Vowels

Question 1

Vowels

Answer 1

phonemes produced without any appreciable constriction or blockage of air flow in the vocal tract

Question 2

Vowel quadrilateral

Answer 2

a figure that schematically represents the oral cavity and spaces the idea of tongue height and advancement

Question 3

Monophthongs

Answer 3

“one sound”; have one primary articulatory position in the vocal tract

Question 4

Diphthongs

Answer 4

“two sounds”; two vowels that comprise one phoneme

Question 5

Onglide

Answer 5

first element of a diphthong

Question 6

Offglide

Answer 6

second element of a diphthong

Question 7

Tense vowel

Answer 7

a vowel produced with an increased muscular effort and longer v a ; can be located in the final position of an open monosyllable (/i, e, u, o, ɔ, ɑ, and ɝ/

Question 8

Lax vowel

Answer 8

a vowel produced with a reduction of muscular effort; does not appear in the final position of an open monosyllable

Question 9

Point vowel

Answer 9

extreme point or corner of the vowel quadrilateral; /i/, /æ/, /u/ and /ɑ/

Question 10

r-colored vowel

Answer 10

also known as rhotic vowel; a speech sound consisting of the two elements: vowel + /r/ (/ɪr/, /ɛr/, /ʊr/,/ɔr/ and /ɑr/)

Question 11

Epsilon

Answer 11

/ɛ/, short “e” ; —front-mid vowel that rarely occurs in final syllable in English words, dual syllable stress, final syllable is stressed
RULE: —Sounds representing ‘air’ are transcribed /εr/

Question 12

Ash

Answer 12

/æ/, short “a”; front-low point vowel that rarely in a final position of a word;
RULE: the long ‘a’ sound produced before the nasal ‘ng’ is transcribed /æn/rather than /en/

Question 13

Schwa

Answer 13

/Ə/, short “u”; central-mid vowel that is produced with the tongue body in the most central portion of the mouth cavity, the entire vocal tract is in its most neutral configuration, most frequently used vowel, found in unstressed syllables

Question 14

Carat

Answer 14

/Λ/, turned “v”, short “u” ; central-mid vowel found in monosyllabic words and stressed syllables, produced slightly lower and farther back in the oral cavity than /Ə/, does not end words in English

Question 15

Schwar

Answer 15

/ɚ/ ,”right- hook Schwa”, central-mid vowel that occurs only in unstressed syllables, production involves additional tongue movement and is formed by constricting the pharynx and increasing the space in the oral cavity in front of the tongue by either:

1. ) raising the tongue and curling it posteriorly towards the alveolar ridge
2. ) lowering the tongue tip while bunching the dorsum in the region of the palate

Question 16

Stressed schwar/retroflex

Answer 16

/ɝ/ , “right- hook reversed Epsilon”; central vowel that only occurs in stressed syllables, produced in a similar manner of /ɚ/ with lips rounded but the degree of rounding varies among speakers

Question 17

phonation

Answer 17

a vibration of the vocal folds in creation of a voiced sound

Question 18

What is the effect of the muscular attachments of the tongue to the mandible?

Answer 18

When the tongue moves these structures move as well resulting in a change in the size and shape of the pharynx.

Question 19

How are vowels categorized?

Answer 19

Vowels are categorized by position of tongue in mouth, lip configuration and tenseness. Position tells tongue height and advancement. Lip configuration tells if the lips are rounded or retracted. Tenseness tells if the vowel is tense or lax.

Question 20

What is the purpose of the vowel quadrilateral?

Answer 20

A figure that schematically represents the oral cavity and spaces the idea of tongue height and advancement.

Question 21

rules in phonetic transcription regarding / ɪ /

Answer 21

1.) —When an unstressed syllable ends with the long ‘e’ sound, the /ɪ/ is used in transcription rather than /i/.
—2.) Sounds represented by ‘-ing’ are transcribed /ɪŋ/
3.) —Sounds representing ‘ear’ are transcribed /ɪr/

Question 22

rule for special transcription associated with the /u/ phoneme.

Answer 22

When you hear ‘you’ in a word, it is transcribed /ju/.

Question 23

ffect of word stress on central vowel transcription

Answer 23

The syllable receiving the stress within the word will determine which symbol to use in transcription.

Question 24

Why isn’t the final sound in the word ‘lucky’ transcribed with /i/?

Answer 24

The final sound in “lucky” is not stress so you would apply the / ɪ / rule.

Question 25

Which vowels in English are retracted? Which ones are rounded?

Answer 25

Front vowels /i/, /ɪ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /æ/ are retracted. Back vowels /u/,/ʊ/, /o/, /ɔ/ are rounded but the back vowels /ɑ/ is retracted.