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Universidad Arturo Michelena Facultad de Humanidades, Letras y Arte Escuela de Idiomas Modernos

Asignatura: ORAL I SEMESTRE 2015-2 Profesora: Mariela Pinto Sequera

Estudiante: _______________________

ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS

Introduction to Vowel Sounds Analyzing vowel sounds is a more difficult task than analyzing consonants. This is because a consonant usually has an obstruction at some point in the mouth, and we can easily locate and identify the obstruction. But a vowel sound involves no obstruction in the mouth, although its quality does depend on the height and position of the tongue. The mouth is really a sort of tube, ending at the lips and with the tongue for a floor; as the tongue changes position, it changes the shape of the tube through which the air passes. As the shape of the tube changes, so the resultant vowel quality alters. Quintana de Laya & Laya (1994)

Vowels are sonorous, syllabic sounds made with the vocal tract more open than it is for consonant and glide articulations. Different vowel sounds (also called vowel qualities) are produced by varying the placement of the body of the tongue (remember that for vowels our tongue tip is behind your lower, front teeth) and shaping the lips. The shape of the vocal tract can be further altered by protruding the lips to produce rounded vowels, or by lowering the velum to produce a nasal vowel. Finally, vowels may be tense or lax, depending on the degree of vocal tract constriction during their articulation. Dobrovolsky & Katamba (n.d.)

Vowels are distinguished from consonants in several ways. Consonants are produced by either narrowing the oral tract enough to completely close it or to cause turbulence at the narrowest point. Vowels are produced with a smooth, unobstructed airflow through the oral tract. Differences in vowel quality are produced by changing the shape of the oral cavity. Characteristic vowel qualities are produced primarily by varying the height of the tongue in the mouth; second, by whether the back or the front of the tongue and mouth are involved; third, by the configuration of the lips; and finally, by the tension of the musculature of the oral tract. Delahunty & Garvey (2004.)

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Classification of Vowel Sounds - Taken from Quintana de Laya & Laya (1994)

1. Position of the Tongue a. The height of the tongue (How close is the tongue to the roof of the mouth) (IPA preferred classification) CLOSE  produced with the tongue very high in the mouth and narrow jaw opening / iː - uː / HALF-CLOSE  between Close and Half-Open / ɪ - ʊ - ɜː or ɝː / HALF-OPEN  between Open and Half-Close / e - ɔː - ə / OPEN  produced with the tongue very low in the mouth and a wide jaw opening / æ - ɑː - ʌ/

b. The part of the tongue which is the highest (‘Tip, Blade, Root’ - nearest the roof of the mouth) If you say / iː / and then / uː / without making a pause, you will feel your tongue moving and raising on the back. FRONT  the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate / iː - ɪ - e – æ / CENTRAL  the center of the tongue is slightly raised toward the point of junction between the hard and soft palates / ə - ʌ - ɜː or ɝː/ BACK  the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the velum / uː - ʊ - ɔː - ɑː/

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2. Position of the lips ROUNDED  / ɔː - uː - ʊ / UNROUNDED  / iː - ɪ - e – æ/ (Spread)

/ɜː or ɝː - ɑː - ʌ - ə / (Neutral)

3. Length According to their duration, vowels are usually divided into long and short vowels. However, we may easily perceive that the so-called long and short vowels have several degrees of length, depending on the environment in which they occur. In general, both open syllables and those closed by voiced consonants are considerably longer than syllables of identical vowel quality closed by voiceless consonants. See

seed

seat

LONG VOWELS / iː - uː - ɜː or ɝː - ɔː - ɑː/

Sue

sued

suit

and / aɪ - eɪ - ɔɪ - aʊ - oʊ or əʊ /

SHORT VOWELS  / ɪ - ʊ - e - æ - ʌ - ə / 4. State of tension of the tongue Vowels are divided into tense and lax vowels. Some vowels require a greater degree of tension of the muscles of the vocal tract (especially of the tongue) than others. These vowels are called tense vowels. Vowels articulated with little muscular tension are called lax vowels. (Leave - live) TENSE  / iː - uː - ɜː or ɝː - ɔː - ɑː/

LAX / ɪ - ʊ - e - æ - ʌ - ə /

/ aɪ - eɪ - ɔɪ - aʊ - oʊ or əʊ /

5. Stability of Articulation MONOPHTHONGS: (Single vowels) produced with the tongue in a relatively stable position.  / iː - ɪ - uː - ʊ - e - æ - ɔː - ɑː - ʌ - ə - ɜː or ɝː/ DIPHTHONGS: their production involves a marked articulatory movement from one tongue position towards another.  / aɪ - eɪ - ɔɪ - aʊ - oʊ or əʊ /

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ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS: SINGLE VOWELS

/i:/ Long close tense front unrounded

-Position of the tongue : The tongue is as far forward as possible in the mouth. The middle part of the tongue is curved, almost touching the roof of the mouth, while the tip is behind the bottom front teeth. -Lip position: Lips are very spread, like in a smile. The corner of the lips are pulled wide. - Jaw-dropping: The jaw is fairly closed, but the teeth do not touch.

