Phonetics-II
(Vowels)
Semester I
Prof. Younnes ELKHADIRI
What is a vowel?
• consonants closure or obstruction in the
vocal tract,
• vowel sounds a relatively free flow of air
• They are all voiced
Describing Vowels
How do we describe/ classify vowels?
• How high is the highest part of the tongue in the mouth?
• How front or back is the highest part of the tongue in the mouth?
• Are the lips rounded or unrounded?
Describing Vowels
Describing Vowels
Try this:
• heat, hit, hat, hot
Vowel Height
High Mid Low
[i] [ɛ] [æ]
eat/ key/ see dead, pet, said ban, laugh, sat
Vowel Backness
Vowel Backness
Front Central Back
[i], [ɪ], [e], [u], [ʊ], [o],
[ә], [ʌ], [a]
[ɛ], [æ] [ɔ], [ɑ]
The stricture involved in the production of
vowels is open approximation:
The active • the front, the back, the
articulators center of the tongue
• the hard palate, the soft
The passive palate, the meeting point
articulators of the hard and soft
palates
Cont.
The active articulator is raised towards the
passive articulator in such a way that there
is a sufficient gap between the two for the
air to escape through the mouth without
any friction.
Front Vowels: [i], [ɪ], [e], [ɛ], [æ]
• [i]
• e.g. eat/ see / week / tree
• [ɪ]
• e.g. hit, myth, women, invite, pin
Front Vowels
• [e]
• e.g. great, eight, locate, ballet
• [ɛ]
• e.g. dead, pet, said, bet, extra
Front Vowels
• [æ]
• e.g. ban, laugh, sat, at
Central Vowels:[ə], [ʌ], [a]
• [ə]
• e.g. above, support, zebra (British)
• farmer, waterfall
• [ʌ]
• e.g. blood, tough, sun, but, son
• [a]
• e.g. bomb, swan (American), path (British)
Back Vowels:[u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ], [ɑ]
• [u]
• e. g. move/ two/ too / drew
• [ʊ]
• e.g. could, foot, put
Back Vowels
• [o]
• e.g. no, road, toe, hello, over
• [ɔ]
• e.g. ball, caught, raw, all, hall, jaw
Back Vowels
• [ɑ]
• e.g. spa, father, clock, awkward
Lip Roundedness
• Rounded [u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ]
• [u] e.g. noon
• Unrounded [i], [ɪ], [e], [ɛ], [æ], [ɑ], [ә], [a], [ʌ]
• [i] e.g. heat
Types of vowels!
Monophthongs • vowels that do not change their
or pure vowels quality
• are combinations of two sounds-
Diphthongs English has 8 diphthongs
• are combinations of three sounds-
Triphthongs English has 1 triphthong
• (a diphthong + a schwa sound)
Diphthongs
• A combination of two sounds
• begins with a vowel & ends with a glide [w] or [j]
• vowel + glide
• [aw]
• cow, down, loud, doubt
• [ɔj]
• boy, toy, noise, void
• [aj]
• ride, high, bye, eye, my
Examples of Diphthongs
Vowels’ full description
• Vowels are classified according to three parameters:
height, backness, and lip rounding
• e.g.
• [i]
• high front unrounded vowel
• [u]
• high back rounded vowel
References
JenniferESL. (2011, January 6). Learn pronunciation of
English vowel sounds 1- Introduction [Video file].
Retrieved from [Link]
Yule, G. (2010). The study of language. (4th ed.)
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.