VOWEL SOUNDS

VOWEL SOUNDS
 All speech sounds can be described
articulatorily, auditorily and acoustically. In
the case of vowel sounds an articulatory
description would tell us which part of our
tongue to raise and how high to raise it.
However, vowel sounds are generally learnt
auditorily, by listening and imitation.
DESCRIPTION OF VOWEL SOUNDS
 Vowel sounds are produced in most cases
without any kind of contact between the
articulators. They can be made different from
each other mainly by raising a certain part of
the tongue to different levels, by modifying the
shape of the lips and by raising or lowering the
velum. Variations of this kind produced by
changing the shape of the mouth resonator are
referred to as differences in vowel QUALITY.
SOME SHARED CHARACTERISTICS
 The vowel sounds of English and Spanish
have two characteristics in common:

 They are normally voiced sounds.

 They are usually oral sounds.
THE CARDINAL VOWELS
 The system was introduced by Daniel Jones.
 It does not belong to any particular language, but
they can be used as reference points.
 It is based on two articulatorily selected vowel
sounds. The first is produced by raising the tongue
as close as possible to the palate without causing
friction. [i] (Cardinal Vowel number 1) The second
is produced by placing the tongue as low and as far
back as possible [A] (Cardinal vowel number 5)
CARDINAL VOWELS

 It is possible to produce sounds between

these two points [e] (Cardinal Vowel
number 2) [E] (Cardinal Vowel number 3)
and [a] (Cardinal Vowel number 4). These
vowels are produced at auditorily
equidistant point between [i] and [A] by
gradually lowering the front of the tongue.
CARDINAL VOWELS

 Cardinal Vowels 6, 7 and 8 [O,o,u]

respectively, are produced at auditorily
equidistant points between [A] and [i] by
gradually raising the back of the tongue.
CARDINAL VOWEL SOUNDS
CLASSIFICATION OF VOWEL SOUNDS
 The classification labels for the articulation
of vowel sounds may be placed on two axes
– a horizontal one indicating the part of the
tongue which is raised, and a vertical one
indicating height to which the tongue is
raised.
Primary Cardinal Vowels
 http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAl
ab.htm
SPANISH VOWELS
ENGLISH VOWELS
CLASSIFICATION OF VOWEL SOUNDS
 RP English Vowels can be divided,
articulatorily,according to the following
criteria:
 Location
 Height
 Length
 Lip posture
QUALITY AND QUANTITY
LOCATION
 FRONT: When the highest point of the tongue lies below
the hard palate. ( /i: e  / )
 RETRACTED: Occupying intermediate positions between
front and central .( /I/ )
 BACK: When the highest point of the tongue lies below the
soft palate. ( /A: Q O: u: / )
 ADVANCED: Occupying intermediate positions between
central and back. ( /U/ )
 CENTRAL: When the highest point of the tongue lies in an
intermediate position at the junction of the hard and soft
palates. ( /V 3: @/ )
HEIGHT
 CLOSE: When the highest point of the tongue is close to the
roof of the mouth.
 OPEN: When there is a considerable distance between the
highest point of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
 MID: When the highest point of the tonge is midway between
close and open.
 CLOSE-MID
 OPEN-MID
 MID
LENGTH
 Depending on the phonetic environment the relatively long
vowels have several degrees of length. However, we normally
distinguish between:
 (RELATIVELY) LONG: (all the diphthongs plus
/i: A: O: u: 3:/ )

