Phonetics CH4:VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS

Extrinsic factors are those pertaining to the larger context of vowel production—factors such as:

(a) Speaking rate: Vowels are longer at slower rates than at faster rates. (b) Stress pattern: Vowels are longer in stressed than unstressed syllables. (c) The number of syllables in a word: Vowels tend to be longer in words of few syllables, (d) Characteristics of the listener or communication channel: Mothers lengthen their vowels when speaking to their young children and speakers produce longer vowels when they are trying to be understood over a noisy communication channel.

The front series includes the following vowels:

/ i ɪ e ɛ æ /, all of which are unrounded. the tongue is carried near the front of the mouth and that the lips are in an unrounded state these vowels have a rather high frequency of occurrence in the English language.

We can fix endpoints or extremes on the front-back dimension by using the vowels:

/i/ (heat), /æ/ (hat), /u/ (hoot), and /ɑ/ (hop or ah).

difference between /ɔ/ and /ɑ/

/ɔ/ -lips rounded -tongue in low-mid back position /ɑ/ -lips unrounded -mouth more open -lower jaw position In attempting to say /ɑ/, the speaker should be careful to place the tongue in the extreme low-back position, avoid rounding, and allow ample duration.

monophthong

A pure vowel, that is, a vowel having a single, unchanging sound quality, is sometimes called a monophthong (from the Greek mono, meaning "one")

Extrinsic factors effecting vowels

Extrinsic factors are those pertaining to the larger context of vowel production—factors such as: (a) Speaking rate: Vowels are longer at slower rates than at faster rates. (b) Stress pattern: Vowels are longer in stressed than unstressed syllables. (c) The number of syllables in a word: Vowels tend to be longer in words of few syllables, (d) Characteristics of the listener or communication channel: Mothers lengthen their vowels when speaking to their young children ("motherese," as discussed in Chapter 6), and speakers produce longer vowels when they are trying to be understood over a noisy communication channel.

TRUE OR FALSE Front vowels in English can be rounded.

FALSE No front vowel in English is rounded, although many other languages contain rounded front vowels, as you may know if you have studied French, German, or Swedish.

TRUE OR FALSE monothongization means there is a problem with the persons speech

FALSE monothongizartion is not a problem unless it is across the board -monothongizartion can be part of dialect

TRUE OR FALSE: All of the vowels described as lax can appear in stressed open syllables, which is simply to say that lax vowels cannot terminate a stressed syllable.

FALSE: NONE of the vowels described as lax can appear in stressed open syllables, which is simply to say that lax vowels cannot terminate a stressed syllable. The lax vowels do occur in stressed closed syllables.

Diphthong [ɔɪ] boy, toy, oil Articulatory Summary

Lips: Mid-open and unrounded. Jaw: Mid; may close somewhat during the diphthong. Tongue: Moves from a mid-front /e/ to a high-mid-front /ɪ/. Velopharynx: Normally closed except in nasal contexts.

Diphthong [aʊ] bough, how, owl Articulatory Summary

Lips: Move from a relatively open, unrounded state to a rounded state. Jaw: Mid-open to open for the onglide; often closes somewhat for the offglide. Tongue: Moves from an onglide position of low-back (similar to /a/) or low-midback (similar to /ɔ/) to an offglide position of mid-back (similar to /o/) or high-mid-back (similar to /ʊ/). Velopharynx: Normally closed except in nasal contexts.

Diphthong [ɑɪ] bye, eye, aisle Articulatory Summary

Lips: Move from a rounded to an unrounded state. Jaw: Mid; may close slightly during the diphthong. Tongue: Moves from a low-mid-back /ɔ/ or mid-back /o/ position to a mid-tohigh-front position, similar to /e/, /ɪ/, or /i/. Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal contexts.

/u/ Who Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded and/or narrowed. Jaw: Closed position. Tongue: Tongue body in high-back position; tongue root is advanced so that lower pharynx is wide; maximal constriction in velar region. Velopharynx: Normally closed except when sound is in nasal context; velum tends to be high. (Point vowel)

/ʊ/ Book Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded in most cases. Jaw: Closed position, but ranging to midopen. Tongue: Tongue body in high-mid and back position, with width of pharynx less than for /u/. Velopharynx: Open only for nasal contexts.

