3. Vowel
A vowel is a type of sound for which there is no closure
at any point of the vocal tract.
A vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as ah! [a:]
or ee [i:]. pronounced with an open vocal tract so that
there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above
the glottis.
Different from consonants
Description of vowels is different from the description
of Consonants
4. Difference between Vowels and
consonants
Vowels are different from consonant as consonants are produced with
obstruction or hindrance of air in the mouth such as “b” and “m”. Both are
stop –bilabial which are produced with obstruction of air in the mouth.
All consonants are produced with obstruction of air in the mouth whereas all
the vowels are produced without ant obstruction of air in the mouth.
Besides all vowels are voiced whereas some consonants are voiced and some
consonants are voiceless.
Consonants have proper concepts to define their place and manner of
articulation whereas vowels are described by the position of tongue whether
high or low in the mouth and shape of the lips whether spread, rounded or
neutral and length of the vowel whether short vowel or long vowel.
5. Cardinal Vowels
Cardinal vowels are a set of
reference vowels used by
phoneticians in describing the sounds
of languages.
They are classified depending on the
position of the tongue relative to the
roof of the mouth, how far forward or
back is the highest point of the tongue
and the position of the lips, either
rounded or unrounded.
6. Monophthongs
A monophthong is simply a vowel.
The word monophthong comes from the old Greek
language. Mono means one or single, and the -
phthong means sound or tone.
The word monophthong shows that a vowel is spoken
with exactly one tone and one mouth position.
For example, when you say "teeth", then while you are
creating the sound of the "ee", nothing changes for that
sound.
7. Description of Vowels
Vowels are described based on the following criteria:
(i) The part of the tongue that is raised or lowered
1. Front 2. Central 3. Back
(ii) The height of the tongue
1. High 2. Mid 3. Low
(iii) The position of the lips
1. Spread(Unrounded) 2. Neutral 3. Rounded
9. Basic Concept To Remember
In close vowels, the tongue is quite high in the mouth.
In open vowels, the tongue in quite low in the mouth.
For mid-vowels, the tongue is neither high nor low in the mouth.
Front Vowels are those vowels in which the front of the tongue is
involved.
Back Vowels are those vowels in which the back of the tongue is
involved.
Central vowels are those vowels in which the centre of the
tongue is involved.
10. Front Vowels
A vowel in which the front of the tongue
is the highest point is called a front
vowel.
/ i: / as in beat ( High Front Unrounded)
/ e / as in bet (Mid-Low Front
Unrounded)
/ ɪ / as in fist ( Mid-High Front
Unrounded)
/ æ / as in bat (Low Front Unrounded)
11. / i: /
When the body of the tongue is pushed forward and toward
the roof of the mouth we get this vowel sound.
Long vowel
Front vowel
Close vowel
Lips are slightly spread
Examples
Beat, feat, bead etc.
12. / ɪ /
When the body of the tongue is pushed forward and
toward the roof of the mouth we get this vowel sound.
Short vowel
Front vowel
Close vowel
Lips are slightly spread
Examples
Bit, fit, bid etc.
13. / e /
In [e], for example, the tongue body is pushed forward, as it is
during [i] and [æ], but it is further away from the roof of the
mouth in [e] than in [i], and closer to the roof of the mouth than
in [æ]. So we can place [e] on a vowel chart between [i] and [æ].
Lie between half close and half-open Vowel
Front vowel
Short vowel
Lips are spread
Examples
Red, bed, men, yes etc.
14. / æ /
It is a near-open front unrounded vowel
or near-low front unrounded vowel sound.
It lies between half-open and open vowels.
Lips are slightly spread.
Short vowel
Examples
Jam, cat, fat, etc.
15. Back Vowels
Any vowel sound produced in the back of the mouth.
The largest group of the simple vowels is the back
vowels.
These are shaped with the back of the tongue raised
towards the soft palate ( velum).
/u:/ High-back rounded
/ʊ/ Mid-high back rounded
/ɔ:/ Mid-back rounded
/ɑ:/ Low-back unrounded
/ɒ/ Low -back rounded
16. /u:/
It is a high-back rounded monophthong.
Close vowel
Long vowel
Lips are rounded
Examples
Boot, root, Food soon etc.
17. /ʊ/
It is a mid-high-back rounded
monophthong.
Short vowel
Close Vowel
Lips are rounded
Examples
Look, took, book, etc.
18. /ɔ:/
It is a mid-back-rounded monophthong.
This vowel is fully back.
Strong lips rounding
Long vowel
Examples
Board, torn, horse, etc.
19. /ɑ:/
It is a low back monophthong.
Long vowel.
Not back as other back vowels
Between the centre and back vowels
Lips are neutral
Examples
Card, half, pass, etc.
20. /ɒ/
It is a low back rounded monophthong.
This vowel is not quite fully back.
It is between open-mid and open vowel.
Lips are slightly rounded.
Examples
Pot, cross, gone etc.
21. Central Vowels
A central vowel, formerly also known as a mixed vowel,
is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken
languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel
is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front
vowel and a back vowel.
Central Vowels are produced with the middle of the
tongue.
Central vowels are the following:
/ʌ /,/ɜː /, and / ə /
22. /ə /
The schwa [ə] is in the exact centre.
It is a half-close vowel.
Short vowel
Schwa is often referred to as the neutral vowel, the vowel in which
the vocal tract is in its neutral state and most closely resembles a
perfect tube.
All the other vowels require that the vocal tract be deformed by
moving the tongue body away from its neutral position, either up or
down, backward or forward.
Examples
About, above, etc.
23. /ɜː/
It lies between half-closed and half-open vowel chart.
It is a central vowel.
The lips’ position is neutral.
It is pronounce as “er” sound.
Examples
Bird, Purse, Fern, etc.
24. /Ʌ/
This is a central vowel.
It is more open than the open-mid vowel.
The position of lips is neutral.
It is a short vowel.
Example
But, some, rush, etc.
25. Diphthongs
The word Diphthongs came from the Greek word Diphthongos,
Which means two sounds. Di- means double, thongos means
sounds. By combining these two words, we make Diphthongs.
Diphthongs are the sounds that are produced by combining two
vowels.
A vowel sound that starts near the articulatory position for one
vowel and moves toward the position for another.
These are also called gliding sounds.
Examples
Hi [aɪ] and bye etc.
29. Triphthong
Very rarely, the nucleus of a single syllable may contain
three vowel sounds that quickly glide together; these
sounds are known as triphthongs.
In phonetics, a triphthong literally "with three sounds,"
or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel
combination involving a quick but smooth movement of
the articulator from one vowel quality to another that
passes over a third.
30. Examples
The diphthongs can be looked on as being composed of
the five closing diphthongs with ə added on the end.
This we get
eɪ+ə=eɪə (layer, player, etc)
aɪ+ə=aɪə (Lire, fire, etc)
ɔɪ+ə=ɔɪə (Loyal, royal, etc)
əʊ+ə=əʊə (Lower, mower, etc)
aʊ+ə=aʊə (Power, hour, etc)
