CHAPTER 4: Vowels and Diphthongs

Question 1

VOWEL

Answer 1

A speech sound that is formed without a *significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal cavities and that serves as a syllable nucleus.

Vowels are associated with an open tract from the larynx to the lips.

*the cavities are never narrowed, unlike consonants.

Question 2

MONOPHTHONG

Answer 2

A pure vowel.

A vowel having a single, unchangeable sound quality.

IPA symbols: /u/ (who), /ɪ/ (hid), /æ/ (had).

Question 3

DIPHTHONGS

Answer 3

A vowel-like sound that serves as a syllable nucleus and involves a gradual transition from one vowel articulation (onglide) to another (offglide).

IPA symbols: /ɑɪ/ (eye)

Question 4

TONGUE HEIGHT

Answer 4

The relative vertical position of the tongue body.

In English and most other languages, the tongue has a range of vowel positions in the high-low (or superior-inferior) dimensions.

Question 5

HIGH VOWELS

Answer 5

Vowels that are produced in the highest (superior) position in which the tongue is close to the roof of the mouth.

Vowels like /i/ (he) and /u/ (who) are high vowels.

Question 6

LOW VOWELS

Answer 6

A vowel produced in a low (inferior) position, with the tongue depressed in the mouth.

Vowels /ɑ/ (hot) and /æ/ (hat) are low vowels.

Question 7

TONGUE ADVANCEMENT

Answer 7

The vowel feature or dimension pertaining to the position of the tongue body along the anterior-posterior (front-back) aspect.

Advancement implies anterior or frontal position.

Question 8

VOWEL QUADRILATERAL

Answer 8

A four-sided figure having the corner, or point /i u ɑ æ/ as its vertices.

For a high tongue position, the extremes in tongue advancement are given by the vowels /i/ (high-front) and /u/ (high-back).

For a low tongue position, the extremes in tongue advancement are given by the vowels /æ/ (low-front) and /ɑ/ (low-back).

The quadrilateral diagram is useful for describing the tongue position for vowel articulation, as its two basic dimensions are high-low and front-back.

Question 9

ROUNDED VOWELS

Answer 9

Are produced with the lips in a pursed and protuded state, so that they form the letter O when viewed from the front.

Vowels like /u/ (who) and /ɝ/ (her) are rounded vowels.

Question 10

UNROUNDED VOWELS

Answer 10

A vowel that is produced without rounding or protrusion of the lips.

Vowels /i/ (he) and /ɑ/ (ha) are unrounded.

Question 11

FRONT SERIES

Answer 11

A vowel produced with the tongue positioned near the front of the mouth and the lips in an unrounded state.

The front vowel series is bounded by the high-front /i/ (he) and the low-front /æ/ (hat).

Includes the vowels

/ i ɪ e ɛ æ /,

all of which are unrounded.

Question 12

CENTRAL SERIES

Answer 12

Vowels that are produced with the tongue positioned in the center of the mouth.

The first vowel in upon is an example.

The central vowels are

/ ɝ ɜ ɚ ə ʌ /.

Tongue height varies little between these vowels except that /ʌ/ is both lower and farther back than the other central vowels.

The two vowels / ɝ ɜ / often are rounded, but the degree of rounding varies considerably with speaker and dialect.

The vowels / ə ʌ / are usually not rounded.

The weaker or unstressed /ɚ/ is variable with rounding.

Question 13

BACK SERIES

Answer 13

This series includes the vowels

/ u ʊ o ɔ ɑ /,

all of which except /ɑ/ tend to be rounded.

The tongue is positioned at the back of the mouth for these vowels, but there is some variation in their position along a front-back dimension.

Because the tongue is in the back of the mouth, the region of greatest constriction is in the pharynx or near the velum.

These vowels constituted 12% of the vowels and diphthongs and about 4% of all sounds recorded.

Question 14

POINT VOWEL

Answer 14

Also known as a corner vowel.

A vowel that is produced with the tongue in the extreme front and high position.

Question 15

R-COLORED

Answer 15

A sound that carries the phonetic quality of /r/, the rhotic consonant.

This quality is best described acoustically, because the articulatory correlate is complex.

Question 16

RETROFLEX

Answer 16

Literally “turned back”; this term is used to denote sounds that carry r coloring, such as the vowels in the words bird and further.

However, “retroflex” is a misleading and inaccurate articulatory description and is best regarded as an arbitrary label.