Diphthong [oʊ] bow, hoe, pole Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded with progressive narrowing. Jaw: Mid-open; often closes slightly during the diphthong. Tongue: Moves from a mid-back /o/ position to a high-mid-back /ʊ/. Velopharynx: Normally closed except in nasal contexts.

/(əʌ)/ Further (sometimes called schwar) Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded, but not necessarily so. Jaw: Usually closed to mid position. Tongue: Mid-central tongue body, with a bunching toward the palatal area. Velopharynx: Normally closed except in nasal contexts.

/ɔ/ Law Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded, though often not as much as for /u/ or /o/. Jaw: Mid position. Tongue: Tongue body is in a low-mid and back position, so that the most constricted region of the vocal tract is in the midpharyngeal segment. Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal context.

/o/ Hoe Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded. Jaw: Closed to mid position. Tongue: Tongue body is in a back position, not quite as high as for /7/, resulting in a constricted region in the pharynx. Velopharynx: Normally closed, except when sound is in nasal context.

/ɑ/ Hop Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded and widely open. Jaw: Open. Tongue: Tongue body is in the extreme low and back position, so that the pharynx is constricted. The front cavity is larger than for any other vowel. Velopharynx: Open only for nasal contexts, but the velum can be lower than for other vowels.

/æ/ Had Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded, frequently retracted. Jaw: Open position. Tongue: Low-front in mouth, nearly the lowest front vowel in the IPA and in fact the lowest front vowel in General American speech. Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in a nasal context; velar position during velopharyngeal closure tends to be low compared to other front vowels.

Vowel /i/ (He) Articulatory Summary:

Lips: Unrounded, possibly everted or retracted. Jaw: Closed or elevated position. Tongue: Tongue body held in high-front position, so that maximal constriction occurs in the palatal region; pharynx is widely opened, with advancement of tongue root. Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in nasal context; velum tends to be quite high. monophthong

/ɪ/ Hid Articulatory Summary:

Lips: Unrounded, sometimes slightly rounded or retracted. Jaw: Closed position, ranging to mid-open. Tongue: Tongue body in a high-mid and front posture, so that maximal constriction is developed in palatal region; pharynx not as widely opened as in the case of /i/. Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is a nasal context.

/e/ Chaos (first syllable) Articulatory Summary:

Lips: Unrounded. Jaw: Mid position. Tongue: Tongue body in a mid and front position, creating a maximal constriction of the vocal tract in the palatal region; the constriction is less than that for /8/. Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in nasal context.

/ə/ (above sometimes called schwa) Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded. Jaw: Closed to mid-open position. Tongue: Ideally mid-central in isolated production, but tongue position is often not stable in connected speech. Velopharynx: Normally closed except when in nasal context.

/ɛ/ Head Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded. Jaw: Mid position. Tongue: The tongue body is in a low-mid and front position, so that the constriction of the vocal tract tends to be uniform along its length (that is, there is no region of marked constriction). Velopharynx: Normally closed

/ʌ/ Nut Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded. Jaw: Varies over a fairly wide range but tends to be relatively open. Tongue: Tongue body is in a low-mid, backcentral position, just up and forward from that for /e/. Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal contexts.

Diphthong [eɪ] bay, hay, pail Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded; usually make a slight to moderate closing motion during the diphthong. Jaw: Mid-open to open for the onglide, then closes somewhat for the offglide. Tongue: Moves from a low-back onglide to a mid-front or high-front offglide. The onglide is similar to /a/ or /ɑ/ and the offglide may be like /e/, /ɪ/, or /i/. Velopharynx: Normally closed, except for nasal contexts.

/(ɜʌ)/ Her Articulatory Summary

Lips: Usually rounded. Jaw: Mid-open position. Tongue: Tongue body in mid-central position, often bunched in the palatal region. Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal contexts. Vowel /ɜʌ/ is sometimes described as r-colored, retroflex, or rhotacized.

Can tense and lax vowels occur in both closed and open syllables?

NO. Tense vowels can occur in both closed and open syllables, but lax vowels can only occur in closed syllables.

