http://www.scribd.

com/doc/25247741/Vowels-inspoken-English Introduction:
This assignment will discuss the account of vowel in spoken English and describe them according to the height of tongue, frontness and backness of tongue, lip rounding, and tenseness of the articulators. In English, there is no one-to-one relation between the system of writing and the system of pronunciation. The alphabet which we use to write English has 26 letters but in (Standard British) English there are approximately 44 speech sounds. The number of speech sounds in English varies from dialect to dialect, and any actual tally depends greatly on the interpretation of the researcher doing the counting. To represent the basic sound of spoken languages linguists use a set of phonetic symbols called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The chart below contains all of the IPA (vowels only) symbols used to represent the sounds of the English language. This is the standard set of phonemic symbols for English (RP and similar accents).

The colon / : / represents longer duration in pronunciation and is found in long vowels such as / i: /, / a: /, / u: /, etc.

VOWEL: Vowel is a sound made by opening the mouth and letting air come out
centrally through the vocal tracts without any obstruction in the oral cavity. All vowels are voiced by definition Dictionaries say that there are 20 vowel sounds in English. Phonetically there are three distinct kind of vowel sounds used in English: short vowel, long vowel, and diphthongs.

English Vowels
Quality

Monophthongs (Pure Vowels) The organs of speech remain approximately stationary

Diphthongs & Trip thongs The organs of speech perform perceptible movement

Short Vowels Lax

Requires less muscular tension/ Less articulatory energy

Long Vowels Tense

Requires greater muscular tension/ Greater articulatory energy

Classifying the vowels sounds of English:

The classification of vowels is based on four major aspects:

1. Tongue height - according to the vertical position of the tongue (high vowels, also referred to as close; low vowels, also referred to as open; intermediate - close-mid and open-mid) 2. Frontness and backness of the tongue - according to the horizontal position of the highest part of the tongue. 3. Lip rounding - whether the lips are rounded (O-shape) or spread (no rounding) when the sound is being made. 4. Tenseness of the articulators - refers to the amount of muscular tension around the mouth when creating vowel sounds. Tense and lax are used to describe muscular tension.

Front vowels (tongue body is pushed forward)

Central vowels (tongue body is neutral)

Back vowels (tongue body is pulled back)

High/close vowels (tongue body is raised) / / see / / sit / / boot / / book

Mid vowels (tongue body is intermediate) /e/ bait* / / bet / / sofa**, / / bird

/o/ boat* / / bought***

Low/open vowels (tongue body is lowered) / / bat / / under** / / father, / / sock(BrE)

*In some American accents (especially Californian English), vowel sounds in words such
as bait, gate, pane and boat, coat, note are not consider diphthongs. American philologists often class them as tense. monophthongs (/e/ and /o/).

**/

/ is used in unstressed syllables, while / / is in stressed syllables. The vowel / /

used to be a back vowel, and the symbol was chosen for this reason. This is no longer a back vowel, but a central one.

***A considerable amount of Americans don't have the deep /

they pronounce bought, ball, law with the deep / / sound.

/ in their vocabulary,

According to the position of the lips:

English front and central vowels are always unrounded. English back vowels / /, / /, /o/, / / are rounded (/ / vowel is unrounded).

Vowel Tenseness:

Tense vowels (produced with a great amount of muscular tension): / /, / / /, / /, /

/,

/. Tense vowels are variable in length, and often longer than lax

vowels.

Lax vowels (produced with very little muscular tension): / /, / /, / /, / /. Lax vowels are always short.

/, / /, /

/, /

Description of simple vowels:

1.

/i:/ as in beat, mean, peace :

Description:
Tongue Height: nearly high

Tongue position: front Lip rounding: spread Tenseness: tense

/i: /: high, front, unrounded, tense.

2.

/ / as in bit fin fish:

Description:
Tongue Height: intermediate between high and mid-high. Tongue position: front Lip rounding: spread Tenseness: lax / /: high, front, unrounded, lax 2.