Question 17

RHOTACIZED

Answer 17

A sound made with r-coloring.

Question 18

SCHWA VOWEL

Answer 18

The ultimate reduced vowel /ə/, which is described as unstressed, lax or short, and mid-central.

Schwa occupies the center of the vowel quadrilateral and can achieve the minimal duration for a vowel sound.

Question 19

REDUCTION

Answer 19

Generally, a shortening or unstressing of a vowel, which may be accompanied by a change in vowel quality, usually in the direction of centralization.

Question 20

ONGLIDE

Answer 20

The initial vowel or vocal tract shape of a diphthong.

Question 21

OFFGLIDE

Answer 21

The terminal vowel or vocal tract shape of a diphthong.

Question 22

DIPHTHONGIZATION

Answer 22

Alteration of a pure vowel (or monophthong) to a dynamic articulation of changing vowel quality.

For example, speakers of Southern speech sometimes produce yes /jɛs/ as /jeəs/ and cat /kæt/ as /keæt/.

Diphthongization should be noted in a phonetic transcription whenever more than one vowel quality can be heard in a syllable nucleus.

Question 23

MONOPTHONGIZATION

Answer 23

Alteration of a diphthong to a pure vowel; that is, loss of the dynamic phonetic quality of a diphthong.

For example, a speaker who says /ɑ/ for /ɑɪ/, as often happens in Southern speech, is monophthongizing diphthong /ɑɪ/.

Question 24

NASALIZED

Answer 24

A sound produced with nasal resonance, usually accompanied by an open velopharyngeal port.

Question 25

DERHOTACIZATION

Answer 25

Partial loss of r coloring from a normally rhotacized vowel (/ɝ/ or /ɚ/ in English).

Question 26

ACOUSTIC VOWEL SPACE

Answer 26

A diagram in which the frequencies of the first two formats, F1 and F2, define a space in which any vowel can be represented as a single point.

This acoustic space corresponds to an articulatory vowel space defined by the dimensions of tongue height and tongue advancement.

Question 27

RESONATOR

Answer 27

The vocal tract is a resonator, meaning that it selectively reinforces certain aspects of sound.

Question 28

FORMANTS

Answer 28

A particular set of resonances.

A resonance of the vocal tract determined by the length and shape of the tract.

Question 29

SOURCE-FILTER THEORY

Answer 29

States that energy from the source (vibrating vocal folds in the larynx) is filtered or modified by the resonances (formants) of the vocal tract.

Question 30

RADIATED ACOUSTIC ENERGY

Answer 30

The energy that passes through the vocal tract, through the lips or nose and into the atmosphere.

Question 31

SPECTROGRAM

Answer 31

A 3D display of sound.

A pattern for sound analysis showing information on energy, frequency, and time.

Question 32

SPECTRUM

Answer 32

A graph showing the distribution of signal energy as a function of frequency.

Plural: spectra.

Question 33

FORMANT FREQUENCY

Answer 33

The center frequency of a formant.

The frequency at the center or midpoint of the energy band associated with the formant.

Question 34

F1-F2 CHART

Answer 34

A diagram in which the frequencies of the first two formants, F1 and F2, define a space in which any vowel can be represented as a single point. This acoustic space corresponds to an articulatory vowel space defined by the dimensions of tongue height and tongue advancement.

Question 35

/i/

Answer 35

Examples: (he) (heed)

A monophthong, sometimes regarded as being diphthongized.

This vowel is produced with the tongue in the extreme front and high position, therefore qualifying as point vowel (or corner vowel) on the vowel quadrilateral.

The articulation is described as tense because the tongue musculature has a relatively tensed state and the duration is long.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded, possibly everted or retracted.

Jaw: Closed or elevated position.

Tongue: Tongue body held in high-front position, so that maximal constriction occurs in the palatal region; pharynx is widely opened, with advancement of tongue root.

Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in nasal context; velum tends to be quite high.

Question 36

/ɪ/

Answer 36

Examples: (hid) (ship)

This vowel is slightly lower (high-mid) than /i/, relatively lax, and shorter in overall duration.

Because /ɪ/ is produced with a relatively high tongue position, the jaw is usually held in a closed position. Occasionally, rather open positions can be tolerated.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded, sometimes slightly rounded or retracted.

Jaw: Closed position, ranging to mid-open.

Tongue: Tongue body in a high-mid and front posture, so that maximal constriction is developed in palatal region; pharynx not as widely opened as in the case of /i/.

Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in nasal context.

Question 37

/e/

Answer 37

Examples: (chaos) (obeyance) (ballet) (eighteenth)

This vowel is a monophthongal variant of the sound that more commonly occurs as the diphthongized form /eɪ/. The monophthong is shorter than the diphthong and does not have the tongue raising that is characteristic of the diphthong.

The jaw usually assumes a mid position but may be as closed as that for the vowel /ɪ/.

The lips are rounded.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded.

Jaw: Mid-position.

Tongue: Tongue body in mid and front position, creating a maximal constriction of the vocal tract in the palatal region; the constriction is less than that for /ɪ./

Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in nasal context.

Question 38

/ɛ/

Answer 38

Examples: (head) (bet) (attempt) (expect)

This vowel is somewhat shorter than /e/ (vacation) and therefore has the articulatory description of low-mid-front (in the lower part of the mid range).

The musculature is in a lax state, as is usually the case for short vowels.

The jaw typically is in a mid position, tending to be somewhat more open (lower) than it is for /e/ (chaos).

The lips are rounded.

This vowel is more common in American usage.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded.

Jaw: Mid position.

Tongue: The tongue body is in a low-mid and front position, so that the constriction of the vocal tract tends to be uniform along its length (that is, there is no region of marked constriction).

Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in nasal context.

Question 39

/æ/

Answer 39

Examples: (bad) (cat) (handsome) (Alabama)

For speakers of General American English, this vowel is the lowest front vowel; but for speakers with /ɑ/ in their dialect, /æ/ is slightly higher than /ɑ/.

The vowel /æ/ tends to be long in duration but is sometimes described as lax because relatively little muscular tension can be felt under the chin during its articulation (compare /i/ to /æ/).

The major difference between /æ/ and /ɛ/ is one of duration, and for this reason /æ/ is called long (and sometimes tense).

Because /æ/ is quite low, the jaw assumes a low or open position.

The lips are unrounded, ofter even retracted.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded, frequently retracted.

Jaw: Open position.

Tongue: Low-front in mouth, nearly the lowest front vowel in the IPA and in fact the lowest front vowel in General American Speech.

Velopharynx: Normally closed unless sound is in a nasal context; velar position during velopharyngeal closure tends to be low compared to other front vowels.

Question 40

/a/

Answer 40

Examples: (path)

This vowel is not in the vowel quadrilateral because it rarely appears in isolated production in English.

Sometimes it is used to denote the onglide, or first segment, of the diphthongs in high (or buy, sign, aisle) and how (or round, house, town).

For Midwesterners, these diphthongs often begin with a segment that is very nearly like low-back /ɑ/.

Vowel /a/ can be heard in the Eastern speech in words such as path, park, or barn.

Because of the rare appearance of /a/, we prefer to regard it as an allophone or dialectal variation.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded.

Jaw: Lax.

Tongue: Tongue body in a low-front posture.

Question 41

/ɝ/

Answer 41

Examples: (her) (sir) (church) (turpentine) (perverse) (inert) (worthy)

This vowel has a mid-central position and usually is produced with some degree of rounding (which varies across speakers).

/ɝ/ may be regarded as the stressed counterpart to /ɚ/ (which is unstressed).

Vowel /ɝ/ is sometimes described as r-colored, retroflex, or rhotacized.

Do not confuse /ɝ/ with the consonantal /r/; the vowel /ɝ/ is longer and /r/ is shorter, in such words such as bar, bore, bear, and beer.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Usually rounded.

Jaw: Mid-open position.

Tongue: Tongue body in mid-central position, often bunched in the palatal region.

Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal contexts.

Question 42

/ɜ/

Answer 42

Examples: (British or Southern her)

This vowel is similar to /ɝ/ and replaces it as a dialectal variant in British, Southern, and occassionally Eastern speech.

The best description of /ɜ/ is “/ɝ/ without the r coloring.”

This vowel does not normally occur in General American speech, but it does occur in some dialects and in developing speech.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded.

Jaw: Tense position.

Tongue: Tongue body in mid central position.

Question 43

/ɚ/

Answer 43

Examples: (further) (northern) (stupor) (higher) (loitering)

This vowel is the unstressed counterpart to /ɝ/ and shares with /ɝ/ a mid-central tongue position and r coloring.

Although /ɚ/ generally is described as rounded, it may be produced as unrounded by some speakers.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded, but not necessarily so.

