UNIT 3. VOWELS Flashcards
The word _______ comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning “speaking “, because in most languages words and thus speech are not possible without vowels.
Vowel
The word ________ here is used to differentiate single vowel sounds from diphthongs.
Pure; the pure vowel sounds
All “pure” vowels are _________-: this means that they retain the same position of the speech organs throughout articulation. This quality does not change.
Simple
___________vowels change the position of speech organs during their articulation. Diphthongs and triphthongs are complex vowels.
Complex
æ - cat, bat, mat ɪ - hit, sit, split ɪ: - cheese knee, agree ɑ: - arm, palm, calm ɔ: - call, mall, Paul ə - away , about , upon ʊ -put, could , should u: - fruit, pool, suit ɛ - end, air, bet ɛ:- turn, first, serve, curve ʌ -uncle, nut ,bus, but e – left, egg, instead
Simple Pure Vowels
The lips are pushed forward into the shape of a circle. /ʊ/
Rounded
The corners of the lips are moved away from each other, as when smiling. /i:/
Spread
the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. /ə/
Neutral
Close Vowels:
The front of the tongue is slightly behind and below the close front position. (the close position is where the tongue is closest to the roof of the mouth) Lips are spread. The tongue is tense, and the sides of the togue touch the upper molars.
i:
Close Vowels:
The part of the tongue slightly nearer the center is raised ti just above the half-closed position. The lips are spread loosely and the tongue is more relaxed. The sides of the tongue may just touch the upper molars
ɪ
Close Vowels:
The part of the tongue just behind the center is raised, just above the half-closed position. The lips are rounded, but loosely so. The tongue is relatively relaxed.
ʊ
Close Vowels:
The back of the tongue is raised just below the close position. Lips are rounded. The tongue is tense.
u:
For these vowels, the tongue is neither high nor low in the mouth. Moving from /e/ through /ɔ/, we also notice the different positions of the tongue; /e/ is a front vowel and /ɔ/ is a back vowel
Mid Vowels
Mid Vowels:
The front of the tongue is between the half-open and half-close positions. Lips are loosely spread. The tongue is tenser than four /ɪ/ .And the sides of the tongue may touch the upper molars.
/e/
Mid vowels:
The center of the song is between the half-closed in half-open positions. Lips are relaxed and naturally spread.
/ə/
Mid Vowels:
The center of the tongue is between the half-close and half-open positions. Lips are relaxed and neutrally spread.
ɜ
Mid Vowels:
The back of the tongue is raised to between the half-open and half-close positions. Lips are loosely rounded.
ɔ
For these vowels, the tongue is low in the mouth. Moving from /æ/ through to /ɒ/, we also notice the different positions of the tongue /æ/ is a front vowel and /ɒ/ is a back vowel
Open Vowels
Open Vowels:
The front of the tongue is raised to just below the half-open positions. Lips are neutrally open.
æ
Open Vowels:
The center of the tongue is raised to just above the fully open positions. Lips are neutrally open.
ʌ
Open Vowels:
The tongue, between the center and the back, is in the fully open position. Lips are neutrally open.
ɑ:
Open Vowels:
The back of the tongue is in a fully open position. The lips are lightly rounded.
ɒ
______ is said to be a variation of a phoneme. It is a variety of specific phonemes, which occurs under particular circumstances.
Allophone
More commonly, the term “_________” refers to different articulations of a phoneme. This may represent difficulties for non-native speakers since the same phoneme may present different sets of allophones in that language.
Allophone
