Dr Felicity Cox 1 LING110 Phonetics and Phonology Dr Felicity Cox Lecture 3 Vowels /vaʊlz/
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Dr Felicity Cox 1
LING110
Phonetics and Phonology
Dr Felicity Cox
Lecture 3
Vowels /vaʊlz/
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Aims
Reinforce the notion that vowels and consonants function differently in languageExplain the articulatory basis for vowel classificationDiscuss important vowel featuresOutline the transcription of English vowelsDescribe the two main classes of vowels: monophthongs and diphthongs
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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
-Position = Vowel Backness
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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 vowel space
/i/ /ʊ/
/æ/ /ɑ/
Potential Human Vowel Space
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Backnessrefers 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 frontand back /ə,ɜ,a/ e.g. “above, bird, guard”
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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, hardshort 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 SpectrogramMonophthong Spectrogram
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Diphthong SpectrogramDiphthong Spectrogram
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Describing Diphthongs
Diphthongs are described with referenceto 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 backhigh / 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 languageExplained the articulatory basis for vowel classificationDiscussed important vowel features: height, fronting, rounding, lengthOutlined the transcription of English vowelsDescribed the two main classes of vowels: monophthongs and diphthongs
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