Reduction

Reduction was discussed in connection with the schwa /ə/ Reduction occurs as the rate of speaking increases or as the stress on a vowel is decreased. Reduction can be characterized along the two dimensions of length (duration) and centralization. As a vowel is reduced, its duration decreases, and it is articulated more toward the center of the oral cavity. The schwa vowel /ə/ represents the limit of reduction because it has the shortest duration of all vowels

Diacritics

Short vowels are marked with a special symbol called a breve which is placed over the alphabet character. Long vowels are marked with another symbol called a macron.

TRUE OR FALSE Although the tongue is supported by the jaw (tongue and jaw work together in vowel articulation), the tongue can move independently of the jaw.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE There are fewer variations for tongue advancement than for tongue height.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE for the /ɑ/ vowel, the front cavity is larger than for any other vowel.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE ʌ is on its own in the quadrilateral.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE An individual speaker may use different onglide and offglide segments from one occasion to another, depending on phonetic context (that is, the influence of surrounding sounds), his or her rate of speaking, and the degree of stress.

TRUE

TRUE OR FALSE phonemic- has to do with meaning

TRUE

tense vs lax vowels

Tense vowels have greater muscle activity and longer duration than lax vowels. For example, /i/ in heat is tense and /ɪ/ in hit is lax; /u/ in Luke is tense and /ʊ/ in look is lax. the tense-lax distinction might be more satisfactorily considered as a long- short distinction.

what is the highest of the vowels produced in the BACK of the oral cavity and what is the highest of the vowels produced in the FRONT of the oral cavity.

The /u/ is the highest of the vowels produced in the BACK of the oral cavity. Similarly, /i/ is the highest of the vowels produced in the FRONT of the oral cavity.

English vowels can be described by considering three series or groupings:

The front series, the central series, and the back series. The vowels in each series are differentiated on the basis of tongue height, tenseness, and rounding. The three series are divisions according to tongue advancement, and the vowels within a series are distinguished by the other three features (tongue height, tenseness, and rounding)

offglide

The offglide is highly variable and depends on stress, speaking rate, and phonetic context. Studies have shown that diphthongs produced at increasingly faster rates of speech have progressively smaller movements, up to some limiting movement needed for recognition of the sound.

phonemic diphthong

The phonemic diphthongs cannot be reduced to monophthongs because it signals a change in meaning /aʊ/ /ɑɪ/ /ɔɪ/

What three features are the vowels within a series distinguished?

The vowels in each series are differentiated on the basis of tongue height, tenseness, and rounding.

The Back Series

This series includes the vowels / u ʊ o ɔ ɑ /, all of which except /e/ tend to be rounded. Notice that the tongue is positioned near the back of the mouth for these vowels, but there is some variation in their position along a front-back dimension.

THE ELASTIC VOWEL

Vowels are elastic speech sounds that undergo adjustments in duration because of various factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic.

Range of vowel positions in the high-low (or superior- inferior) dimension

Vowels produced in the highest position, in which the tongue is close to the roof of the mouth, are called high vowels. Vowels produced in the lowest position, with the tongue depressed in the mouth, are the low vowels. Intermediate tongue positions along the high- low dimension are specified with such descriptors as midhigh, mid, or mid-low.

nasalized

When English vowels and diphthongs are produced in the context of nasal segments, they usually are nasalized to some degree. Velopharyngeal opening for a preceding nasal segment is maintained during the vowel or diphthong, and velopharyngeal opening for a following nasal segment is anticipated during the vowel or diphthong. Of course, a vowel or diphthong that is both preceded and followed by nasal segments, like /i/ in mean, is influenced from both directions. The occurrence of nasalization is transcribed by adding a diacritic mark to the phonetic symbol, which is placed within brackets rather than virgules.

Diphthongs

[eɪ] bay, hay, pail [ɑɪ] bye, eye, aisle [au] bough, how, owl [ɔɪ] boy, toy, oil [ou] bow, hoe, pole

Non-Phonemic Diphthongs

[eɪ] bya, hay, pail [ou] bow, hoe, pole

Phonemic Diphthongs

[ɑɪ] bye, eye, aisle [ɑu] bough, how, owl [ɔɪ] boy, toy, oil

vowel vs. consonant

a *vowel* is a speech sound that is formed without a significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal cavities and that serves as a syllable nucleus. a *consonant* is associated with a closure or constriction of the vocal tract. Because vowels are associated with a relatively open vocal tract, consonants and vowels naturally form two opposing sets of sounds. The CV (consonant + vowel) syllable is among the most frequently used syllable structures across the world's languages.

