Phonetics 2: Vowels

Question 1

4 distinctive vowel features

Answer 1

1. The height of the tongue (high, mid, low)
2. The backness of the tongue (front, central, back)
3. Tenseness (tense or lax)
4. Lip rounding (rounded or unrounded)

Question 2

Vowel height

Answer 2

• height of the tongue relative to its position in the mouth
• vertical movement of the tongue
  3 levels: high, mid, low

Question 3

high vowels

Answer 3

[i] [ɪ][u][ʊ]

Question 4

mid vowels

Answer 4

[ej] [ow] [ɔ] [ə] [ɛ]

Question 5

low vowels

Answer 5

[aj] [aw] [ɑ] [æ]

Question 6

vowel backness

Answer 6

• horizontal movement of the tongue in the mouth
• have to consider how far forward or backward the tongue is with respect to its resting postion
  3 classifications:
  1. front
  2. central
  3. back

Question 7

vowel rounding

Answer 7

• refers to protrusion (rounding) of the lips as you produce a vowel
• vowels produced with protruded lips are referred to as rounded
• vowels without lip rounding are called unrounded

Question 8

vowel tenseness

Answer 8

• tense vowels have tighter constriction of the vocal tract and are typically longer in duration
• lax vowels can be produced with same tongue position as tense vowels, but with less constriction
• [ə] vowel (called ‘schwa), is known as a reduced vowel as it is shorter in duration than any other vowel

Question 9

monophtongs

Answer 9

• simple vowels
• do not show any noticeable change in quality as they are being articulated
• means that simple vowels remain stable in quality for the duration of their production
• tongue position remains mostly unchanged during articulation

Question 10

diphthongs

Answer 10

• complex vowels
• change vowel quality within the same syllable
• often described as a vowel + glide combination
• function as a single vowel/unit
• produced by articulating a vowel that changes to a glide position within the same act of articulation
• begin in one tongue position and end somewhere else