/e/ as in bet men yes:

Description: Tongue Height: between mid-high and mid-low Tongue position: front Lip rounding: slightly spread Tenseness: lax

/e/: mid-low, front, unrounded, lax 4. The /

/ as in bat man gas:

Description:
Tongue Height: intermediate between mid-low and low Tongue position: front Lip rounding: slightly spread-neutral Tenseness: lax

/: low, front, unrounded, lax

5. /a:/ as in card, half, pass Description:

Tongue Height: low Tongue position: not fully back Lip rounding: neutral Tenseness: tense

/a: /: low, back, unrounded, tense

6. /

/ as in pot gone cross

Description:
Tongue Height: intermediate between mid-low and low. Tongue position: not fully back Lip rounding: slightly rounded Tenseness: lax

/: low, back, rounded, lax

7. / / as in board, torn, horse:

Description:

Tongue Height: closer to mid-high Tongue position: back Lip rounding: fully rounded Tenseness: tense

/
8. /

/: mid-high, back, rounded, tense. / as in put pull push:

Description:
Tongue Height: just above mid high Tongue position: between back and centre Lip rounding: rounded Tenseness: lax

/ /: mid-high, back, rounded, lax

9.

/U:/ as in food, soon, loose:

Description:
Tongue Height: nearly high Tongue position: back Lip rounding: rounded Tenseness: tense

/U: /: high, back, rounded, tense.

10. The / /as in but some rush:

Description:

Tongue Height: lower than mid-low Tongue position: central Lip rounding: neutral Tenseness: lax

/: mid-low, back, unrounded, lax

11. / / as in bird, fern, purse:

Description:
Tongue Height: between mid-high and mid-low cardinal vowels, nearer to the latter. Tongue position: centre Lip rounding: neutral Tenseness: tense

/: mid-low, back, unrounded, tense.

This vowel is known as the hesitation sound, usually spelt as er or ir. 12. The schwa / / as in about oppose perhaps:

Description:
Tongue Height: half away between high and low Tongue position: central Lip rounding: neutral Tenseness: lax

/ /: mid, central, unrounded, lax

Diphthongs:
that smooth the vowels, changes English or

is quality words

contour during its

vowelthat pronunciation, cow. tongue

is, or

unitary "glides", with as to another, still,

vowel with a as in "pure" in the

movement of

the tongue from one articulation eye, boy, where and the This is held

contrasts

monophthongs,

English word papa." English has eight diphthongs :/ /, / /, / /, / /, / /, / /,/ /,/ /

Description of English diphthongs

your tongue moves to:

your tongue moves to:

your tongue moves to:

Presenting diphthongs - similarities and differences

The English language has twenty vowel sounds. The first 12 of the English vowel sounds are MONOPHTHONGS. The tongue stays at ONE fixed location in the mouth to produce each. Sounds 13 to 20, the next eight English vowel sounds, are DIPHTHONGS. They present

greater difficulty to people learning English because the tongue travels between two fixed locations. It is important to know exactly what to do with the speech organs (i.e. the position of the tongue, lip-shape & tension, size of mouth opening) in each location and the manner and direction of the movement.

THE FIRST THREE DIPHTHONGS have the vowel sound towards the front of your mouth and your lips kept relaxed.

in "pit"

or "if" as the FINISHING POSITION. To make this sound, tongue has to be high and

13)

as in day, pay, say, lay. The starting position is

with tongue in mid position at front of mouth as in "egg", "bed" or "Ted". Therefore you move the tongue up to make the diphthong.

14)

as in sky, buy, cry, tie. The starting position is

the same sound as in "car" or the noise "ah" which you make when you open your mouth at the dentist's. To make the diphthong you need a big jaw movement, less opening as you move the tongue up and front.

15)

as in boy, toy, coy or the first syllable of soya. The starting

position is

, the sound in "door" or "or". Your tongue needs to be low,

but you need to pull it back and make your mouth round. To make the diphthong, you relax the lip rounding and move your tongue forward and up.

THE NEXT THREE DIPHTHONGS have the neutral "schwa" vowel sound , which occurs in grunting noises and the weak forms of "the" and

"a", as the FINISHING POSITION. To make the neutral vowel sound keep your tongue fixed in the centre of your mouth, lips fairly relaxed and just grunt!

16)

as in beer (the drink), pier, hear. The starting position is as in "if" or "pit" with tongue front and high and lips relaxed.