Tongue position can be described according to two dimensions:

a dimension of high-low (superior-inferior) and a dimension of front-back (anterior-posterior).

what is a vowel?

a speech sound that is formed without a significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal cavities and that serves as a syllable nucleus.

rhotacization

a vowel with r coloring and it occurs in normal speech adjacent to /r/

derhotacization

applies to a situation in which a normally r-colored vowel loses all or part of the r color.

The central vowels

are / (ɜʌ) ɜ (əʌ) ə ʌ /, which are produced with a tongue body position roughly in the center of the mouth. Tongue height varies little among these vowels except that /ʌ/ is both lower and farther back than the other central vowels. The

Intrinsic factors effecting vowels

are inherent to vowel identity; for example, tense vowels have a longer duration than lax vowels.

diphthongs

are vowel-like sounds produced with a gradually changing articulation. These sounds are represented in phonetic transcription by digraph (two-element) symbols that are meant to describe the onglide, or initial segment, and the offglide, or final segment. Thus, the digraph symbol represents in articulatory terms a position of origin and a position of destination.

diphthongs

are vowel-like sounds produced with a gradually changing articulation. These sounds are represented in phonetic transcription by digraph (two-element) symbols that are meant to describe the onglide, or initial segment, and the offglide, or final segment. Thus, the digraph symbol represents in articulatory terms a position of origin and a position of destination. [eɪ], [ɑɪ], [aʊ], [ɔɪ], [oʊ]

[eɪ] as in RAY

ate - late - Kate - fate - race dictate - educate - decorate - celebrate cable - table - able - cradle - range baby - bacon - paper - danger - angel patient - racial - nation - nature - fatal

onglide

beginning position of a diphthong

Consider the vowel-like sounds in the words how, eye, and hoy. If you place your finger or a pencil on the top of your tongue as you say these words, you should be able to detect a slow motion. This movement may be very small in the case of how, but much larger for eye and hoy. In addition, for both how and hoy, you should be able to see (or feel) a change in the shape of the lips. The vowel-like sounds in these words are called _____________________

diphthong

Because the tongue is supported by the jaw, it is natural to produce the low vowels by...

dropping the jaw, which causes the tongue to assume a low position.

offglide

ending position of a diphthong

We can fix endpoints or extremes on the front-back dimension by using the vowels /i/ (heat), /æ/ (hoot), /q/ (hat), and /ɑ/ (hop or ah). what are the extreme high tongue positions? what are the extreme low tongue positions?

for a high tongue position, the extremes in tongue advancement are given by the vowels /i/ (high-front) and /u/ (high-back). For a low tongue position, the extremes in advancement are the vowels /æ/ (low-front) and /ɑ/ (low-back).

What are the three descriptors of tongue advancement?

front, back, central

vowel quadrilateral

having the vowel corners /i/, /u/, /æ/, and /ɑ/ and the corresponding articulatory descriptions of high-front, high-back, low-front, and low-back./

where is the tongue positioned for high vowels?

highest tongue position, in which the tongue is close to the roof of the mouth

The corners of the quadrilateral are vowels with what articulatory descriptors of tongue position?

highfront, low-front, high-back, and low-back.

[aʊ]

how - cow - now - allow - owl brown - down - town - clown loud - proud - cloud out - shout - about found - ground - around count - amount - announce - bounce towel - bowel - Powell power - tower - flower - shower hour - our - sour - flour

where is the tongue positioned for midhigh, mid, or mid-low vowels?

intermediate tongue position, with the tongue along the high-low dimension

the choice to transcribe a vowel as either /(əʌ)/ or /(ɜʌ)/ is mostly dependent upon _____________?

lax vs tense /(əʌ)/ lax /(ɜʌ)/ tense

how does lip rounding effect the vocal tract?

lip rounding lengthens the vocal tract, and such lengthening can produce a significant acoustic change in the vowel sound.

where is the tongue positioned for low vowels?

