Non-English vowels

Question 1

3 main aspects of vowel quality

Answer 1

1. Vowel height (inversely correlated with F1, High vowels have low F1; low vowels have high F1)
2. Backness (correlated with F2, Front vowels have a high F2; back vowels have a low F2)
3. Lip rounding (lowers all formants)

Question 2

Rounded vowels sound more ____ than non-rounded vowels

Answer 2

Back
(one of the reasons languages prefer back rounded vowels and disprefer front rounded vowels)
- E.g. [y] sounds ‘more back’ than [i]

Question 3

Cardinal Vowels

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Cardinal (1) / [i]

Answer 4

• The highest and frontest possible vowel
• Any higher should result in a [ʝ]
• Pretty close to [i] in most languages

Question 5

Cardinal (5) / [ɑ]

Answer 5

• The lowest and backest possible vowel
• Any backer should result in [ʕ]

Question 6

Cardinal (8) / [u]

Answer 6

The highest backest possible vowel

Question 7

Continuums in the cardinal vowels

Answer 7

1. Continuum between (1) and (5)
2. Continuum between (5) and (8)
   (auditorily equidistant steps within then)

Question 8

True or false : vowel height refers to tongue position

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Secondary Cardinal Vowels

Answer 9

• Same place of articulation as primary cardinal vowels, but rounding is reversed

Question 10

Unrounded primary cardinal vowels

Answer 10

(1) to (5)

Question 11

Rounded primary cardinal vowels

Answer 11

(6) to (8)

Question 12

Unrounded secondary cardinal vowels

Answer 12

(9) to (13)

Question 13

Rounded secondary cardinal vowels

Answer 13

(14) to (16)

Question 14

No language needs more than __ levels of height to describe its vowels system

Answer 14

4

Question 15

No language needs more than __ levels of backness to describe its vowels

Answer 15

2

Question 16

In all languages, vowels tend to be …. in the acoustic space

Answer 16

spread out

Question 17

5-vowel system

Answer 17

• [i], [e], [a], [o], [u]
• Spanish, Japanese, Swahili, Russian, Hawaiian, Latin, many many others

Question 18

3-vowel system

Answer 18

• [i], [a], [u]
• Classical Arabic, Quechua, Greenlandic, Sanskrit

Question 19

7 vowel system

Answer 19

• [i], [e], [ɛ], [a], [ɔ], [o], [u]
• Italian, Catalan, Middle English, Igbo, Dinka

Question 20

sufficient perceptual separation

Answer 20

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)

Question 21

Languages seem to have less than 3 vowel phonemes

Answer 21

• Northwest Caucasian languages (e.g. Abkhaz)
• Typically, /a/ and /i/ with a lot of allophony

Question 22

Vowel length phonemic distinction

Answer 22

Many languages distinguish between long and short segments phonemically (2 levels of vowel length)
- E.g. Japanese /biru/ ‘building’ vs /biːru/ ‘beer’

Question 23

Advanced Tongue Root

Answer 23

The size of the pharyngeal cavity can be modified by bringing the root of the tongue forward or backward

Question 24

Tense vowels are said to have ______advanced/retracted tongue root

Answer 24

Advanced

Question 25

Lax vowels are said to have ______advanced/retracted tongue root

Answer 25

Retracted

Question 26

ATR in the IPA

Answer 26

- 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]

Question 27

[ i̙ ] ≈

Answer 27

[ ɪ ]

Question 27

[ i̘ ] ≈

Answer 27

[ i ]

Question 28

Most languages that exhibit a phonemic ATR distinction are found in ...

Answer 28

sub-Saharan Africa (Niger-Congo language family)

Question 29

ATR harmony

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Rhotic Vowels

Answer 30

Also called R-colored vowels - The tongue is curled back during articulation

Question 31

Rhotic vowels have a lower __

Answer 31

F3

Question 32

Rhotic vowels in the IPA

Answer 32

[V˞ ] after the vowel E.g. [ɚ] in rhotic English dialects

Question 33

Nasal Vowels

Answer 33

* Velum is lowered during the production of the vowel * Simultaneous nasal and oral airflow

Question 34

Nasalization in the IPA

Answer 34

tilde above the vowel * [ɑ̃], [ẽ], [ĩ], etc.

Question 35

All languages exhibit ______ between nasal and oral vowels

Answer 35

Allophony

Question 36

Semivowel is another name for a ______

Answer 36

Glide

Question 37

Glides are phonetically and articulatorily short vowels but they occupy places usually occupied by ________

Answer 37

Consonants

Question 38

The difference between vowels and glides is defined by _______ structure

Answer 38

Syllable

Question 39

In onset or coda position, we find _____vowels/glides

Answer 39

Glides

Question 40

In nucleus position, we find _____vowels/glides

Answer 40

Vowels

Question 41

Palatal glide and its corresponding vowel

Answer 41

[j] : [i]

Question 42

Labial-palatal glide and its corresponding vowel

Answer 42

[ɥ] : [y]

Question 43

Velar glide and its corresponding vowel

Answer 43

[ɰ] : [ɯ]

Question 44

Labial-velar glide and its corresponding vowel

Answer 44

[w] and [u]

Question 45

Secondary articulation

Answer 45

* Additional vowel-like gestures during the articulation of a consonant - Can be allophonic or phonemic

Question 46

Secondary articulation in transcription

Answer 46

Transcribed with a small superscript * Cʲ Cʷ Cˠ Cˤ

Question 47

Palatalization

Answer 47

Additional tongue gesture towards the front of the mouth (alveopalatal region/hard palate)

Question 48

Palatalization in transcription

Answer 48

Transcribed with a superscript [j] * E.g. [sʲ], [xʲ] * Distinct from a C+j sequence

Question 49

Which consonants can be palatalized ?

Answer 49

Almost any consonant can be palatalized, but is more common in coronals, less so in velars and labials

Question 50

Examples of palatalization

Answer 50

Singular Plural in Romanian : [profesor] ‘professor’ vs [profesorʲ] ‘professors’ Russian minimal pairs : sof (juice) vs sʲof (he lashed)

Question 51

Labialization

Answer 51

Additional lip rounding Can be allophonic or phonemic

Question 52

Transcription of labialization

Answer 52

Transcribed with a superscript [w] * [sʷ], [xʷ], [rʷ] * Distinct from a C+w sequence

Question 53

Labialization in English

Answer 53

In most varieties of English, /ʃ/ and /ɹ/ are automatically rounded [ʃʷ] and [ɹʷ] (not phonemically distinct)

Question 54

Velarization/Pharyngelization

Answer 54

Additional tongue gesture towards the velum/pharynx - No language distinguishes velarized and pharyngealized consonants, but there is allophony

Question 55

Transcription of velarization

Answer 55

superscript [ɣ] * [sˠ], [fˠ], [rˠ]

Question 56

Velarization in English

Answer 56

Dark l [ɫ] = [lˠ] (allophony in English between l and dark l)

Question 57

Transcription of pharyngealization

Answer 57

Superscript [ʕ] * [sˤ], [fˤ], [rˤ]

Question 58

Six properties of vowels to know

Answer 58

1. Tongue height 2. Tongue frontness 3. Lip configuration 4. ATR 5. Nasalization 6. Rhotacization