Physical Dimension &
Presentation
VOWELSPART ONE
Eka Andriyani, S.Pd., M.Hum
Definition:
Vowel is a speech sound
produced by humans when the
breath flows out through the mouth
without being blocked by the teeth,
tongue, or lips.
A clear understanding of the vowels is
important because vowels are the
nucleus (peak) of the syllable.
As we have discussed in the previous
section, twelve vowels (12) are
commonly used in British English and
fifteen (15) vowels are used in American
English (consists of the eastern dialects).
BBC / RP GAP
NOTE: In this subject, we will concern about the British English as the standard
pronunciation of General English that is used by Oxford English
Dictionary (OED).
Position of the tongue in relation to
the parts of the mouth (front – back)
Chart of The English Vowel Phonetic Symbols based on the
English Oxford Dictionary (OED)
Position of
the
mandible(Open - Close)
OR
Vertical
position of
the tongue
towards
the palatal
area(High – Low)
(Hig
h)
(Lo
w)
Shape of
the lips
during the
production
of the
sound
Thus, we all have known, that vowels are described based on the physical dimension, such as:
Closeness / Height
Frontness
Rounding
The closeness category refers to the position of
the mandible (open - close category); while the
height of a vowel refers to the vertical position of
the tongue towards the palatal area (high – low
category);
The frontness refers to the horizontal position of
the tongue in relation to the front or back of the
mouth; and
The rounding refers to the position of the lips
during the production of the vowel.
For the purposes of clarity and consistency of the
parameters of vowel sounds, thus, it is determined
sequentially based on the three aspects of vowels as
follows:
Describing the sound based on the closeness or height
aspect;
Describing the sound based on the frontness aspect; and
Describing the sound based on the rounding aspect.
Thus, to make a sound parameter of /i:/, for example, we
can describe it as:
“/i:/ is a close (high) front unrounded vowel (sound)”.
THE COMPLETE VOWEL
PRESENTATION FORMAT:
So far, we have known that each vowel is discussed in
terms of parameter (physical dimensions) of:
closeness (height), frontness, and rounding.
Thus, we can determine all the vowel sounds as follows:
Vowels: Closeness: Frontness: Rounding: Example:
[i:] close front unrounded See /si:/
[i] close front unrounded Any /eni/
[ɪ] near-close near-front unrounded Sit /sɪt/
[æ] near-open front unrounded Hat /hæt/
[e] open-mid front unrounded Ten /ten/
[ɑ:] open back unrounded Arm /ɑ:(r)m/
[ʌ] open-mid back unrounded Cup /kʌp/
[ɔ:] open-mid back rounded Saw /sɔ:/
[ɒ] open back rounded Got /gɒt/
[ɜ:] open-mid central unrounded Fur /fɜ:(r)/
[ə] mid central unrounded Ago /ə’gəʊ/
[u:] close back rounded Too /tu:/
[ʊ] near-close near-back rounded Put /pʊt/
Other aspects (physical dimensions) of
describing the vowel sounds are based on:
Tenseness (Tense-Lax)
Closeness of Syllables (Open-Closed Syllables)
Length (Long-Short)
a
b
c
A. TENSENESS (TENSE -
LAX ):
Tense vowels require tension in
particular muscles for production
and are long in duration.
The tense vowels in British English are /i:/, /i/ /u:/, /3:/, /ɔ:/, /ɑ:/.
Lax vowels are produced when the muscles are in resting postures and are short in duration.
The lax vowels in British English are
/I/, /e/, /æ/, /ə/, /ʊ/, /ɒ/, and /ʌ/.
Both tense and lax vowels can initiate a syllable.
Examples:
eat /i:t/ → (tense vowel)
and /ænd/ → (lax vowel)
Open and closed syllables (closeness of syllables) are two common syllable types used in the English language.
An open syllable is a syllable that ends with a tense vowel or diphthong.
In a monosyllabic word, the basic phonological pattern for an open syllable is CV (Consonant-Vowel).
A closed syllable is a syllable that ends with a consonant sound.
In a monosyllabic word, the basic phonological patterns for a closed syllable is VC (Vocal-Consonant) or CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant).
B. CLOSENESS (OPEN -
CLOSED SYLLABLES):
Tense vowels can appear in both open and
closed syllables, whereas lax vowels can
appear only in closed syllables.
Examples:
tea /ti:/ → (tense vowel, open syllable).
cool /ku:l/ → (tense vowel, closed syllable).
sit /sɪt/ → (lax vowel, closed syllable).
cup /kʌp/ → (lax vowel, closed syllable).
Vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel
sound.
The long vowels in British English are:
/i:/, /u:/, /3:/, /ɔ:/, and /ɑ:/
In phonetics, symbols for denoting vowel length is (ː),
but is often written as colon (:).
C. LENGTH (LONG -
SHORT ):