Jaw: Usually closed to mid position.

Tongue: Mid-central tongue body, with a bunching toward the palatal area.

Velopharynx: Normally closed except in nasal contexts.

Question 44

/ʌ/

Answer 44

Examples: (hub) (butter) (ruckus) (enough) (customer)

This vowel is produced with a tongue body position that is shifted somewhat toward /ɑ/ from the mid-central position.

/ʌ/ is also shorter in duration than /ɑ/.

The lips are not rounded, and the jaw usually is quite open but ranges from relatively open to relatively closed, depending on the phonetic context, stress, and other factors.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded.

Jaw: Varies over a fairly wide range but tends to be relatively open.

Tongue: Tongue body is in a low-mid, back-central position, just up and forward from that for /ɑ/.

Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal contexts.

Question 45

/ə/

Answer 45

Examples: (a**bove) (again*) (*puppet*) (*radium*) (*purpo**se)

This vowel is also known as the schwa vowel and is the unstressed counterpart to /ʌ/.

This vowel is produced with the tongue in mid-central position and the lips unrounded.

Articulatory Summory

Lips: Unrounded.

Jaw: Closed to mid-open position.

Tongue: Ideally mid-central in isolated production, but tongue position is often not stable in connected speech.

Velopharynx: Normally closed except when in nasal context.

Question 46

/u/

Answer 46

Examples: (who) (noodle) (ooze) (stupor) (drew)

The tongue is in the extreme high back position, making /u/ one of the point vowels.

The articulation constricts the oral cavity in the velar region.

This vowel is produced with a closed jaw position to aid the tongue in reaching its high articulation.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded and/or narrowed.

Jaw: Closed position.

Tongue: Tongue body in high-back position; tongue root is advanced so that lower pharynx is wide; maximal constriction in velar region.

Velopharynx: Normally closed except when sound is in nasal context; velum tends to be high.

Question 47

/ʊ/

Answer 47

Examples: (book) (full) (could) (stood) (sugar)

Compared to /u/, the vowel /ʊ/ is lax, slightly lower, and shorter in duration.

Jaw position is usually closed.

Lip rounding frequently is not as pronounced as with /u/ and may be neglected altogether.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded in most cases.

Jaw: Closed position.

Tongue: Tongue body in high-mid and back position, with width of pharynx less than for /u/.

Velopharynx: Open only for nasal contexts.

Question 48

/o/

Answer 48

Examples: (hoe) (rotate) (road) (denote) (soldier)

This is a pure or monophthong vowel.

Tongue position is slightly lower than /ʊ/, and a distinct rounding of the lips can be seen.

Jaw position varies from closed to mid, depending upon phonetic context, stress, and other prosodic variables.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded.

Jaw: Closed to mid position.

Tongue: Tongue body is in a back position, not quite as high as for /ʊ/, resulting in a constricted region in the pharynx.

Velopharynx: Normally closed, except when sound is in nasal context.

Question 49

/ɔ/

Answer 49

Examples: (dog) (ou**ght) (qu**a**rrel) (f**o**reign) (all*) (*co**rd)

Tongue position is similar to that of /o/ but is slightly lower.

The lips are rounded.

The jaw is usually in mid position.

Speakers vary considerably in the use of this vowel, with dialectal alternation of /ɔ/ and /ɑ/ being quite common.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Rounded, though not as often as for /u/ or /o/.

Jaw: Mid position.

Tongue: Tongue body is in a low-mid and back position, so that the most constricted region of the vocal tract is in the mid-pharyngeal segment.

Velopharynx: Normally closed except for nasal contexts.

Question 50

/ɑ/

Answer 50

Examples: (hop) (pot) (imposter) (socket) (common) (doll)

This vowel completes the vowel quadrilateral.

The tongue is in a low-back position.

The lips are rounded and widely open.

The jaw is in an open position; in fact, for most speakers, this vowel is the most open vowel.

The region of the greatest constriction of the vocal tract is between the root of the tongue and the mid to lower pharynx.

Because the use of this vowel varies widely with dialect, selection of a key word is troublesome.

Articulatory Summary

Lips: Unrounded and widely open.

Jaw: Open.

Tongue: Tongue body is in the extreme low and back position, so that the pharynx is constricted. The front cavity is larger than for any other vowel.

Velopharynx: Open only for nasal contexts, but the velum can be lower than for other vowels.