Tea Meet Key

Pronunciation of / i: / 1. 2. 3. 4.

Open your mouth just a little. Spread your lips into a smile Push your tongue forward in your mouth Move your tongue a little as you say it

IPA name: Long close front unrounded Usual spellings: ea  eat, pea, meat, cheap, leave, pleased ee  see, free, meet, screen, seen Other spellings: ie  field, priest, chief e_e  these, scene ey  key eo  people i  ski, police e  me, be, she (stressed)

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/ɪ/ Short half-close lax front unrounded

-Position of the tongue: The tongue is curved in the middle, but the tip is down, just behind the bottom front teeth. In this sound the tongue is not as close to the roof of the mouth as it is in sound [i:]. -Lip position: Lips are in a neutral position; the corners of the lips are still pulled back a little bit, but without tension. -Jaw-dropping: The jaw is completely relaxed

Ship Sit Bit

Pronunciation of / ɪ / 1. 2. 3. 4.

Practice / i: / Open your mouth a little more. Do not spread your lips into a smile Pull your tongue down a little

IPA name: Near-close near-front unrounded Stressed spellings i  if, it, ill, big, pin, fill, disk, king u  busy, business y  system, myth, rhythm o  women e  pretty ea ear, near (before ‘r’ in the same syllable) ui  build, guilt i_e  live, give Unstressed spellings: be  believe de  degree pre  prepare re  repeat et  pocket, ticket ect  subject, object (n.) ace  preface, surface ess  actress, waitress y  (in final position) city, easy (/ i / on dictionaries) ex  explain, expect, exam, exibit ate  (adjectives and nouns) chocolate, climate, graduate Material Compilado por Prof. Mariela Pinto Sequera

/e/ Short half-open lax front unrounded

-Position of the tongue : Since this is a front vowel the tongue is pulled forwards. The mid part of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth. The tip of the tongue rests against the bottom front teeth. The tongue is somewhat widened, a feature not very often taken into account. -Lip position: Lips are unrounded spread -Jaw-dropping: The jaw is open a little.

Bet Met Pen Bell IPA symbol [ɛ]

Pronunciation of / e / 1. Practice / ɪ / 2. Open your mouth a little more for / e /

IPA name: Open-mid front unrounded This sound is always stressed and it never appears in final position Usual spellings: e  egg, bed, help, stress, twelve ea  death, health, sweat, breast Other spellings: ue  guess, guest ie  friend a  any, many

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/æ/ Short open lax front unrounded

-Position of the tongue: The back part of the tongue is raised a little in the back; the front of the tongue stretches forward and presses behind the bottom front teeth. The production of this sound requires stretching of the tongue.

-Lip position: Lips are more spread than in vowel [i:]. -Jaw-dropping: The production of this sound requires a large opening jaw. Man Laughed Sad Hat

Pronunciation of / æ / 1. Practice / e / 2. Open your mouth a little more.

IPA name: Near-open front unrounded This sound is always stressed and it never appears in final position Usual spellings: 1. Monosyllabic words followed by one or more consonants a  add, man, catch, plan, black Exception: when followed by ‘l, w, r, or r + another consonant Call, saw, car, market 2. Stressed syllables followed by one or more consonants a  animal, apple, answer, damage, demand Exception: when followed by ‘t, w, r, or r + another consonant Father, lawyer, cardigan Other spellings: a_e  have (stressed) au  laugh (NAE) ai  plaid, plait

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/ʌ/ Short open lax central unrounded

-Position of the tongue: The tongue is relaxed and slightly pressed down in the back. It is also flat in shape. As for height, it is raised a little more than in vowel [ɑ:], where the tongue is as low as possible. -Lip position: Lips are in neutral position. -Jaw-dropping: The jaw is in neutral position. It is not as open as in vowel [ɑ:]. Pronunciation of / ʌ /

Cup Cut Love

Stressed Schwa

1. Practice / æ / 2. Close your mouth a little. 3. Your tongue should rest in the middle of your mouth 4. This is a short, relaxed sound

IPA name: Open-mid back unrounded (WEDGE) (often pronounced as / ɐ /: near-open central unrounded) This sound is always stressed and it never appears in final position Usual spellings: In monosyllabic words with ‘u’, this letter is usually pronounced with this phoneme u  sun, cut, tub, nut, up, bus, jump, lunch, truck Exception: Bush, bull, Ruth, rule, put Other spellings: u  summer, culture, funny o_e  one, come, love o  front, month, mother, among, onion, son ou  country, couple oo  blood, flood oe  does

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/ə/ Short half-open lax central unrounded

-Position of the tongue: The tongue is relaxed and flat, placed at mid height in the mouth. -Lip position: Lips are very relaxed and in neutral position.

-Jaw-dropping: The jaw is in a rest position without the teeth quite touching. The schwa always goes on an unstressed syllable. Partly due to vowel reduction, this is the commonest sound in American English.