17)

as in bear (the animal), pair and hair. The starting position is

as in "egg" or "bed" with tongue in mid position at front of mouth. To make the diphthong, using a small controlled movement, pull your tongue slightly back from mid front to the mid central position in your mouth.

18)

as in "tour", "poor" (talking posh!) or the first syllable of with tongue pulled back but small

"tourist". The starting position is mouth aperture as in "hook", "book" or "look".

To make the diphthong, this time the small controlled tongue movement goes from the back position to the mid central position, losing the lip rounding and relaxing your mouth from the tight starting position.

THE LAST TWO DIPHTHONGS have the back vowel FINISHING POSITION.

(tongue

pulled back but small tight mouth aperture as in "hook", "book" or "look") as the

19)

as in "oh", "no", "so" or "phone". The starting position is the

neutral vowel sound, also known as "schwa

, which sounds like a grunt,

as in the weak form of "the" or "a". To start in this way, the tongue should be fixed in mid central position in your mouth with lips relaxed. To make the diphthong, it is a short controlled movement in the opposite direction of 5) above: from the centre to the back moving your relaxed lips into a tighter small round aperture. Your cheeks should move in a bit!

20)

as in all the words of "How now brown cow!". The starting

position is the vowel sound

as in "at" "bad" or "rat" with tongue front

but also low (i.e. mouth open). To make the diphthong the journey for your tongue from front low (mouth very open) to back high (small tight mouth aperture) is a very long excursion. Your jaw will move a lot too.

What problems do Bangladeshis face while pronouncing vowels and why?

Each sound of a language has a fixed manner and place of articulation. A native speaker of any language acquires the habit of pronouncing each sound through constant exercises of the organs of speech in his or her childhood. Like wise Bengali speakers habituate Bengali Sounds. So they face some difficulties with pronouncing English sound especially with vowels. Simple vowels are classified according to the position of the tongue. The route, the tongue takes in making a succession of vowel sound can be roughly plotted. In Bengali there are 7 distinct simple vowel sounds; in English there are 12.

The position of English and Bengali vowels is in relation to each other. An analysis shows that

only in 2 cases, (

and

) do the Bengali

and English sounds

coincide, though purposes, to be accepted as similar.

is so close to the English as, for all practical

Very often Bengali speakers equate the three English sounds simple Bengali sound

with a

a. so they confuse the hearer by doing that.

In Bengali there is no vowel which is long in nature. So it is difficult for Bangladeshi to differentiate the pronunciation between lipandleap.

Bengali speaker often pronounce only the first part of the diphthongs. they stick at the first position except in the case of /

/, / /, /

/ as they in Bengali

bornomala. i.e. they say /mek/ instead of /meIk/ Bengali does not use stress to anything like the same extent as English. Bengali words are not usually stressed in isolation and there is no parallel in Bengali for the group of monosyllables having weak and strong forms. So it is hard for Bangladeshi to pronounce words with stress. A teacher should first know the problem area of the learners. Teacher can first teach them the sounds with all possible distinction. Then s/he would make them practice the sounds again and again through:

Providing Worksheets
This will help them to clarify their ideas of sounds

Prepare Materials for repetitions

It will help them to know more about the sounds and by repeating they may acquire perfection

Making them reading aloud

It may help the teacher if there anything is wrongly pronounced so that s/he can correct it.

Giving them a sound song/rhyme

So that learners can really train their speech

Recording the sounds

Its good to record the learners sound and play back their voices

Making them aware of place of articulation

Thus they will be able to differentiate the sounds according to the tongue movement.

Differentiate the meaning with or without stress

So learners will get concern about stressing.

This is how an EFL teacher can make the English vowel system easier to the learners. But as we know teaching is a creative process where a teacher can be the best guide by her creativity. Teachers of EFL have a great advantage of using internet for the materials and they can utilize it. So learners will get the taste of the variety in materials. An EFL class must be communicative. So that the learners can enjoy learning English sounds and correct them by practicing.

So at first know the problems of learners, then prepare materials according to the learners needs, and then make it clear to them. A teacher of EFL should be friendly enough to stand the mispronunciation of the learners so that the correction wont hurt their self esteem.