lowest tongue position, with the tongue depressed in the mouth

Monophthongization

means that a diphthong is produced as a monophthong, or single-element vowel. For example, a speaker who says /ɑ/ for /ɑɪ/, as often happens in Southern speech

When English vowels and diphthongs are produced in the context of nasal segments, they usually are _______________ to some degree.

nasalized

[ɔɪ] as in BOY

noise - voice - avoid poison - join - coin - point boil - foil - oil - spoil joy - toy - boy oyster - destroyer - employer

reduction

occurs as the rate of speaking increases or as the stress on a vowel is decreased. It can be characterized along the two dimensions of length (duration) and centralization. As a vowel is reduced, its duration decreases, and it is articulated more toward the center of the oral cavity. Generally, centralization can be represented along vectors or lines within the quadrilateral diagram of vowel articulation (Figure 4.14). The vowel changes in the second syllable of educate can be represented as articulatory changes along a line

Reduction

occurs as the rate of speaking increases or as the stress on a vowel is decreased. For example, as the stress on the second syllable of the word educate is progressively lessened, the vowel tends to change from /u/ to /ʊ/ and from /ʊ/ to /ə/. Reduction can be characterized along the two dimensions of length (duration) and centralization. As a vowel is reduced, its duration decreases, and it is articulated more toward the center of the oral cavity.

Diphthongization

occurs when a vowel ordinarily produced as a monophthong is articulated with a diphthongal character. For example, speakers of Southern speech sometimes produce yes /j ɛ s/ as /j e ə s/ and cat /k æ t/ as /k e æ t/.

vowels can carry r coloring when they occur adjacent to /r/. We refer to this r coloring of a vowel as _________________.

rhotacization (or rhotacism).

[ɑɪ] as in RIDE

ride - nice - ice polite - combine - arrive private - library - final idea - ideal - identity find - kind - mind high - sigh - sign lie - die - tie cry - dry - fry

[oʊ] as in NO

role - bone - phone - stone close - note - notice - lonely home - hope - open go - ago - no - so - toe solar - polar - modal - total worker; cold - gold - hold most - post - host road - load boat - coat - oat approach - roast - toast - boast - coast; soul - shoulder - though - although - dough; OK - obey - omit - hotel - motel; low - know - mow - snow follow - borrow - narrow - sparrow - window - yellow;

diphthong

sometimes vowel-like sounds are produced with a gradually changing articulation and hence with a complex, dynamic sound quality.

nasalization

sound energy usually passes only through the oral cavity and not through the nasal cavity. This means, in articulatory terms, that the velopharynx is closed as the vowel is produced. But when English vowels and diphthongs are produced in the context of nasal segments, they usually are nasalized to some degree.

The terms _________ and __________, representing extremes along a continuum of tenseness, are occasionally used in phonetic descriptions of vowels.

tense and lax

the feature or dimension of tenseness refers to

the degree of muscle activity involved in the vowel articulation and to the duration of the vowel. Tense vowels have greater muscle activity and longer duration than lax vowels.

diphthong

the diphthong cannot be defined as a movement from one invariant vocal tract configuration to another invariant vocal tract configuration. Neither the configuration of the onglide or offglide nor the amount of articulator movement is constant from one condition to another. The phonetic symbols used to represent diphthongs are thus best approximations and should not be taken literally

tongue advancement

the vowels along the dimension of front-back

the vowels traditionally described as tense can be distinguished from those described as lax by examining

their distributional properties, that is, the different phonetic conditions of their occurrence.

nonphonemic diphthong

these diphthongs can be reduced to monophthongs because it does NOT signal a change in meaning /eɪ/ to /e/ /oʊ/ to /o/

In any given language, the vowels may vary along a dimension of front-back. We will refer to this dimension as _________ ____________, although it might just as well be called tongue retraction.

tongue advancement

the terms tense and lax are used to

used to represent aspects of vowel articulation not covered by the other features.

Unrounded vowels

vowels formed without such pursing or protrusion. Vowels /i/ (he) and /æ/ (had) are examples.

Rounded vowels

vowels produced with the lips in a pursed and protruded state, so that they form a letter O when viewed from the front. The best example of a rounded English vowel is the vowel /u/ (who).