Vowels

Speech sounds are commonly divided into two groups, vowels and consonants. Vowels are however more complicated than consonants. In phonetics, vowel is a segment whose articulation involves no significant obstruction of the airstream, such as [a], [i] or [u]. However in phonology, vowel is a segment which forms the nucleus of a syllable.

Phonetic Properties of Vowels

There are two major differences between vowels and consonants. 1. Vowels always involve a continuous flow of air. 2. Vowels are always voiced (in English).

Features Differentiating Vowels and Consonants

Vowels No significant constriction of the vocal tract Open sounds Sagittal midline of vocal tract remains open Voiced Acoustically more intense Demonstrate more sonority* Function as syllable nuclei Consonants Significant constriction of the vocal tract

Constricted sounds Constriction occurs along sagittal midline of the vocal tract Voiced or unvoiced Acoustically less intense Demonstrate less sonority Only specific consonants can function as syllable nuclei * Sonority of a sound is its loudness relative to that of other sounds with the same length, stress, and pitch.

Four Features of Vowels

There are four features which are used to describe vowels. They are: 1. Tongue height 2. Tongue backness/frontness 3. Tense/lax 4. Lip roundedness Height (high, mid, or low): How high in your mouth your tongue is positioned. 1. High vowels: [i], [I], [u], [U] 2. Mid vowels: [e], [E], [2], [o], [O] 3. Low vowels: [], [A]

Backness (front, central, or back): How forward in your mouth your tongue is. 1. Front vowels: [i], [I], [e], [E], [] 2. Central vowels: [2] 3. Back vowels: [u], [U], [o], [O], [A] Tense or lax: How close your tongue is to the back of the roof of your mouth. In tense vowels, the tongue is closer. This has the effect of your vocal chords feeling tight for tense vowels and loose for lax vowels. 1. Tense: [i], [u], [e], [o], [A] 2. Lax: [I], [E], [], [2], [U], [O] Rounding (rounded or unrounded): The shape of your lips. 1. Rounded: [u], [U], [o], [O] 2. Unrounded: [i], [I], [e], [E], [], [2], [A]

Describing vowels by their features

1. [E] is mid front lax unrounded 2. [u] is high back tense rounded 3. [O] is mid back lax rounded

Monophthongs and Dipthongs

There are two types of vowels, monophthongs and diphthongs. Monophthongs remain qualitatively the same throughout their entire production. They are also called as pure vowels. Whereas diphthongs are vowels in which there is a change in quality. Diphthongs are vowel phonemes articulated with a glide from one vowel to another. The initial segment, the beginning portion of such a diphthong, is phonetically referred to as the on glide and its end portion as the off glide. Dipthongs are produced by saying two vowels sounds consecutively very quickly, making an articulatory movement form one vowel to another within a single syllable

IPA symbols for few Monaphthongs

IPA symbols for few dipthongs

Few Common Vowel terms

Vowel chart Vowel chart is a graphical device which is used for showing the locations of vowels within the vowel space. Vowel space

Vowel space is the available space within the oral cavity for the production of vowels. Vowel classification Vowel classification is the description of vowels in terms of phonetic parameters, such as height, backness and rounding, and sometimes also further parameters as length and nasalization. Vowel quadrilateral A conventional four-sided figure used for representing the vowel space and for marking the positions in the vowel space of both cardinal vowels and real vowels produced by real speakers of a language. By convention, high vowels are at the top and low vowels at the bottom; back vowels are on the right and front vowels on the left. A contrast between rounded and unrounded vowels in the same position cannot be easily represented. Vowel quality The totality of those distinguishing characteristics of a particular vowel which result from the positions of the tongue and the lips during its articulation, but excluding such features as pitch, loudness and duration. Vowel echo Vowel echo is the phenomenon in which an underlying unspecified vowel automatically takes on the identity of the vowel in an adjoining syllable. Vowel system The total inventory of the vowel phonemes of a particular language or language variety is called vowel system. Semivowel A semivowel or glide is a sound, such as English /w/ or /j/, which is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Diacritic Diacritic mark is used to change the sound value of the letter to which they are added.