [stap]

Vowels Dental Consonants Say the word health or

unthinkable. Consonants which are ordinarily

produced with the tongue at the alveolar ridge are articulated differently when followed by an inter-dental consonant theta or eth

Vowels In this environment, they are

pronounced with the tip of the tongue on the teeth, rather than the alveolar ridge.

Health [hl]unthinkable [nkbl]

Vowels

n

Vowels Velarized [l] Now say the words bowl and lobe. In a broad transcription, ‘bowl’ and

‘lobe’ are represented as containing the same segments; only the order differs.

For many speakers, however, the [l] sounds are actually not identical.

Vowels The [l] in bowl is velarized, (also

called ‘dark’), while the [l] of ‘lobe’ is “clear.” The velarized [l] is transcribed as an l with a bar through it

Feel [fił] vs. leaf [lif] Pill [pł] vs. lip [lp]

Vowels

ł

Vowels Lengthened vowels: Now say the words peas and

peace. Vowels in certain phonetic

environments are longer than the same vowels in other environments. In particular, vowels which are followed by a voiced consonant are longer in duration than those followed by a voiceless consonant.

Vowels To transcribe this, use the

symbol [:] Peas [pi:z] vs. peace

[pis] Had [h:d] vs. hat [ht]

Vowels

i:

Vowels Nasalized vowels: Finally, say the words green and

greed. These words seem identical, but

on closer inspection, the vowels are different in one respect.

The vowel in green is nasalized, as a result of the consonant that follows it.

Vowels In a nasalized vowel, the velum is

lowered. In green, we lower our velum a

little early and allow air out of the nasal passage. To transcribe this, use the symbol [~]

Green [grĩn] tan [tn]

This sound is contrasting in French: beau vs. bõn

Vowels

ĩ