4. DEFINITION
• Vowels are the sounds in the production of which none of the
articulators come very close together so the passage of air-stream
is relatively unobstructed and the air can get out freely.
• Vowels are the type of sounds that depend mainly on the
variations in the position of the tongue. They are normally
voiced.
• Vowels can be classified according to three variables:
a. Tongue height.
b. Part of the tongue which is raised
c. Degree of lip rounding
5. ACCORDING TO TONGUE HEIGHT
High vowels: are those in the production of which the tongue is
high in the mouth. It is raised above its rest position.
eg. /i:/
/u:/
Lowvowels: are those made with the tongue below its rest position.
Eg.
Mid vowels: are those made with the tongue neither high nor low in
the mouth.
eg. /e/
6. ACCORDING TO THE PART OF THE TONGUE RAISED
1. Front vowels: are those in the production of which the front of
the tongue is the highest point.
e.g.
2. Back vowels: are those in the production of which the back of
the tongue is the highest point.
e.g.
3. Central vowels: are those made with neither the front nor the
back of the tongue. The tongue is neither high nor low in the
mouth when central vowels are produced.
e.g.
7. ACCORDING TO DEGREE OF LIP ROUNDING
1. Rounded vowels: are those made with rounded lips. The corners of
the lips are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed
forwards.
e.g./u://u/ /ɔː / /ɒ /
2. Unrounded vowels (spread vowels): are those made with the lips
spread. The corners of the lips are moved away from each other as for
a smile.
e.g.
3. Neutral vowels: are those made with the lips neither rounded nor
spread.
e.g.
9. Front Central Back
Close
Half-Close
Half-Open
Open
i:
ɪ
ɜ:
ǝ
e
æ
:c
Ɑ:
ɒ
u:
ʊ
High
Mid
Low
>
Rounded
10. Parts of tongue
Levels of
tongue
Front Central Back
High long
short
Mid long
short
Low long
short
VOWEL CHART
11. Parts of tongue
Levels of
tongue
VOWEL CHART
Front Central Back
High long iː uː
short ɪ ʊ
Mid long ɜː ɔː
short e ə
Low long ɑː
short æ ʌ ɒ
12. DIPHTHONGS
1. Definition:
- a glide from one vowel to another
- Length: like long vowel
- The first part is much longer and stronger than the second part
e.g. /ai/
/eә/
17. TRIPHTHONGS
• A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a
third, all produced rapidly without interruption.
• There are five triphthongs in English. They are composed of the
five closing diphthongs with/ә/ added at the end.
18. DESCRIBING AND IDENTIFYING VOWELS
1. Describing: long/short, high/mid/low, front/central/back,
rounded/unrounded.
e.g./e/: short mid front unrounded vowel
2. Identifying
e.g. long mid central unrounded vowel: /з:/
• high front short vowel
• high back long vowel
• low back long vowel
• low back unrounded vowel
• mid back to front diphthong
• high back rounded short vowel
• low central vowel
20. Phonemes vs. allophones
phoneme allophone
Definition
symbol
example /p/ /r/ [pʰen] [tr̥eɪn]
[speɪn] [reɪn]
transcription
the smallest unit of sound in
speech. 44 phonemes in
English
one of two or more
variants of the same
phoneme
/ / [ ]
Broad transription
Phonemic transcription
Narrow transcription
Phonetic transcription
more phonetic details such as
aspiration, length, nasalization…., by
using a wide variety of diacritics.
21. Allophonic variants of consonants
1. Aspiration of stops: Voiceless stops are aspirated
when they are syllable initials (or begin a stressed
syllable)
[pʰɪp] [tʰest] [kʰɪk]
2. Fortis stops / p, t, k / are unaspirated after /s / in
words such as spew, stew, skew
3. Dentalisation of alveolars:[+alveolar] [+dental]
before [+dental]
Eg. tenth [ten̪θ]
[welθ̪] [eɪtθ̪] [æt ̪ðɪs] [wɪd̪ð]
22. Allophonic variants of consonants
4. Devoicing of /w, l, r, j/ when they occur after
initial fortis plosives
[ple̥i] [kr̥uː] [tw̥ɪn]
5. /l/ is velarised after a vowel or before a
consonant(the back of the tongue rises toward
the soft palate (the velum) (dark l)
[fɪɫ] [puːɫ] [wɜːɫd]
23. Allophonic variants of consonants
6. Lenis consonants /b d ɡ v ð z ʒ dʒ/ preceded
by a voiceless sound or silence, or followed by a
voiceless sound or silence are devoiced(these
retain full voicing when they are surrounded by
voiced sounds)
• this boy /ðɪs bɔɪ/ [ð̥ɪs b̥ɔɪ]
• my dog /maɪ dɒɡ/ [maɪ dɒɡ̊]
• misbehave /mɪsbɪheɪv/ [mɪsb̥ɪheɪv̥]
• She’s so good /ʃiːz səʊ ɡʊd/ [ʃiːz̥ səʊ ɡʊd̥]
24. Allophonic variants of vowels
1. Nasalization of vowels: [vowel] [+nasal]
before [+nasal]
Eg. [mæ̃n] [sɪŋ̃] [kʌ̃m ]
2. Vowels are shortened by a following fortis
consonant.
Eg. [bʊ̆k] [tʃɜˑtʃ]
[gə̆ʊt] [stɒ̆p] [lɑˑf] [briˑθ] [kɪs̆] [brʌʃ̆]
25. practice
• Write the narrow transcription of the following
words
Tongue
Vowel
Sound
Nose
Hard palate
Velum
Consonant
Plosive
Breadth
