(3) vowels (dimension & presentation)

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 ):