Department of English prof.hammani@yahoo.co.

uk

FLHSM

Cadi Ayyad University Academic Year: 2023/2024

Dr. Hammani Mohamed

m.hammani@uca.ma

“He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery”

Samuel Smiles

Vowels

The production of vowels does not require a closure at the level of the oral

cavity. Vowels are made by making the oral cavity assume several shapes, while the

air flows freely outside the mouth. The classification of vowels takes into

consideration three factors involved in shaping the oral cavity: (1) the shape and

movement of the lips, (2) the position and movement of the tongue, and (3) the

shape and movement of the jaw.

The vowel space in the mouth is conventionally represented as a trapezium,

as (1.1) below illustrates, where A is the highest and furthest front position that the

tongue can reach, B is the lowest and furthest front position; C is the highest and

furthest back; and D is the lowest and furthest back point in the mouth.
(1.1) A C

B D

Daniel Jones developed, in the early 20th century, a very precise instrument

for describing vowels known as cardinal vowels. These constitute a series of eight

vowels used as reference points in the description of all vowels. In choosing them,

Jones looked for the closest front vowel one can make, which turned out to be [i:].

Moreover, he chose the lowest possible back vowel one can make, which turned out

to be [ɑ:]. Jones added three other vowels between the first two. These are [e], [ε],

and [æ]. To these, he added three more vowels, which, unlike the first five, are

rounded. These are the back vowels [ ɒ], [ɔ:], and [u:]. These eight vowels are

referred to as the primary cardinal vowels. In so doing, Jones used the principle of

auditory equidistance, whereby each vowel has a quality halfway between the

vowel above it and the vowel below it. Along the front axis of the vocal tract, [e] is

perceived closer to [i] than to [æ], whereas [ε] is closer to [æ], than to [i:]. By the

same token, [ ɒ] is closer to [u:] than to [ɑ:], while [ɔ:] is closer to [ɑ:] than to [u:].

These vowels constitute the cardinal vowels which provide convenient points of

reference for the classification of vowels, as shows below.

To these eight vowels, Jones added another set of eight vowels, which he

referred to as secondary cardinal vowels. These have the same tongue position as the

primary cardinal vowels. However, they differ from the primary cardinal vowels in terms

of the posture of the lips.

 In addition to these 16 cardinal vowels, human language makes use of a set of

vowels referred to as the group of central vowels. This group comprises those vowel

sounds which belong neither to the front nor to the back vowels. They are articulated

with the highest part of the tongue lying under the area between the hard palate and the

velum. The first vowel in ago is a central vowel, and the British pronunciation of the

vowel in bird is a long central vowel. The trapezium below gives these vowels and

their positions:

Here is a recapitulation of the description outlined so far, together with additional vowel

features. Vowels are commonly described along the following parameters:

Vowels are commonly described along the following parameters:

Height: A vowel is high if its production involves bunching up the blade of the

tongue towards the hard palate. The vowels [i:], [u:], and [i] are high; [e], [ɒ], and

[ə] are mid-high; [ɔ:] [ɔ], [ɛ], [ʌ], [ɜ:], [ə] are mid-low; and [æ], [ɑ:], and [ɒ] are

low.

Backness: A vowel is back if its production involves retracting the root of the

tongue back towards the pharynx. The vowels [ u: ] , [ ɑ:] , [ ɒ] ,[ ɔ:] , a n d [ ʌ] are

all back vowels.

The vowels produced while keeping the tongue in the front part of vocal tract are

called front, such as [ i: ] , [ e] , [ ɛ] , [ i].

Rounding: A vowel is round (rounded) if its production involves lip rounding. The

following vowels are all round: [ɔ:], [ɔ], [u:], and [ ɒ].

Length: A vowel is long if its duration lasts twice as much as its short counterpart.

For example, [i:] in seat, where length is signaled by a colon “:”, has a longer

duration than the phonetically similar short vowel [ɪ] in sit.

Tenseness: A tense vowel is articulated with muscular tension in the tongue and the

inner walls of the mouth. The vowels articulated without such tension are called lax.

Below are some tense vowels with their lax counterparts.