 SHORT: ( /I e  Q U V @ / )
LIP POSTURE
 ROUNDED: /O: u: /
 SLIGHTLY ROUNDED: /Q U/
 UNROUNDED: /i: i e  A: V 3: @/
THE RP PURE VOWELS
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/i:/ Vowel sound number 1
 Front, between
close and close-
mid, relatively
long, unrounded.
COMMON SPELLINGS
 EE  SEED
 E  THESE
 EA  BEAT
 I  MACHINE
 IE  FIELD
 EI  RECEIVE
 EY  KEY
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/I/ Vowel sound number 2
 Retracted,
close-mid, short,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 I  FILM
 E  PRETTY
 Y  RHYTHM
 A  VILLAGE
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/e/ Vowel sound number 3
 Front, mid,
short,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 E  BED
 EA  HEAD
 A  MANY
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
// Vowel sound number 4
 Front, between
open-mid and
open, normally
short,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELING
 A  HAND
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/A:/ Vowel sound number 5
 Back, open,
realtively long,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 AR  FAR
 EAR  HEART
 ER  CLERK
 A  LAST
 AL  CALM
 AU  AUNT
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/Q/ Vowel sound number 6
 Back, open,
short, slightly
rounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 O  DOG
 A  SWAN
 OW / OU  KNOWLEDGE /COUGH
 AU  BECAUSE
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/O:/ Vowel sound number 7
 Back, mid,
relatively long,
rounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 AR / OR / ORE  WAR / HORSE / MORE
 OUR  COURT
 OAR / OOR  BOARD / FLOOR
 AU(GH)  TAUGHT
 A(L)  SALT
 AW  SAW
 OU  BOUGHT
 OA  BROAD
 URE  SURE
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/U/ Vowel sound number 8
 Advanced, close-
mid, short,
slightly rounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 U  BUTCHER
 OO  BOOK
 O  WOMAN
 OU  COULD
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/u:/ Vowel sound number 9
 Back, between
close and close-
mid, relatively
long, rounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 U  June
 OO  FOOD
 O  WHO
 OU  GROUP
 EW  SEW
 UE / UI / OE  BLUE / JUICE / SHOE
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/V/ Vowel sound number 10
 Central, between
open-mid and
open, short,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 U  CUT
 O  SON
 OU  COUNTRY
 OO  BLOOD / FLOOD
 OE  DOES
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/3:/ Vowel Sound number 11
 Mid, central,
relatively long,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 ER / ERR  SERVE / ERR
 UR / URR  TURN / PURR
 IR / IRR  SIR
 YR / YRR  MYRTLE / MYRRH
 W+OR  WORLD
 EAR  EARTH
 OUR  JOURNEY
ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS
/@/ Vowel sound number 12
 Mid, central, short,
unrounded.
COMMON SPELLING
 A  WOMAN
 O  OBLIGE
 E  GENTLEMAN
 ER / RE  MOTHER / CENTRE
 I  POSSIBLE
 U  SUPPOSE
 AR / OR /OUR / URE  PARTICULAR /
DOCTOR / COLOUR /
FIGURE
 FAMOUS
 OU
PURE VOWELS V/S DIPHTHONGS
 PURE VOWELS: unchanging.
 DIPHTHONGS: have a considerable and deliberate glide.
DIPHTHONGS
 Diphthongs are sounds that consist of a
movement or glide from one vowel to another.
A vowel which remains constant and does not
glide is called a pure vowel.
 Concerning length, diphthongs are like long
vowels.
 It’ is important to remember that the first part
of the diphthong is much longer and stronger
than the second part.
DIPHTHONGS: Classification
CENTRING DIPHTHONGS
CLOSING DIPHTHONGS
 They all end with a glide towards a closer vowel.
Because the second part of the diphthong is weak,
they often do not reach a position that could be
called close. The important thing is that a glide from
a relatively more open towards a relatively more
close vowel is produced.
 Three of the diphthong glide towards the /I/ the
other two glide towards /U/ so that as the tongue
moves closer to the roof of the mouth there is at the
same time a rounding movement of the lips.
CLOSING DIPHTHONGS
THRIPHTONGS
 A third vocalic element can be added to all diphthongs, except the
centring ones.
 The resulting sequence, however, is prononuced fully only
ocassionally.

 SMOOTHING: When the diphthongs /eI aI aU @U/ are

immediately followed by /@/ the end target of the diphthong is left
out. Then:
 /eI@/ /e@/
 /aI@/ /a@/
 /aU@/ /a@/
 /@U@/ /3:/