Front Vowel Series

Question 1

/I/

Answer 1

“Hid”

• high
• front
• retracted
• lax

Question 2

/i/

Answer 2

“He”

• high
• front
• retracted
• tense

Question 3

/I/ Peculiarities

Answer 3

a) Sounds like /i/ but really is /8/
(1) unstressed syllables ending in “y”
e.g., “happy” /hqp8/
debateable: some insist /i/
(2) “ing” (nasalization affects-not /i/)
e.g., “meeting” /mit8a/
(3) r-colored vowel (often found before /r/,
so becomes an r-colored vowel: vowel
partially assumes the quality of the
consonant /r/. Some call this a rhotic
dipthong.
e.g., “hear” /h8r/

Question 4

/e/

Answer 4

/e/ as in “vacation”

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: High-mid
	b) Advancement: Front
	c) Lip Rounding: Retracted
	d) Tense/Lax: Tense

Question 5

/e/ Monopthong

Answer 5

Monopthong of the diphthong /3]/
a) It’s OK to transcribe as /3]/
The latter is the stressed form (also used at the end of words) and is longer in duration (onglide + offglide). It’s use varies with syllable context and regional pronunciation. These are considered to be allophones-represent the same sound.

Question 6

/E/

Answer 6

/2/ as in “head” (called Epsilon)

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: Low-mid
	b) Advancement: Front
	c) Lip Rounding: Retracted
	d) Tense/Lax: Lax

Question 7

/E/ Peculiarities

Answer 7

Peculiarities of /2/

	a) another example of an r-colored vowel 
		(1) e.g., /2r/ as in “hair” /h2r/

Question 8

/ae/

Answer 8

/q/as in “had” and “ash”

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: Low
	b) Advancement: Front
	c) Lip Rounding: Retracted
	d) Tense/Lax: Lax

Question 9

/ae/ Peculiarities

Answer 9

Peculiarities of /q/
a) Nasality perception affects again: Used
when used with /a/
(1) e.g., “rank” /rqak/ not /r3]ak/

Question 10

/u/

Answer 10

/u/ as in “who”

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: High
	b) Advancement: Back
	c) Lip Rounding: Rounded
	d) Tense/Lax: Tense

Question 11

/u/ Peculiarities

Answer 11

Peculiarities of /u/
a) Often preceded by /j/ as in
“you” /yu/
Try “few” and “music”……

Question 12

/U/ (horseshoe)

Answer 12

/7/as in “book”

1. Articulatory Characteristics:
   a) Height: High
   b) Advancement: Back
   c) Lip Rounding: Rounded
   d) Tense/Lax: Lax

Question 13

/U/ Peculiarities

Answer 13

Peculiarities of /7/

	a) r-colored vowel 
		(1) e.g., /7r/ as in “tour” /t7r/ or 				“Coors” /k7rz/

Question 14

/o/

Answer 14

/o/as in “toe”

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: High-Mid
	b) Advancement: Back
	c) Lip Rounding: Rounded
	d) Tense/Lax: Tense

Question 15

/o/ Monopthong

Answer 15

Monopthong of diphthong
a) Dipthong used when stressed or at end of word, but compare bellow/below… p.79…..Interesting? Yes. Confusing? Yes.
Moral of the story:
OK to transcribe as /o[/ for /o/ and the students lived happily ever after.

Question 16

/9/ (backwards c)

Answer 16

/9/ as in “awl” “caught”

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: Low-Mid
	b) Advancement: Back
	c) Lip Rounding: Rounded
	d) Tense/Lax: Tense

Question 17

/9/ (backwards c) Peculiarities

Answer 17

Peculiarities of /9/
a) r-colored vowel “corn” “born”
“foreign”
(1) e.g., /9r/ as in “core” /k9r/ “four” /f9r/

Question 18

/a/

Answer 18

/e/as in “Hop”

1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: Low
	b) Advancement: Back
	c) Lip Rounding: Retracted
	d) Tense/Lax: Tense

Question 19

/a/ Peculiarites

Answer 19

Peculiarities of /e/
a) r-colored vowel (bark, far, art)
(1) e.g., /er/ as in
“car” /ker/ “art” /ert/

Question 20

/e/ (upside-down)

Answer 20

/1/as in “above” “Laureen”

 1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: Mid
	b) Advancement: Central
	c) Lip Rounding: Retracted
	d) Tense/Lax: Lax 
2. Used in unstressed syllables.
3. Also known as the schwa

Question 21

/ ˆ /

Answer 21

/ˆ/ as in “hub”

 1. Articulatory Characteristics: 
	a)  Height: Low-Mid
	b) Advancement: Back-Central
	c) Lip Rounding: Retracted
	d) Tense/Lax: Lax 
2. Used in Stressed Syllables
	3. Usually does not occur in open syllables 	 except for “the”
4. Also known as “Wedge” or “turned v”

Question 22

/e/ (upside down with hook)

Answer 22

/5/as in “further” “ruler”

1. Articulatory Characteristics:
   a) Height: Mid
   b) Advancement: Central
   c) Lip Rounding: Rounded
   d) Tense/Lax: Lax
2. Used in unstressed syllables.
3. Also known as schwar

Question 23

/3ˆ/

Answer 23

/3ˆ/as in “Her” 
1.  Articulatory Characteristics: 
		a) Height: Mid
		b)Advancement: Central
		c)Lip Rounding: Rounded
		d) Tense/Lax: Tense 
Used in Stressed Syllables
If confused re. this vs. rhotic dipthongs, see p. 93
4.  Exercise 4.14 on p. 93

Question 24

What are the point vowels?

Answer 24

Hint: Think about the extreme corner points of the vowel quadrilateral