Machine Doctor Father Allow Unstressed Schwa

Pronunciation of / ə / 1. Practice / ʌ / 2. Make it very short for / ə /. 3. Your tongue should rest in the middle of your mouth 4. This sound is always short and weak

IPA name: Mid central unrounded (SCHWA) This sound is always unstressed Spellings: a  apartment, Ireland, banana, husband e  open, jacket, darkness, oven i  liquid, humid, capital, typical o  occur, lemon, lesson, obtain u  suppose, circus, column, suspend Common suffixes: -er, -or  doctor, teacher -ial  memorial, trivial -sian  Asian, Parisian -ion  opinion, million -tion  production, definition -cient  ancient, efficient

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/ɑ:/ Long open tense back unrounded

-Position of the tongue: The tongue is really flat in the mouth. The back part of the tongue is pulled back in the mouth, but the tip is just behind the bottom front teeth. -Lip position: position.

Lips are in

neutral

-Jaw-dropping: The jaw drops more than in any other vowel. The tongue presses down a little.

Hot Cop Sock

Pronunciation of / ɑ: / 1. Practice / æ / 2. Open your mouth wide for / ɑ: /. 3. Your tongue should rest in the bottom of your mouth

IPA name: Long open back unrounded Usual spellings: a  art, bar, barbeque, car, dark, data, hard, large, part, want, wash, garage (NAE) o  hot, not, bottom, box, comic, common, competence, doctor, monster, stop (These words are transcribed and pronounced with / ɒ / in British English) Other spellings: au  audience (NAE), laugh (BrE) In American English dialects there is no distinction between / ɑ: / or / ɒ /

/ ɒ / is short open lax back rounded IPA name: Open back rounded

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/ɔ:/ Long half-open tense back rounded

-Position of the tongue: The tongue is more raised than in the case of [ɑ:] and is placed in the middle. The tongue is pulled back a little and the tip does not touch the teeth.

-Lip position: Lips take up the rounded position. The position for these vowel is less marked than in vowel [u:]. -Jaw-dropping: The jaw drops, not as much as in the case of [ɑ:]. Ball Dawn Bought

Pronunciation of / ɔ : / 1. Practice / ɑ: / 2. Open your mouth wider 3. Push your lips forward a little and make them round

IPA name: Long open-mid back rounded Usual spellings: o  (before r) corn, force, short, bored, more, before, sport a  (before l) tall, call, fall, always, also, ball, walk, talk au  fault, pause, August, audience (BrE), audio, sauce, cause aw  saw, awful, law, draw, dawn, raw, Other spellings: a  warn, war, warm oor  door, floor our source, four, your, course ought  thought, bought, fought aught  caught, taught oa  broad, board

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/u:/

Long close tense back rounded

-Position of the tongue: The back part of the tongue raises toward the soft palate, while the front part of the tongue is down, just behind the bottom front teeth. -Lip position: Lips take up a very rounded position, projected away from the mouth. -Jaw-dropping: The jaw is closed and the teeth do not touch.

Too Pool Suit

Pronunciation of / u : / 1. Push your lips forward into a circle 2. Pull your tongue up and back 3. Push your lips into a tighter circle as you say it

IPA name: Long close back rounded Usual spellings: oo  food, too, moon, choose, smooth ew  new, few, chew, screw, view u_e  rule, rude, tube ou  you, group, wound Other spellings: o  do, who, lose, move ue  true, glue, blue ui  fruit, suit

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/ʊ/ Short half-close lax back rounded

-Position of the tongue: The back part of the tongue raises toward the soft palate, without touching it; the tip of the tongue rests down behind the bottom front teeth. The difference with [u:] is that the back part of the tongue is less raised , and the tongue is not as back as before. -Lip position: The lips are rounded, but not as much as in [u:]

Book Pull Look

-Jaw-dropping: The jaw is closed and the teeth do not touch. Pronunciation of / ʊ / 1. 2. 3. 4.

Practice / u: / Open your mouth a little Your lips should be less rounded Don’t push your lips into a tight circle

IPA name: Near-close near-back rounded Usual spellings: oo  cook, book, look, foot, room, hook, good u  push, butch, pull, put, full, bush Other spellings: ou  would, should, could o  woman, wolf

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/ɝ:/ or /ɜ:/ Long half-close tense central unrounded

-Position of the tongue: As central vowel, the tongue raises towards the roof of the mouth in the middle. -Lip position: The lips are slightly rounded, but not as much as in [u:] or [ɔ:]. -Jaw-dropping: The jaw is in neutral position. British phoneme [ɜ:] has no retroflexapproximant attached to it

Fur Word Shirt

Rhotacized Schwa /ɝ:/ (stressed) /ɚ/ (unstressed)

Pronunciation of / ɝ: / 1. Practice / ʌ / 2. Close your mouth a little 3. Curl the tip of your tongue up and back

IPA name: (Rhotacized) Long open-mid central unrounded Usual spellings: ur  burn, church, curve, fur, hurt, nurse, occur, Thursday, curly, return ir  bird, dirty, first, girl, skirt, birth, thirty, thirst, circle er  per, nerve, verb, herb, prefer, term, service, certain or  (after w) word, work, world, worm, worse, attorney Other spellings: ear  (followed by consonant) earn, earth, heard, learn, early, pearl our  journey, courtesy, journal, courage, tournament (NAE)

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