Vowels

Central vowels (con.)

-do not have clearly defined articulations -they are not consistently transcribed by phoneticians, so there can be disputes -they are very difficult to discern when we are learning them for the first time. -rely on linguistic stress

/ʌ/ con

-it is usually referred to as the caret or upside-down/inverted v as well as the short u. -it is related to schwa vowel, /ə/. But, It is produced with greater muscular tension compared to schwa vowel /ə/ due to stress. -termed "lax" because it is less tense than the /i/ or /e/. -sometimes easy to remember this as an "unrounded" version of /ʊ/ (as in "good").

Central Vowels

-produced at a point midway between the front and back vowels and between the high and low vowels. -considerable variation in the production of all the central vowels in terms of how the tongue is positioned. -when learning these vowels, it is important to remember features of stress and vowel reduction in American English.

/ ʊ /

-the High-Back Lax Rounded Vowel (as in /hʊd/) -made with tongue retracted as for /u/, but not elevated to the same extent. -in addition, it is not made with as much tension in the root of the tongue as /u/. -this sound primarily occurs in the middle of words. -commonly referred to as the upsilon, the capped u , the hooked u, and sometimes the flying u.

/u/

-the High-Back Tense Rounded Vowel (as in /but/) -produced by retracting (pulling back) the tongue from its rest position and raising it toward the soft palate (velum). -serves as a Cardinal vowel by marking the highest boundary for back vowels. -mostly referred to as the u sound, or the lowercase u.

/ o /

-the Mid-Back Tense Rounded Vowel (as in /hop/) -made by retracting the tongue from its rest position and maintaining it the mid-plane of the oral cavity. -it is another Cardinal vowel, and sets the mid-space for back vowels. -it is generally referred to as the o sound or the lowercase o. It can also be referred to as the long o (or even closed o).

What are vowels?

-the speech sounds produced by a vocal tract that is more or less unobstructed. -with different tongue postures, the oral cavity is changed into a variety of configurations to produce vowels. -the only contact is made by the tongue with upper and lower teeth and corresponding gum ridges. -ALL vowels are VOICED

Mid front vowels

/e/ & /ɛ/ = Tongue is lowered to mid position and mandible lowered from its nearly closed position.

Front high vowels

/i/ & /ɪ/ = Tongue is at its highest level closest to the hard palate/teeth almost closed together/mandible nearly closed.

Low front vowel

/æ/ = Tongue is nearly flat and the lower jaw more open than for the other front vowels.

Front Vowels

American English has FIVE standard front vowels. /i/ /ɪ/ /e/ /ɛ/ /æ/ /i/ and /e/ are "tense" vowels - made with muscle tension in the root of the tongue. The rest are considered "lax".

Vowel Classification

Classification is dependent on where the body of the tongue is in the oral cavity. -i.e., central vowels are made with tongue in natural middle position, while for front vowels, tongue is shifted forward from resting position.

Back Vowels

Produced by shifting the body of the tongue back from its central position. Tip of the tongue remains at the level of lower teeth. There are FIVE standard back-vowels in American English; / u /, / ʊ /, / o /, / ɔ /, / ɑ /.

IPA symbol /ɪ/

The (Lower) High-Front Lax (Unrounded) Vowel (as in the word it or bit) -made by lowering the tongue slightly from the high-front position for /i/. -muscle tension is not present, therefore different from /i/. -sometimes referred to as "small capital ɪ " "capped ɪ" or "short ɪ " *This sound is not allowable at the end of a word in English

/ɛ/

The (Lower) Mid-Front Lax (Unrounded) Vowel - as in get - -made by tongue body shifted forward in the mid plane, but the muscle tension is not present. -does not occur in final position in English words. -most commonly represented by the letter e. -usually called the "epsilon" or the "short e. "

/ə/

The (Neutral) Mid- Central Lax (Unstressed) (Unrounded) Vowel (as in /əlon/) -the most famous vowel in American English. Made similar to /ʌ/, but with less tongue-root tension. -this is also called the "reduced form" of /ʌ/, and serves as a variant for other vowels, including /ʌ/. -there is no specific letter of the alphabet to represent it consistently - 43 different spellings are found for /ə/ !!!! -commonly known as the "schwa" or the "neutral"

IPA symbol /i/

The High-Front Tense (Unrounded) vowel (as in eat) -Made by raising the body of the tongue from its rest position, and shifting it forward. -Also with muscle tension in the root of tongue. -Called a "Cardinal vowel" because, at the high-front place in the vowel chart, it serves as an anchor. -Most of the spelling for /i/ in English center around letter e or its combinations. -Appears early in speech of children. -Usually referred to as the "long e."

/ ɔ /

The Low Mid-Back Tense Rounded Vowel (as in /jɔn/ /kɔt/) -the tongue is retracted and almost flat in the mouth, and the lips are rounded. -many speakers do not use /ɔ/ and have great difficulty perceiving it. -considerable variation among speakers who use it. -referred to as the open o or reversed or backwards c. **Chances are if it's aw with an l it is this vowel

/ɑ/

The Low-Back Tense (Unrounded) Vowel (as in /hɑt/) -made by lowering and flattening the tongue in the oral cavity. -one of the very first vowels to appear in children's speech. -the most common vowel in the languages of the world, and most frequent back vowel in English. Referred to as the ah sound or the father /ɑ/ or script A.

/æ/

The Low-Front Lax (Unrounded) Vowel - as in at - -made by shifting body of tongue forward from its relaxed state and lowering it from the position for /ɛ/. -rarely found in word-final position in American English. -usually named "short ɑ", the "flat ɑ" or the "ash ɑ" -Takes on different qualities when associated with a nasal (Sandra, man, can)

/ʌ/

The Lower Mid-to-Back Central Lax (Unrounded) Vowel (as in /kʌt/) -made with the tongue in the approximate middle of mouth, probably shifted back slightly. -occurs ONLY in stressed syllables and is not a reduced form of another vowel. -does not end words in English. **If it's a one syllable word, it is ALWAYS ALWAYS the carrot "uh" -->only used in stressed syllables **Shwa is used in unstressed syllables and with coarticulatory words (like the, which is an article)

IPA symbol /ɚ/

The Mid-Central r-colored Lax Vowel (as in /fɑðɚ/) -the other r-colored vowel, which is NOT stressed. -exists only in some of the dialects, and when it does, it is more lax than /ɝ/. If it does not exist, /ɜ/ and /ə/ are used. -mostly this vowel is required for making nouns out of verbs (e.g., act/actor, read/reader, etc). -also used grammatically to form comparatives (e.g., warm/warmer, firm/firmer, etc.) -this occurs more frequently in English than its tensed counterpart, /ɝ/.

IPA symbol /ɝ/

The Mid-Central r-colored Tense Vowel (as in /hɝd/) -the articulation for this vowel is not constant. -occurs ONLY in stressed syllables, and in all word positions. -not all speaker of American English uses this vowel (uses /ɜ/ or /ɜɪ/).

/e/

The Mid-Front Tense (Unrounded) Vowel - as in ate - -made by tongue body shifting forward in the mid plane. -in American English, there is a tendency to diphthongize /e/ in stressed syllables and then it may be transcribed as /eӀ/. -usually, the letter ɑ and its combinations account for this sound. -some refer to this as the "long ɑ" or "lowercase E"