English Vowels (Lecture 1)

English Vowels

By KHO CHUNG WEI

In this lecture, you will:

• Describe and produce English vowels

  • short vowels

  • long vowels

  • diphthongs

  • triphthongs

• Transcribe vowels using IPA

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Multiple Choice

Vowels can be defined as

• the letters a, e, i, o, u in the alphabet

• sounds made by blocking the flow of air coming out from the lungs

• sounds formed with strictures of open approximation which act as syllable nuclei

Multiple Choice

Try to imitate the vowels you hear. Are they closest to plosives, nasals, fricatives, or approximants?

• Plosives

• Nasals

• Fricatives

• Approximants

Multiple Choice

Can you differentiate one vowel from another using its manner of articulation?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Try to imitate the vowels you hear. Are they voiced or voiceless?

• Voiced

• Voiceless

Multiple Choice

Can you differentiate one vowel from another using its voicing or energy/force of articulation?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Try to imitate the vowels you hear. Can you describe their places of articulation like describing consonants?

• Yes

• No

So, how do we describe vowels?

Description of vowels takes into account the following:

1. Tongue shape

2. Lip shape

3. Whether tongue and/or lip shape are held constant (steady-state vowels) or undergo change (vowel glides)

4. Position of the velum (nasal or non-nasal)

5. ​Duration (short or long)

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Tongue shape

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Tongue shape

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Multiple Choice

​What do you notice about the shape of your lips when you articulate the front vowels?

• Spread to neutral lip position

• Rounded

Multiple Choice

​What do you notice about the shape of your lips when you articulate the back vowels?

• Spread to neutral lip position

• Rounded

Lip shape

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Refer to the IPA vowel diagram for additional vowels.

Steady-state vowels vs vowel glides

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English Phonetics and Phonology

​Steady-state vowels = pure vowels = monophthongs

• the positions/shapes of tongue and lips are held ​constant during production of vowels

​

​Vowel glides (diphthongs / triphthongs)

• ​the changes in tongue and lip positions/shapes must be accomplished in one movement within a single syllable without the possibility of a break

​

Multiple Select

Position of the velum

Nasal vowels = produced when the velum is lowered; found in many languages, e.g. French

Q: Do we have nasal vowels in English?

• Yes, we have nasal vowels in English.

• No, we don't have nasal vowels in English.

• However, we have nasalisation of vowels in English.

Duration

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English Phonetics and Phonology

• Relative length of sounds = the duration of each sound has to be considered in relation to that of other sounds in the language

• ​Very often the duration is combined with differences of vowel quality

• ​Checked vowels = short vowels = CANNOT OCCUR EVER in stressed open syllables

• Free vowels = long vowels = regularly occur in stressed open syllables​

Putting it all together!

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English Phonetics and Phonology

​Checked steady-state vowels

​Free steady-state vowels

Putting it all together!

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English Phonetics and Phonology

​Free closing fronting diphthongs

​Free closing backing diphthongs

​Free centring diphthongs

Putting it all together!

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​Free closing diphthongs

+ [ə]

= triphthongs​

Triphthong = a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption

1. eɪə "layer"

2. aɪə "liar"

3. ɔɪə "loyal"

4. əʊə "lower"

5. aʊə "hour"

​