Vowels Flashcards
Vowels
phonemes produced without any appreciable constriction or blockage of air flow in the vocal tract
Vowel quadrilateral
a figure that schematically represents the oral cavity and spaces the idea of tongue height and advancement
Monophthongs
“one sound”; have one primary articulatory position in the vocal tract
Diphthongs
“two sounds”; two vowels that comprise one phoneme
Onglide
first element of a diphthong
Offglide
second element of a diphthong
Tense vowel
a vowel produced with an increased muscular effort and longer v a ; can be located in the final position of an open monosyllable (/i, e, u, o, ɔ, ɑ, and ɝ/
Lax vowel
a vowel produced with a reduction of muscular effort; does not appear in the final position of an open monosyllable
Point vowel
extreme point or corner of the vowel quadrilateral; /i/, /æ/, /u/ and /ɑ/
r-colored vowel
also known as rhotic vowel; a speech sound consisting of the two elements: vowel + /r/ (/ɪr/, /ɛr/, /ʊr/,/ɔr/ and /ɑr/)
Epsilon
/ɛ/, short “e” ; front-mid vowel that rarely occurs in final syllable in English words, dual syllable stress, final syllable is stressed
RULE: Sounds representing ‘air’ are transcribed /εr/
Ash
/æ/, short “a”; front-low point vowel that rarely in a final position of a word;
RULE: the long ‘a’ sound produced before the nasal ‘ng’ is transcribed /æn/rather than /en/
Schwa
/Ə/, short “u”; central-mid vowel that is produced with the tongue body in the most central portion of the mouth cavity, the entire vocal tract is in its most neutral configuration, most frequently used vowel, found in unstressed syllables
Carat
/Λ/, turned “v”, short “u” ; central-mid vowel found in monosyllabic words and stressed syllables, produced slightly lower and farther back in the oral cavity than /Ə/, does not end words in English
Schwar
/ɚ/ ,”right- hook Schwa”, central-mid vowel that occurs only in unstressed syllables, production involves additional tongue movement and is formed by constricting the pharynx and increasing the space in the oral cavity in front of the tongue by either:
- ) raising the tongue and curling it posteriorly towards the alveolar ridge
- ) lowering the tongue tip while bunching the dorsum in the region of the palate
Stressed schwar/retroflex
/ɝ/ , “right- hook reversed Epsilon”; central vowel that only occurs in stressed syllables, produced in a similar manner of /ɚ/ with lips rounded but the degree of rounding varies among speakers
phonation
a vibration of the vocal folds in creation of a voiced sound
What is the effect of the muscular attachments of the tongue to the mandible?
When the tongue moves these structures move as well resulting in a change in the size and shape of the pharynx.
How are vowels categorized?
Vowels are categorized by position of tongue in mouth, lip configuration and tenseness. Position tells tongue height and advancement. Lip configuration tells if the lips are rounded or retracted. Tenseness tells if the vowel is tense or lax.
What is the purpose of the vowel quadrilateral?
A figure that schematically represents the oral cavity and spaces the idea of tongue height and advancement.
rules in phonetic transcription regarding / ɪ /
1.) When an unstressed syllable ends with the long ‘e’ sound, the /ɪ/ is used in transcription rather than /i/.
2.) Sounds represented by ‘-ing’ are transcribed /ɪŋ/
3.) Sounds representing ‘ear’ are transcribed /ɪr/
rule for special transcription associated with the /u/ phoneme.
When you hear ‘you’ in a word, it is transcribed /ju/.
ffect of word stress on central vowel transcription
The syllable receiving the stress within the word will determine which symbol to use in transcription.
Why isn’t the final sound in the word ‘lucky’ transcribed with /i/?
The final sound in “lucky” is not stress so you would apply the / ɪ / rule.
