Definition and characterisctics of Vowel sounds

1. ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
soraya/English phonology

2. Vowel
• is a sound that need an open air to
the passage in the mouth.
Consonant
• is formed when the air stream is
restricted or stopped at some point
between the vocal cords and the lips
Soraya/phonology

3. Produced with
open
approximation
Articulated by
shaping the tongue
in the mouth
Have difficulties to
tell where the
tongue is when
they are produced
Use differences in
length combined
with differences in
quality to
distinguish the
vowels
all vowels are
voiced
soraya/English phonology

4. soraya/English phonology
• single vowel and during the production of the
sound doesn’t involve tongue movement
• Known as vowels
• E.g. [i:, e, u, u:, ǝ, æ]
Monophthong
• Double vowels with gliding
• E.g. [ei, au, iǝ]
Diphthong

5. • Front
• Central
• Back
1.The
position of
the tongue
that form
the
resonance
chamber
• High
• Mid
• Low
2.The
height of
the tongue
soraya/English phonology
High
Mid
Low

6. soraya/English phonology
low
Cental of the tongue
high
Front of the tongue
high
Back of the tongue

7. 3.The shape of the
lips
• Rounded vowels
• Unrounded vowels
(spread or neutral)
soraya/English phonology
rounded
spread
neutral

8. 4.The degree of
closeness
• Close
• Half-close
• Half open
• open
soraya/English phonology

9. 5.The length of the
pronunciation of the
vowel by keeping the
position of the speech
organs.The length is also
known as quantity
• Long (tense)
• Short (lax)
soraya/English phonology

10.  Tense vowels require tension in selected
muscles for the production and are in long
duration.
 Lax vowels are produced when the muscles
are in resting posture and are in short
duration.
soraya/English phonology

11. soraya/English phonology

12. soraya/English phonology

13. An open
syllable is a
syllable that
ends with a
tense vowel
or a
diphthong.
In a monosyllabic word, the
basic phonological pattern for
and open syllable is CV
A closed
syllable is a
syllable that
ends with a
consonant
sound.
In a monosyllabic word, the
basic phonological patterns for
a closed syllable isVC or CVC.
soraya/English phonology

14. Long tense vowel may appear in both open and
closed syllable,
• e.g. sheep /ʃi:p/, she/ʃi:/, and eat /i:t/
lax vowels can appear only in closed syllables.
• e.g. ship /ʃip/
Both tense and lax can initiate a syllable.
• e.g. eat /i:t/ and it /it/
soraya/English phonology

15. soraya/English phonology
DIPHTHONG