Vowels /vaʊlz/

LING110
Phonetics and Phonology
Dr Felicity Cox
Lecture 3
Vowels /vaʊlz/
Dr Felicity Cox 1

Aims
Reinforce the notion that vowels and consonants function
differently in language
Explain the articulatory basis for vowel classification
Discuss important vowel features
Outline the transcription of English vowels
Describe the two main classes of vowels: monophthongs
and diphthongs
Dr Felicity Cox 2

Consonants Vowels
-constricted vocal tract - more open vocal tract
-low amplitude - much louder
-short, change rapidly - longer, slowly changing
-mark edge of syllables - mark the syllable’s centre
multilayered information:
- accent differences
- personal attributes
- intonation / emphasis
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Phonetic Features for Vowel Classification
Initiation of Airflow - vowels are pulmonic
Voicing - vowels are voiced
Direction of airflow - all vowels are central
- can be oral or nasal
Oral Constriction -Degree = Vowel Height
Backness
-Position = Vowel
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Additional Vowel Features
Round - vowels can be produced with
rounded or unrounded lips
Length - vowels can be long or short
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Vowel Space
Height and backness are used to define the
vowel space.
When we produce vowels, the tongue forms an
arch.
The apex of the arch is the Highest Point of the
Tongue (HPT).
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Potential Human Vowel Space
Potential vowel space
/i/ /ʊ/
/æ/ /ɑ/
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Backness
refers to the horizontal position of HPT.
front vowels - HPT is below the hard palate
/i,ɪ,e/ e.g. “bead, bid, bed”
back vowels - HPT is in the velar/pharyngeal
region
/ʊ,ɔ,ɒ/ e.g. “good, board, pod”
central vowels - HPT is between front
and back
guard”
/ə,ɜ,a/ e.g. “above, bird,
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Height
refers to vertical movement of the HPT
high vowels - the HPT is high but does not
cause an obstruction to the flow of
air
/i, u, ʊ/ e.g. “bead, rude, good”
low vowels - the HPT is low -- the
mouth is open the jaw is lowered
• /a, ʌ/ e.g. “card, cud”
mid vowels - between high and low
/e, ɒ/ e.g. “pet, pot”
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Vowel Space
(Height x Backness Space)
The space is typically quadrilateral in shape.
It is also (and primarily) an auditory space.
We hear vowels as similar or different from
each other depending on their proximity in this
space.
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Australian English Vowel Space
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Vowel Dispersion
Languages prefer vowels to be maximally
dispersed in the vowel space.
This assists intelligibility.
When vowels of an accent change, they often
remain dispersed in this space.
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Round
In most English accents, back vowels and [u] are
produced with rounded lips.
/u, ʊ, ɒ, ɔ/ e.g. “cooed, could, cod, cord”
Languages tend to prefer back vowels to be
rounded and front vowels to be unrounded but
there are exceptions
e.g. French: front rounded vowels [y]
Japanese back unrounded vowels [ɯ]
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Length
long heed, who’d, heard, hoard, hard
short hid, hood, head, hod, had, hub
English short vowels don’t occur in open
syllables (syllables that end in a vowel).
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Schwa /ǝ/
by far the most common vowel in the English
language
typically found in function words (unless they are said in
isolation): for, the, but, should, can etc.
the schwa vowel is typically very short in duration and
not very loud
occurs in the large majority of English polysyllabic
words e.g. “photographer” /fətɒgrəfə/
“abominable” /əbɒmənəbl/
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What are you doing later today?
/wɒtʃəduənleɪtətədeɪ/
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Vowel Classes
Vowels can be classified according to whether
they are static or dynamic.
Static vowels are called monophthongs.
e.g. /a/ as in “are”
Dynamic vowels are called diphthongs.
e.g. /aɪ/ as in “eye”
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Monophthong Spectrogram
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Diphthong Spectrogram
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Describing Diphthongs
Diphthongs are described with reference
to the HPT at the beginning and the end of the
diphthongal glide.
They are transcribed using two vowel symbols.
e.g. /eɪ/ as in “day”
These two symbols represent a single vowel.
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Rising and Falling Diphthongs
Diphthongs can be further classified as rising or
falling.
Rising diphthongs: the end of the glide has a higher
tongue position than the beginning.
Falling diphthongs: the end of the glide has a lower
tongue position than the beginning.
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• Front rising diphthongs have glides that move
up and to the front. e.g. /eɪ/ “day”
• Back rising diphthongs have glides that move
up and to the back. e.g. /aʊ/ “how”
• Falling diphthongs have glides where the end
of the glide is lower than the start.
e.g. /ɪə/ “hear”
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Monophthongs
front central back
high / i,ɪ/ /u/ /ʊ/
mid high /e/ /ɜ,ə/ /ɔ/
mid low /æ/ /ɒ/
low /a,ʌ/
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æ
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Diphthongs
Front rising diphthongs
/eɪ/ “bay”, /aɪ/ “by”, /ɔɪ/ “boy”
Back rising diphthongs
/oʊ/ “beau”, /aʊ/ “bough”
Falling diphthong
/ɪə/ “ear” (sometimes /eə/ “air” is also a
falling diphthong for some speakers)
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Summary
Reinforced the notion that vowels and consonants
function differently in language
Explained the articulatory basis for vowel classification
Discussed important vowel features: height, fronting,
rounding, length
Outlined the transcription of English vowels
Described the two main classes of vowels: monophthongs
and diphthongs
Dr Felicity Cox 28