Tense Lax
[i:] [ɪ]
[e] [ɛ]
[ɒ] [ɔ]
[u:] [ʊ]
 Short and long vowels ( Monophtongs)

1- /iː/ Long high front unrounded monophthong

2- /ɪ/ short high front unrounded monophthong
3- /e/ short mid front unrounded monophthong
4- /æ/ short low front unrounded monophthong
5- /ɒ/ short low back rounded monophthong
6- /ɔː/ long low back rounded monophthong
7- /ʌ/ short low back unrounded monophthong
8- /a:/ long mid back unrounded monophthong
9- /ʊ/ short high back rounded monophthong
10- /uː/ long high back rounded monophthong
11- /3ː/ long mid central unrounded monophthong
12- /ə/ short mid central unrounded monophthong

Diphthongs
1- /aɪ/ diphthong moving from mid front unrounded to high front unrounded
2- /eɪ/ diphthong low mid unrounded to high front unrounded
3- /ɔɪ/ diphthong low back rounded to high front unrounded
4- /əʊ/ diphthong mid central unrounded to high back rounded
5- /aʊ/ diphthong low front unrounded to high back rounded
6- /ɪə/ diphthong high front unrounded to mid central unrounded
7- /eə/ diphthong mid front unrounded to mid central unrounded
8- /ʊə/ diphthong high back rounded to mid central unrounded
 Diphthongs

Kind of vowels – Monophthongs & Diphthongs

What is Monophthong?

Monophthong is simply a vowel. The word monophthong comes from the

old Greek language. Mono means one or single, and the -phthong means sound or

tone. The word monophthong shows that a vowel is spoken with exactly one tone

and one mouth position. For example: when you say “seat”, then while you are

creating the sound of the “ea” (/si:t/ ), nothing changes for that sound. Let’s consider

the following examples:

Vowels or Monophthongs

/ɪ/ pin, English, business /ʌ/ cut, come, mother

/e/ bed, head, bury, exit
/æ/ cat, bag, apple, black
/ə/ the, a, woman, banana
/ʊ/ look, put, could, cushion
/ɒ/ clock, what, because
/ɜː/ girl, burn, word, heard
/ɑː/ car, art, heart, half
/ɔː/ or, board, door, small
/ɪː/ sea, bee, people, receive
/uː/ too, blue, fruit, fool

What is Diphthong?

A Diphthong ( gliding vowel) is a vowel ( two vowel sounds acting like one

vowel). We have to move our mouth into two different positions to make this vowel.

Diphthong comes from the old Greek language. Di means two or double, while the

part -phthong means sound or tone. It is a vowel where two different vowel qualities

can be heard. For examples: waist, die, noise, road, house, fierce, bear, sure. Each of

these is made up of two vowel sounds. Let’s consider the following examples:
 /eɪ/ take, pay, wait, ballet /ɑʊ/ round, renown, doubt
/ɑɪ/ five, sigh, height, buy /ɪə/ here, deer, dear, fierce
/ɔɪ/ noise, boy, lawyer /eə/ care, air, mayor, prayer
/əʊ/ no, road, sew, broken /ʊə/ poor, insure, tour, moor

Diphthongs

Ending in / ə / Ending in / ɪ / Ending in / ʊ /

/ʊə/ / ɪə / / eə / / aɪ / / eɪ / / ɔɪ / / əʊ / / aʊ /

The Difference between Monophthong and Diphthong

A monophthong is a simple vowel sound. We do not have to move our

mouth to make sounds like the “oo” sound in “book.” In a diphthong, we combine

two different monophthongs (vowels), as with the “ei” sound in the word “take.

The main difference is that a monophthong is a phoneme that consists of

only one (“mono” means one) vowel sound, whereas a diphthong is a phoneme

consisting of two (“di” means two) vowel sounds that are “connected” or “linked” to

each other.

Triphthongs

Very rarely, a single syllable may contain three vowel sounds that quickly glide together; this

compound vowel sound is known as a triphthong (pronounced /ˈtrɪf θɔŋ/).

