Phonetics Continued

1
Phonetics Continued

• Articulation and Description of English Vowels

2
Properties of Vowels

• Most sonorant (audible) sounds
• Sound is caused by vocal fold vibration
• Usually function as syllable nuclei
• Almost always voiced
• Vowel sounds change according to SHAPE of vocal
  tract, no obstructions in vowels

3
How Many Vowels in English?

• Teacher said 5 and sometimes y
• We say 11 and 3 diphthongs
• 1/2 of languages have 5, some have 3

4
Parameters

• Review consonant parameters
• Voicing.
• Place of articulation.
• Manner of articulation.
• Vowel articulation is described using FOUR
  parameters.

5
Four Parameters of Vowels

• Tongue HEIGHT
• High / mid / low
• Tongue BACKNESS
• Front / central / back
• Lip ROUNDING
• Round / unround
• Tenseness
• Tense / lax

6
Vowels of English
?
7
Tongue Height

• Put your hand under your chin and say seat, set,
  sat
• High leak, lick, Luke, look
• I, I, u, U
• Mid bait, bet, but, bought, boat
• eI, E, ?, ?, o
• Low cat, con
• Q, a

8
Tongue Advancement

• Front seek, sick, sake, sec, sack
• I, I, eI, E, Q
• Central luck
• ?
• Back ooze, look, road, law, dot
• U, U, o, ?, a

9
Lip Rounding

• In English, only the high and mid back vowels are
  produced with lip rounding
• Round vowels u, U, o, ?
• Unround vowels all the other vowels

10
Tenseness

• Tense vowels
• The tongue is at an extreme height or backness
• Lax vowels
• The tongue is not at an extreme position
• Compare Pete and pit

11
Diphthongs

• A diphthong is a complex vowel where the tongue
  begins in one place and moves to another (a two
  part vowel sound)
• The vowel diphthongs
• Ai bite
• AU bout
• oI boy
• eI stay (e is not a true English vowel
  sound)
• (Also o go, though we may write this with one
  symbol)