Vowels and Consonants

The following diphthong is pronounced differently from the others:

• blow

• toad

• plow

• crow

......... is the essential element in an English syllable.

• consonant

• nucleus

• onset

• coda

(a)   is the relative loudness or acoustic energy of a speech sound in natural flow.

In a syllable, the most sonorous sound is usually the vowel. It forms what we call the (a)   of the syllable — the most audible part.

Which of the following is true?

• vowels are produced with the air restricted in the vocal tract.

• consonants are produced with a partial or total obstruction of the air stream.

• any consonant can be syllabic.

• all vowels are syllabic.

(a)   has the following properties:

• active articulator tongue body (dorsum)

• passive articulator soft palate (velum) constriction degree stop

• state of glottis voiceless

• nasal no

• lateral no

• airstream mechanism normal

Which of the following is not a criterion to classify English simple vowels?

• tongue height

• tongue part

• voicing

• length of sound