Non-English vowels Flashcards
3 main aspects of vowel quality
- Vowel height (inversely correlated with F1, High vowels have low F1; low vowels have high F1)
- Backness (correlated with F2, Front vowels have a high F2; back vowels have a low F2)
- Lip rounding (lowers all formants)
Rounded vowels sound more ____ than non-rounded vowels
Back
(one of the reasons languages prefer back rounded vowels and disprefer front rounded vowels)
- E.g. [y] sounds ‘more back’ than [i]
Cardinal Vowels
Cross-linguistic reference vowels
- Transcribed using traditional IPA vowel symbols, but may not correspond exactly to the pronunciation of the same symbol in a given language
Cardinal (1) / [i]
- The highest and frontest possible vowel
- Any higher should result in a [ʝ]
- Pretty close to [i] in most languages
Cardinal (5) / [ɑ]
- The lowest and backest possible vowel
- Any backer should result in [ʕ]
Cardinal (8) / [u]
The highest backest possible vowel
Continuums in the cardinal vowels
- Continuum between (1) and (5)
- Continuum between (5) and (8)
(auditorily equidistant steps within then)
True or false : vowel height refers to tongue position
False
- The position of the highest point of the tongue is not a valid indicator of vowel quality.
- Vowel height is defined in terms of acoustics
Secondary Cardinal Vowels
- Same place of articulation as primary cardinal vowels, but rounding is reversed
Unrounded primary cardinal vowels
(1) to (5)
Rounded primary cardinal vowels
(6) to (8)
Unrounded secondary cardinal vowels
(9) to (13)
Rounded secondary cardinal vowels
(14) to (16)
No language needs more than __ levels of height to describe its vowels system
4
No language needs more than __ levels of backness to describe its vowels
2
In all languages, vowels tend to be …. in the acoustic space
spread out
5-vowel system
- [i], [e], [a], [o], [u]
- Spanish, Japanese, Swahili, Russian, Hawaiian, Latin, many many others
3-vowel system
- [i], [a], [u]
- Classical Arabic, Quechua, Greenlandic, Sanskrit
7 vowel system
- [i], [e], [ɛ], [a], [ɔ], [o], [u]
- Italian, Catalan, Middle English, Igbo, Dinka
sufficient perceptual separation
the sounds of a language are kept acoustically distinct to make it easier for the listener to distinguish one from another (e.g. round vowels are usually back)
languages with more than 7 vowels
Danish, Cantonese, Vietnamese
Languages seem to have less than 3 vowel phonemes
- Northwest Caucasian languages (e.g. Abkhaz)
- Typically, /a/ and /i/ with a lot of allophony
Vowel length phonemic distinction
Many languages distinguish between long and short segments phonemically (2 levels of vowel length)
- E.g. Japanese /biru/ ‘building’ vs /biːru/ ‘beer’
Advanced Tongue Root
The size of the pharyngeal cavity can be modified by bringing the root of the tongue forward or backward
Tense vowels are said to have ______advanced/retracted tongue root
Advanced
Lax vowels are said to have ______advanced/retracted tongue root
Retracted
ATR in the IPA
- Vowels can be [+ATR] or [–ATR]/[RTR] (Retracted tongue root)
Or with diacritics : - Vowels with an advanced tongue root: [V̘]
- Vowels with a retracted tongue root: [V̙]
[ i̙ ] ≈
[ ɪ ]
[ i̘ ] ≈
[ i ]
Most languages that exhibit a phonemic ATR distinction are found in …
sub-Saharan Africa (Niger-Congo language family)
ATR harmony
All vowels within a word must either exhibit an advanced tongue root or a retracted tongue root
E.g. : Dàgáárè (Burkina Faso)
- [jele] ‘speaking’ vs [jɛlɛ] ‘speech’
- Ungrammatical in this language to have jelɛ or jɛle
Rhotic Vowels
Also called R-colored vowels
- The tongue is curled back during articulation
Rhotic vowels have a lower __
F3
Rhotic vowels in the IPA
[V˞ ] after the vowel
E.g. [ɚ] in rhotic English dialects
Nasal Vowels
- Velum is lowered during the production of the vowel
- Simultaneous nasal and oral airflow
Nasalization in the IPA
tilde above the vowel
* [ɑ̃], [ẽ], [ĩ], etc.
All languages exhibit ______ between nasal and oral vowels
Allophony
languages with phonemic nasal vowels
French, Portuguese, Polish, Breton
E.g. ‘là’ [la] vs ‘lent’ [lã] in French
Semivowel is another name for a ______
Glide
Glides are phonetically and articulatorily short vowels but they occupy places usually occupied by ________
Consonants
The difference between vowels and glides is defined by _______ structure
Syllable
In onset or coda position, we find _____vowels/glides
Glides
In nucleus position, we find _____vowels/glides
Vowels
Palatal glide and its corresponding vowel
[j] : [i]
Labial-palatal glide and its corresponding vowel
[ɥ] : [y]
Velar glide and its corresponding vowel
[ɰ] : [ɯ]
Labial-velar glide and its corresponding vowel
[w] and [u]
Secondary articulation
- Additional vowel-like gestures during the articulation of a consonant
- Can be allophonic or phonemic
Secondary articulation in transcription
Transcribed with a small superscript
* Cʲ Cʷ Cˠ Cˤ
Palatalization
Additional tongue gesture towards the front of the mouth (alveopalatal region/hard palate)
Palatalization in transcription
Transcribed with a superscript [j]
* E.g. [sʲ], [xʲ]
* Distinct from a C+j sequence
Which consonants can be palatalized ?
Almost any consonant can be palatalized, but is more common in coronals, less so in velars and labials
Examples of palatalization
Singular Plural in Romanian :
[profesor] ‘professor’ vs [profesorʲ] ‘professors’
Russian minimal pairs :
sof (juice) vs sʲof (he lashed)
Labialization
Additional lip rounding
Can be allophonic or phonemic
Transcription of labialization
Transcribed with a superscript [w]
* [sʷ], [xʷ], [rʷ]
* Distinct from a C+w sequence
Labialization in English
In most varieties of English, /ʃ/ and /ɹ/ are automatically rounded [ʃʷ] and [ɹʷ] (not phonemically distinct)
Velarization/Pharyngelization
Additional tongue gesture towards the velum/pharynx
- No language distinguishes velarized and pharyngealized consonants, but there is allophony
Transcription of velarization
superscript [ɣ]
* [sˠ], [fˠ], [rˠ]
Velarization in English
Dark l [ɫ] = [lˠ] (allophony in English between l and dark l)
Transcription of pharyngealization
Superscript [ʕ]
* [sˤ], [fˤ], [rˤ]
Six properties of vowels to know
- Tongue height
- Tongue frontness
- Lip configuration
- ATR
- Nasalization
- Rhotacization
