Vowels

Question 1

vowels

Answer 1

• no obstruction to the airflow coming from the lungs
• place, manner, and energy of articulation useless for vowels (tongue, approximants, lenis)
• sylabic (form the nucleus of syllables)
• each vowel is treated separately

Question 2

description of vowels

Answer 2

• tongue shape
• lip shape
• monophthongs v. diphthongs
• position of soft palate (nasality)
• duration

Question 3

tongue shape

Answer 3

• vowel height - close v. open
• vowel backness - front v. back

Question 4

vowel height

Answer 4

• close
• open
• how close the tongue is to the roof of the mouth

Question 5

vowel backness

Answer 5

• front
• back
• which part of the tongue is the highest

Question 6

monophthongs

Answer 6

• steady vowels
• long v. short
• short vowels preceding voiceless consonants are shorter than those preceding voiced consonants

Question 7

diphthongs

Answer 7

• glides from one vowel to another within one syllable
• fronting v. backing
• closing v. opening
• centring

Question 8

KIT vowel

Answer 8

• [ɪ] in RP
• [ɪ] in GenAm
• fairly front and fairly close unrounded vowel

Question 9

DRESS vowel

Answer 9

• [e] in RP (Upton [ɛ])
• [ɛ] in GenAm
• front open mid unrounded vowel

Question 10

TRAP vowel

Answer 10

• [æ] in RP (Upton and also Cruttenden 2014 [a]; lowered TRAP)
• [æ] in GenAm (often considerably longer)
• open front unrounded vowel in RP
• near open front unrounded vowel in GenAm

Question 11

LOT vowel

Answer 11

• [ɒ] in RP
• [ɑ] in GenAm (often considerably longer)
• open rounded back vowel in RP
• unrounded in GenAm

Question 12

STRUT vowel

Answer 12

• [ʌ] in RP
• [ʌ] in GenAm
• open-mid to central back unrounded vowel
• raised STRUT [ʊ] a salient feature of the North-South divide in England

Question 13

FOOT vowel

Answer 13

• [ʊ] in RP
• [ʊ] in GenAm
• fairly back and fairly close vowel with weak rounding
• FOOT fronting a recent innovation in RP: fronting and unrounding of [ʊ], thus [ʉ]

Question 14

BATH vowel

Answer 14

• [ɑ: ~ a] in RP
• [æ] in GenAm
  . in RP a long back open unrounded vowel as well as a short front open unrounded one
• in GenAm near open front unrounded vowel

Question 15

CLOTH vowel

Answer 15

• [ɒ] in RP
• [ɔ] in GenAm (frequently long [ɔ:])
• in RP a short open rounded vowel
• in GenAm open-mid back rounded vowel

Question 16

NURSE vowel

Answer 16

• [ɜ:] (Wells, Cruttenden) and [ə:] (Upton) in RP
• [ɜɹ] in GenAm
• in GenAm rhotic

Question 17

FLEECE vowel

Answer 17

• [i:] in RP
• [i:] in GenAm
• long close front unrounded vowel

Question 18

FACE vowel

Answer 18

• [eɪ] in RP
• [eɪ] in GenAm
• closing diphthong with the starting-point between [e] and [ɛ]

Question 19

PALM vowel

Answer 19

• [ɑ:] in RP
• [ɑ:] in GenAm
• in both RP and GenAm it is a long open back unrounded vowel

Question 20

THOUGHT vowel

Answer 20

• [ɔ:] in RP
• [ɑ] in GenAm
• in RP it is a long mid-open back rounded vowel
• in GenAm the vowel is short, fully open and there is no lip-rounding

Question 21

GOAT vowel

Answer 21

• [əʊ] in RP (older people may have the starting-point close to [o])
• [əʊ] ~ [oʊ] in GenAm
• for both RP and GenAm this is a diphthong. The starting-point for RP is central unrounded vowel (thus it is a backing diphthong), while it is retracted for GenAm with considerable lip-rounding.
• the closing-point in RP may be fronted -> [əʉ].

Question 22

GOOSE vowel

Answer 22

• [u:] in RP
• [u] in GenAm
• back close rounded vowel
  . in RP it is usually long, in GenAm typically short
• in RP it may be shortened and/or fronted -> GOOSE fronting [ʉ]

Question 23

PRICE vowel

Answer 23

• [aɪ] (Wells and Cruttenden) and [ʌɪ] (Upton) in RP
• [aɪ] in GenAm
• fronting diphthong; the starting-point in RP is front/central/back
• absence of lip-rounding

Question 24

CHOICE vowel

Answer 24

• [ɔɪ] in RP
• [ɔɪ] in GenAm
• fronting diphthong; the starting-point is a back mid-close rounded vowel

Question 25

MOUTH vowel

Answer 25

- [aʊ] in RP - [aʊ] in GenAm - backing diphthong; the starting-point in RP may be rather retracted to central or even back

Question 26

NEAR vowel

Answer 26

- [ɪə] in RP - [ɪɹ] in GenAm - in GenAm rhotic, thus fairly close and fairly front vowel followed by /r/ - in RP it is a centring diphthong; the closing-point is central, not lower

Question 27

SQUARE vowel

Answer 27

- [ɛə] (Wells) and [ɛ:] (Upton, Cruttenden 2014) in RP - [ɛɹ] in GenAm - in GenAm rhotic, thus an open-mid front vowel followed by /r/ - in RP it is a centring diphthong or a monophthong with or without a glide (SQUARE mohophthongisation)

Question 28

START vowel

Answer 28

- [ɑ:] in RP - [ɑɹ] in GenAm - in GenAm rhotic - back open unrounded vowel; in RP long

Question 29

NORTH vowel

Answer 29

- [ɔ:] in RP - [ɔɹ] in GenAm - in GenAm rhotic - open-mid rounded vowel; in RP long

Question 30

FORCE vowel

Answer 30

- [ɔ:] in RP - [ɔɹ] in GenAm - in GenAm rhotic - back open-mid rounded vowel; in RP long

Question 31

CURE vowel

Answer 31

- [ʊə ~ ɔ:] in RP - [ʊɹ] in GenAm - in GenAm rhotic, so a fairly back and a fairly close vowel followed by /r/ - in RP it is a centring diphthong or a back open-mid rounded long monophthong - CURE monophthongisation as follows: the starting point was lowered to [ɔə] and then monophthongised to [ɔ:] (in RP)

Question 32

happY vowel

Answer 32

- [i] in RP - [i] in GenAm - close front unrounded vowel - short FLEECE vowel [i] has universally replaced older KIT vowel [ɪ] = happY tensing

Question 33

unstressed KIT and FOOT vowel

Answer 33

- traditionally, [ɪ] and [ʊ] are employed here. - however, schwa [ə] is often used instead. Thus executive used to be [ɪgˈzekjʊtɪv], but now could be transcribed as [əgˈzekjətəv]