There are three triphthongs that are generally agreed upon in American English: /aʊə/ (“ah-

oo-uh”), /aɪə/ (“ah-ih-uh”), and /jʊə/ (“ee-oo-uh”). We’ll briefly look at each here, but you

can find out more about them in the full section on Triphthongs.
/aʊə/
This triphthong is pronounced “ah-oo-uh,” and it occurs when the digraph OU is followed by
an R. For example:

• our (/aʊər/)
• hour (/aʊər/; H is silent)
• flour (/flaʊər/)
• sour (/saʊər/)

/aɪə/
This triphthong is pronounced “ah-ih-uh,” and it occurs with the letter combination IRE. For
example:

• fire (/faɪər/)
• dire (/daɪər/)
• inspire (/ɪnˈspaɪər/)
• Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/)

/jʊə/
This triphthong is pronounced “ee-oo-uh,” and it sometimes occurs when the combination UR
comes after a hard consonant and is followed by an E, Y, or I. For example:

• cure (/kjʊər/)
• pure (/pjʊər/)
• fury (/ˈfjʊəri/)
• curious (/ˈkjʊər.iəs/)

Features and Natural Classes

So far, we have treated sounds as indivisible elements. The classification

outlined in this File suggests that each sound is composed of a set of articulatory

properties, technically called features. The labels that have been used to categorize

sounds stand for activities (gestures) either present in or absent from the articulatory

setting of those sounds. For example, voice (vocal cord vibration) is present in [b]

but absent in [p]. This indicates that features are binary, either present or absent in

the phonetic basis of a sound. When a feature is part of the articulatory gestures
producing a sound, the value + (plus) is used together with that feature to specify the

sound. The value – (minus) indicates the absence of such a feature. For instance,

vocal cord vibration is part of producing [b], while [p] is articulated without vibrating

the cords. Therefore, [b] is [+voice], whereas [p] is [-voice]. Notice that features,

together with their values, are placed between square brackets.

A key function of features is that they allow grouping sound into natural

classes. When two or more sounds share some phonetic features, they are said to

make up a natural class. The sounds [p] and [b], for example, are part of the same

natural class called bilabial stops. The speech sound [t] cannot belong to this natural

class because though it is a stop, it is not a bilabial sound. The sounds constituting a

natural class are phonetically similar and usually undergo the same changes. Natural

classes are grouped into larger patterns, on the basis of articulation or perception, as

explained below:

a) Sonorant versus obstruent

Sonorant sounds are open and sonorous, produced and perceived with certain

musicality, while obstruents are produced without such characteristics. Vowels,

semi-vowels, nasals and liquids are sonorant, whereas stops, affricates and fricatives

are obstruent.

b) Coronal

Coronal sounds are produced with the tip of the tongue as an active articulator.

Alveolars and palato-alveolars in English are coronal sounds.

c) Anterior

Anterior sounds are produced in the front part of the vocal tract, in the region

extending from the lips to the alveolar ridge. Alveolars, bilabials and labio-dentals

are anterior sounds.

The sounds belonging to the same natural class also undergo the same changes in

specific environments. In American Eglish, for example, consonantal sonorants

(liquids and nasals) have a syllabic function following a consonant word finally. /l,

r, m, n/ are pronounced as syllabic sounds [l̩ , r̩ , m

̩ , n̩ ] in little, hammer, bottom and

button respectively. These sounds are also devoiced (lose vocal cord vibration) when

they immediately follow a voiceless sound. For example, /l, r, m, n/ are pronounced

as voiceless [l̥ , r̥ , m
̥ , n̥ ] in split, press, Smith and sneak respectively.

A Syllabic Consonant is a consonant that replaces the vowel [ə] in a syllable. They

make it possible to make some short syllables shorter and simpler. Learn about the

four syllabic consonants and how to make them. Father (ər) bottom (əm)

human (ən) people (əl) dark “L”

Summary

This document has introduced you to the field of phonetics. You should have

learned that there are three branches of phonetics: acoustic phonetics, auditory

phonetics, and articulatory phonetics. Speech sounds fall into two categories: vowels

and consonants. They are either oral or nasal and voiced or voiceless. Consonants are

classified in terms of manner of articulation and place of articulation. Vowels are

described and classified mainly in terms of the parameters high, back, and round.

Primary cardinal vowels and secondary cardinal vowels are considered as reference

points in describing vowels. On an articulatory basis, sounds are described in terms of

phonetic features so as to specify them individually and to categorize them into natural

classes, accounting for phonetic patterns in human languages.

If you have mastered the material in this document, you should be able to do the

following:
• Classify speech sounds in terms of point of articulation manner of articulation and

phonation;

• Name the articulatory gestures human use to produce speech;

• Use IPA symbols to represent sounds;

• Group speech sounds into natural classes;