Vowels

L220

Vowels include speech sounds where the airstream is frictionless and is basically modified by the position of the tongue and the lips. Vowels are very similar to glides and semivowels. The difference between vowels and glides and semivowels lies in the structure of the syllable. Vowels occur at the peak of the syllable--the most sonorous part of the syllable. Vowels are modified by lip position: rounded, neutral, spread. They are modified by tongue height: high, mid, low. And they are modified by tongue position: front, central, back. The following vowels represent a rather standard North American dialect. There many variations on the vowels in English dialects, especially in non-North American dialects. We are unable to cover these variants here. To hear a sample of each sound, click on the underscored item that ends in ".au". Some of these will be rerecorded soon.

Vowels are divided into tense vowels and lax vowels. In lax vowels the tongue root is positioned somewhat neutral in the mouth--neither forward (as in tense vowels) nor back (as before "r" and "l". The five basic lax vowels include:

1. lips spread, tongue forward and high: "i" as in sit lax.i.au
2. lips rounded, tongue back, and tongue high: "oo" in good lax.u.au
3. lips spread, tongue front, and tongue mid" "e" in red lax.e.au
4. lips rounded, tongue back, and tongue mid: "o" in pore lax.o.au
5. lips neutral, tongue central, and tongue low: "a" in father lax.a.au
6. lips neutral, tongue central, and tongue mid: "u" in cut carot.au

In tense vowels the tongue root position is front. This causes what is sometimes described as tense oral muscles involving the production of these sounds. The high and mid peripheral vowels are realized as homorganic diphthongs. The five basic tense vowels include:

1. lips spread, tongue forward and high: "ea" as in seat tense.i.au
2. lips rounded, tongue back, and tongue high: "u" in flute tense.u.au
3. lips spread, tongue front, and tongue mid" "ai" in paid tense.e.au
4. lips rounded, tongue back, and tongue mid: "o" in go tense.o.au
5. lips neutral, tongue central, and tongue low: "a" in cat tense.a.au

There are many variants of these sounds including tense and lax, crucial in English. Consult your textbook or any other textbook on phonetics for a detailed description and discussion of these variants.

There are three non-homorganic diphthongs in standard English.

1. lips neutral, tongue high: "e" in the second syllable of roses.
2. lips neutral, tongue mid: "a" in the second syllable of Rosa's.

There are two reduced vowels. They occur only in unstressed syllables.

1. "y" in by:
2. "oy" in boy
3. "ow" in cow.

Go to:

• chart of the basic sounds of English

Go back to:

1. sonorants
2. phonetics