English vowels Flashcards
More prominent part of a diphthong
First part
Diphthong symbol
“nonsyllabic” diacritic
symbol under the 2nd part, e.g. [aɪ̯]
Only diphthong with a more prominent part at the end
[ju]
r-colored vowel
[ɝ] such as in sir
Rhotacization
R-coloring of a vowel
Rhotacized vowels include a restriction of the ____
Pharynx (caused by retraction of part of tongue near epiglottis)
Rhotic accent
Allows some form of [r] after a vowel
Differences in distribution between accents
Differences in vowel qualities (in which words vowels occur)
Differences in systems between accents
Difference in the number of distinct vowels (e.g. caught/cot merger)
Third way in which vowels can differ
Quality (e.g. [mʌɪt] vs [mɛɪt])
___ may designate many vowels that have a central, reduced vowel quality.
[ə]
All the English vowels can occur in _____stressed/unstressed syllables in their unreduced forms
Unstressed
Lax vowels only occur in ___open/closed syllables
Closed
Tense vowels can occur in ___open/closed syllables unlike lax vowels
Open
There are fewer contrasts before __ and __ in most varieties of English
/ɹ/ /ŋ/
Before /ɹ/ we usually find the ___tense/lax counterparts
Tense ( [iɹ] but *[ɪɹ])
Before /ŋ/ we usually find the ___tense/lax counterparts
Lax [ɪŋ] but *[iŋ]
In reality, pronunciation before /ɹ/ and /ŋ/ is…
Somewhere in between the two extremes (because there is no contrast in quality between lax and tense)
Length of a given vowel depending on syllable openness
- Longest in open syllable
- Syllable closed by voiced consonant
- Shortest in a syllable closed by voiceless consonant
Vowels are longer in ____ stressed/unstressed syllables
Stressed
Vowel length depending on syllable number
- longest in monosyllabic words
- words with two syllables,
- shortest in words with more than two syllables.
A reduced vowel may be voiceless when …
After a voiceless stop (and before a voiceless stop)
Vowels are nasalized in syllables closed by…
A nasal consonant
Vowels are retracted before …
syllable final [ɫ]
