VOWEL SOUNDS

The organs of speech are in fact organs belonging to other biological systems
(feeding,breeding) and which are made to articulate or come in contact so as to produce
sounds. They are capable of producing different kinds of sounds. Out of this great variety of
human sounds we use some in order to communicate. Each language has a complete system
of sounds which differs from each other . The accepted sounds constitute the “phonics” of a
language. Now we are going to analyse vowel sounds in detail.

Definition
Vowels are continuous voiced sounds in the production of which the air-stream comes out
through the mouth unobstructed.
The English Vowels
The English inventory includes twelve vowels (all pure), thirteen relatively long (five pure vowels
and eight diphthongs), and one borderline case - / æ / -(sometimes long in certain contexts :
British English Pure Vowels
They are produced when vowels are not made to glide from one position to another
(diphthongs) .Their quality varies according to the position of the lips and the tongue.
In the production of vowel sounds none of the articulators come very closely together and the
passage of air is unobstructed .
Therefore vowel sounds are specified in terms of :

1- THE POSITION OF THE LIPS

a- Rounded: When the lips are drawn together so that the opening is more or less
round > open -lip rounding
> close -lip rounding

b-Unrounded: > neutral (or natural) lip position

> spread lip position (when they leave a narrow opening
between them).

2- THE POSITION OF THE TONGUE

The position of the top of the tongue does not usually affect the vowel quality. When producing
most vowels, the tongue is convex to the palate. Consequently, vowels can be classified
according to the position of the highest point of the tongue.
Either the front of the back of the tongue can be raised. When the front is raised in the direction
of the hard palate, front vowels are produced. When the back of the tongue is raised towards
the soft palate, we have back vowels. When there is little or no articulation of the tongue, we
have central vowels.

3- THE HEIGHT OF THE TONGUE : the height to which it is raised also influences vowel
quality.
a-Close vowels : they are produced when the tongue is held as high as possible
without producing a frictional noise.
b- Open vowels : they are produced when the tongue is held as low as possible.
Let us now analyse the vowels according to their articulation. We shall consider the following :
1-Height of tongue (close, open, half -close, etc.)
2-Part of tongue which is highest (front , back , etc.)
3-Position of the lips (rounded, spread, etc.)
4-Opening of the lips (narrow, wide, etc.)
5-Position of the tip of the tongue ( touching lower teeth, etc.)

/i:/ /ɪ/
1) nearly close 1) nearly “half close”
2) centre of front 2) front
3) spread 3) neutral
4) narrow 4) narrow
5) usually touching lower teeth 5) usually touching lower teeth.

/e/ / æ/
1) between half close and half open 1) between half open and open.
2) front 2) front
3) spread or neutral 3) spread
4) medium 4) medium to wide
5) usu. touching lower teeth. 5) touching lower teeth
/ ɑ: / /ɒ/
1) fully open 1) fully open
2) centre of “back” 2) back
3) neutral 3) open lip-rounding
4) medium to wide 4) medium to wide
5) retracted from lower teeth 5) retracted from lower teeth

/ ɔ: / /ʊ/
1) between half open and open 1) just above half close
2) back 2) front of “back”
3) between open and close lip rounding 3) close lip-rounding
4) medium to wide 4) medium
5) lightly retracted from lower teeth 5) retracted from lower teeth.

/u:/ / ʌ/
1) nearly close 1) half open
2) back 2) front of “back”
3) close lip-rounding 3) neutral
4) narrow to medium 4) wide
5) retracted from lower teeth 5) touching the base of lower teeth.

/ ɜ: /
1) half way between open and close
2) central
3) rounded
4) narrow
5) touching the base of lower teeth

/ ə/
The variety most commonly used is similar to / 3: / in quality but it is extremely short and only
occurs in weakly unstressed syllables :
along / ə lɒŋ / salad / ˈsæləd /
It has the following characteristics :
1) about half open
2) central part
3) between spread and neutral
4) medium
5) touching the base of lower teeth.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS :

Diphthongs can be classified articulatorily and auditorily :

1- According to the distance the tongue travels they can be articulatorily labelled “wide” (when
the glide is long) , and “narrow” (when the glide is short).
2- Depending on the direction of the movement the tongue makes in producing diphthongs,
English diphthongs can be classified into “closing” and “centring”. Closing diphthongs involve a
glide towards a closer tongue position and centring diphthongs towards a centring tongue
position.
3- According to the prominence of elements, diphthongs can be auditorily classified into “falling”
(when the first element is more prominent than the second) and “rising” (when the second
element is more prominent than the first ). In English, all diphthongs are generally falling.

Diagrams of the English diphthongs:

English closing diphthongs. English centring diphthongs.

THE ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS IN DETAIL :

The quantity variations of the English falling diphthongs mainly affect their first element. Length
variations in diphthongs are governed by the same rules as length variations affecting the
relatively long pure vowels.

/ eɪ / narrow , front -closing paint, activate, age.

/ əʊ / narrow, black-closing low, goal, envelope
/ aɪ / wide, front-closing kind, eye, either
/ aʊ / wide, back-closing town, count, powder
/ ɔɪ / wide, front-closing toy, voice, oyster
/ ɪə / centering clear, era, theatre
/ eə / centering fair, scarce, vary
/ ʊə / centering tour, poor, during

THE ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS + / ə /

A third vocalic element / ə / can be added to all diphthongs except the centring ones.
e.g. / eɪə / as in a player, / əʊə / as in lower, / aɪə / as in wire, / aʊə / as in sour and / ɔɪə /
as in employer. The resulting sequence, however, is pronounced fully only occasionally, as
when using either a slow, formal style of pronunciation, or when the word containing the vocalic
sequence is given special emphasis. Speakers of general RP , though, tend to weaken and or
omit the second / ɪ / or / ʊ / element in ordinary conversational style.