Chapter 4 A

4. In normal speech, vowels are produced with voicing, (vocal fold vibration)

-Exception: in whispered speech, all sounds, including vowels are produced without voicing

Intermediate positions of the tongue are designated

-Mid high -Mid Mid low

1. Vowels are sounds produced without significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal cavity

-at least not as much constriction as occurs with consonants -vocal tract is relatively open -the most open of all speech sounds, this is ALWAYS true

3. Vowels serve as the syllable nucleus (required core of a syllable)

-each syllable must have one and only one syllable nucleus -ALL phonemic vowels (vowels intended to communicate meaning) serve as the syllable nucleus -rarely SOME consonants can serve as the syllable nucleus -possible to have a syllable without any consonants (I, A, goo(ey))

Some vowels are more dynamic

-involve tongue movement from on position to another -the shape of the vocal tract also changes

2. Vowels can be prolonged as long breath lasts if necessary

-this is true for ALL vowels -but true for only SOME consonants

Compare:

/i/ (heed) with /ɪ/ (hid) /u/ (who'd) with /ʊ/ (hood)

Vowel descriptions normally specify all 4 possible features (height, advancement, tenseness, lip rounding)

/i/ high, front, tense, unrounded vowel /ɝ/ mid, central, tense, rounded vowel /ɔ/ mid-low, back, tense, rounded vowel

Also called monophthongs or "Pure" vowels

/i/ in seat and gieve /u/ moot and suitcase

Production of vowels can described in terms of two dimension or the oral cavity, which are?

1. Front-back 2. high-low

There are actually more than 5/6 vowels in English (more than a,e,i,o,u, and (y), how many vowels are there and how many dophthongs are there?

15 (or 16) vowels and 5 diphthongs

/æ/ is commonly heard where?

American English

Both tense and lax vowels may occur in _____ syllables (whether stressed or not)

Closed

Movements from one vowel position to the next that result in 2 syllables would not be a diphthong, but rather two separate vowel phonemes

Ex. "goo ey" "apple"

In english, ALL ______ vowels are unrounded

FRONT

Vowels are also produced with the tongue in a specific front-back position

Front Central Back

Vowels produced with with less activity are referred to as _____ vowels

LAX

Tense vowels are almost always ____ than Lax vowels

Longer

The following minimal pairs demonstrate the contrast between high and low vowels

Meat-Mat Seat- Sat Peel- Pal Cheat- Chat Boot-Bought Loon- Lawn Cool- Call Hoot- Hot

The range of English vowel high (high low) is illustrated by:

Meet-mitt-mate-met-mat Beat-bit-bait-bet-bat ^^ as you go through each series, tongue height for vowels gets lower (notice jaw drops too)

Lax vowels ____ occur in stressed, open syllables

Never "me" /mi/ but not /mɪ/

High Vowels

Produced with the tongue in the highest position in the mouth -mandible is usually raised

Low Vowels

Produced with the tongue in the lowest position in the mouth -mandible may also be lowered

Vowels produced with with more activity are referred to as _____ vowels

TENSE

Tenseness

There are differences among the vowels in terms of amount of muscle activity

We can use these dimensions to create a "Map of the mouth" for the vowels called the

Vowel Quadrilateral

Does a diphthongs serve as one syllable?

YES the movement from one sound to the other does not count as 2 syllables / aʊ͞ / in house and round / ɔ̅͞ɪ / in boy and soil / a͞ɪ / in high and pie

Unlike consonants, there are no ______ positions, the vowel dimensions are _________

absolute continuous

/i, ɑ, u/ exist in what languages?

almost ever language in the world

There are "_____" alongs each dimension that certain vowel qualities are defined

areas

In English, almost all of the _____ vowel and some of the _____ vowels include lip rounding

back central compare: "he" and "who"

All vowels can be described using these two dimensions

height and advancement

Vowels are produced along a range of positions from ___ to ____

high to low

The "glide" consonants

involve transition between two positions, but the movements for diphthongs are much slower such as /j/ (you) and /w/ (we)

Lax vowels ___ occur in unstressed, open syllables

may "early" /ɝlɪ/ or /ɝlɪ/

Diphthongs function as the _____ of a syllable but glide consonants _______

nucleus don't

The 4 vowels at the corners of the quadrilateral are called ____ vowels

point includes: /i, æ, ɑ, u/

Dimension relate to the relative position of the _________ in the oral cavity

tongue body

Most vowels have a single, unchanging quality

vocal tract assumes a single fixed shape