Vowels (phonetics)

Vowels:

Definition:

“Vowels are voiced sounds which are produced by allowing the air to escape without being blocked or hindered in any way.”

There are 20 vowel sounds and these can be divided in two categories:

Monothongs/ Single vowels/ pure vowels/ cardinal vowels:

Total 12 in number, the monothongs or the single vowels can be defined as follows:

“Monothongs, as the name suggests, are the vowels with a single sound that is they do not undergo any change during their production.”

Monophthongs are further of two types:

1.      Long vowels, they are 5 in number and they have length marks [:]. For example, i: , ɑ: , ɔ: ,  з: , u:

2.      Short vowels, they are 7 in number and do not have length marks. For example, ɪ, e, æ, ʌ , ɒ, ʊ, ә      

Diphthongs/ glides:

Total 8 in number the diphthongs can be defined as follows:

“Diphthongs as the name suggests are the vowels that undergo a change in the sound during their production that is they glide from one vowel sound towards the other hence the name glides.”

Diphthongs further have three categories;

1.      Gliding towards /I/ that is /ai/, /ei/, /ͻi/

2.      Gliding towards /u/ that is /aʊ/, /әʊ/

3.      Gliding towards /ə/ (schwa) that is /ʊə/, /iə/, /eə/

Another categorization of diphthongs is:

1.      Centering diphthongs: the ones ending in ə (since schwa is a centering sound).

2.      Closing diphthongs: the ones ending either in /I/ or /u/ (since both of these are closing sounds).

Parameters for studying the vowel sounds:

There are parameters for studying the vowel sounds:

1.      Tongue position: (open/ close)

2.      Part of the tongue: (front/ back/ center)

3.      Lip position:

ü  spread

ü  Open rounded

ü  Close rounded

ü  neutral

Tongue position:

Tongue position during the vowel production specifies two things either the sound is open or closed.

1.       When the tongue is flat the vowel peoduced is called open. For example: /a:/

2.       When the tongue is raised a little while the vowel production vowel is called closed. For example: /i:/.

Part of the tongue:

This parameter studies the part of tongue involved in the vowel production, it can either be font, center or back. Following table helps understand the vowel placement on the tongue.

Close-mid here indicates half-close and open-mid indicates half-open.

Lip position:

This parameter identifies the position of the lips during the vowel production. The lips can be,

1.       Spread, for example during the production of /i:/, /ɜ:/,

2.       Neutral, for example during the production of /a:/, /Ʌ/, /I/

3.       Open rounded, for example during the production of /ͻ:/

4.       Close rounded, for example during the production of /u:/, /u/