Unit 2. Vowels: A Theoretical Approach

Asignatura: Pronunciacin de la lengua inglesa
Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura (UNED)

Unit 2: Vowels
Eva Estebas Vilaplana

UNIT 2. VOWELS: A THEORETICAL APPROACH

1. Introduction

This document includes a brief introduction to the basic theoretical issues to describe
vowels from a phonetic/phonological perspective. The following aspects will be
covered:

Parameters to describe vowels
o Tongue position
o Tongue height
o Lip posture
o Duration
Types of vowels
o Monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs
o Weak vs. strong vowels
Related phenomena
o Nasalization
o Voiceless vowels and aspiration
o Pre-fortis clipping and rhythmical clipping

2. Parameters to describe vowels

Vowels are produced:

1. with no obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity
2. with vocal fold vibration

This means that in order to articulate a vocalic sound, the front, the centre or the back of
the tongue raises towards some part of the palate without causing friction, so that the air
coming from the lungs is not obstructed and escapes freely. Additionally, the vocal
folds are slightly together causing vibration. Thus, vowels are produced with an open
approximation of the articulators and they are always voiced. The soft palate is raised so
that the air escapes through the oral cavity. This is illustrated in Figure 1.
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Unit 2: Vowels

(hard) palate
front middle
(soft) palate
(raised)
vocal fold
vibration
back
centre
front

Figure 1. Articulators involved in the production of vowels.

Vowels are described according to three parameters: 1) tongue position, 2) tongue
height and 3) lip posture. In some languages, such as English, another parameter is
included for the description of vowels, namely, vowel duration.

2.1. Tongue position

According to the part of the tongue that raises, vowels are classified as:

-front the front of the tongue raises towards the front of the (hard) palate
-back the back of the tongue raises towards the back of the palate (soft palate)
-central the centre of the tongue raises towards the middle of the (hard) palate

2.2. Tongue height

According to the degree of tongue raising, vowels are classified as:

-close (or high) the tongue raises towards the palate (no friction)
-half-close (or high-mid) the tongue raises (less than for close vowels)
-half-open (or low-mid) the tongue raises (less than for half-close vowels)
-open (or low) the tongue does not raise

The position of the tongue and its degree of openness is usually reflected in a chart
known as the vowel quadrilateral which describes vowels according to their tongue
position (front/central/back) and the degree of tongue raising (close/half-close/half-
open/open). This is illustrated in the Figure 2 for the five Spanish vocalic sounds.

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Unit 2: Vowels

Figure 2. Vowel quadrilateral for the five Spanish vowels.
front central back
close
i u

i u
a half-close

e o
half-open

a
open

As presented in the book (and in the CD-ROM), English has more vowels with a single
quality than Spanish (12 English monophthongs as opposed to 5 Spanish
monophthongs). The distribution of English vowels in the vowel quadrilateral is
presented in Figure 3.

front central back
close
i: u:

i o
half-
close
s:/o
e o:

half-open

o:/b
t
open

Figure 3. Vowel quadrilateral for the twelve English vowels.

2.3. Lip posture

Lips can have the following positions:

-rounded the lips have a round position, as for the production of English [u]
-unrounded the lips are not rounded. They can be:
-neutral (with no movement, as for the production of English [o])
-spread (with a slight smile, as for the production of English [i])

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Unit 2: Vowels
For the description of vowels, we will only use the terms rounded vs. unrounded, no
matter whether the lips are neutral or spread. Spanish rounded vowels are [u] and [o].
English rounded vowels are [u], [o], [o] and [b].

2.4. Duration

Languages such as English add a fourth parameter to the description of vowels, namely,
duration. English has series of vowels, such as [b], [e] or [i], whose duration is shorter
than that of other English vowels, such as [i], [o] or [u]. Long vowels are signalled by
the presence of [].

Even though English exhibits differences in vowel duration, it is important to note that
duration alone is not enough to show vocalic contrasts. Thus, for example, the contrast
between [i] and [i] does not only depend on vowel quantity (or duration) but also on
vowel quality: [i] is a close vowel and [i] is a half-close vowel.

Self-evaluation activities

Exercise 1

Classify the following English vowels according to tongue location, tongue height, lip
posture and duration. An example is provided for vowel [e].

Tongue location Tongue height Lip posture Duration
[]

[o]

[t]

[e] front between half-close and
half-open
unrounded short
[s]

[o]

[i]

[i]

[b]

[o]

[o]

[u]

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Unit 2: Vowels

Exercise 2

Which are the parameters that differentiate the following pairs of vowels? Tick your
answers.

[] and [t]

[s] and [o]

[o] and [b]

[i] and [i]

[e] and [o]

[] and [u]

[o] and [u]

[b] and [o]

3. Types of vowels
3.1. Monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs

So far we have examined vowels with a single quality, as for example, [i], [i], [e], etc.
Vowels produced with only one quality are known as monophthongs. However, in
English, as in many other languages, vowels can change in quality and they can have
two qualities (as in diphthongs) or three qualities (as in triphthongs).

English diphthongs can be closing or centring depending on the direction of the quality
change. Thus, closing diphthongs move from a more open position to a closer one and
centring diphthongs move from a more external position to a more central one. This is
exemplified in Figure 4. English closing diphthongs end with |i| (|ai| |ei| |oi|) or
|o| (|ao| |oo|). English centring diphthongs end with |o| (|io| |eo| |oo|).

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Unit 2: Vowels
English closing diphthongs [a] [e] [] [a] []

front central back
close

i o
half-
close
o

English centring diphthongs [] [e] []

Figure 4. Schematization of English closing and centring diphthongs.

English triphthongs are composed of one of the closing diphthongs followed by [o|.

|ai| +[o| =|aio|
|ei| +[o| =|eio|
|oi| +[o| =|oio|

|ao| +[o| =|aoo|
|oo| +[o| =|ooo|

e o

half-open

a
open
front central back
close

i o
half-
close
o
e

half-open

open
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Unit 2: Vowels

As described in tip 11 in the book, sometimes the middle vowel of English triphthongs
([i| or [o|) is not fully targeted (is not entirely produced). When this happens, the
perceptual impression is that the second vowel of the triphthong is dropped and the first
one is lengthened so as to compensate for the loss of the middle sound. This
phenomenon is known as smoothing. An example of smoothing is provided below. See
tip 11 for more examples.

fire |laio| >|la:o|

3.2. Weak and strong vowels

English has two kinds of vowels: strong vowels and weak vowels. Strong vowels
mainly occur in stressed syllables although they can also occur in unstressed syllables.
Strong vowels are all the vowels included in Figure 3 (except for |o|), all the
diphthongs and all the triphthongs. An example of a strong vowel both in a stressed
syllable (indicated with the symbol [']) and in an unstressed syllable (with no symbol) is
provided below for [e].

better ['beIo] (strong vowel [e] in a stressed syllable)
codex ['kodeks] (strong vowel [e] in an unstressed syllable)

The English weak vowel system contains the following vowels: |o|, [i] (|i|), and []
(|u|). Weak vowels |o|, |i| and |u| can only occur in unstressed syllables, as in the
following words (see more examples in tips 6 and 7 in the book). The vowel |o| (called
schwa) is the most frequently used vowel in English words.

better ['beIo]
happy ['hpi]
curator |k]u'reiIo|

Vowels |i| and |u| are not included in the vowel quadrilateral of Figure 3 because they
actually represent a neutralization of the contrast [i]/[i:| and [o]/|u:|. A neutralization
process means that in certain contexts it is not possible to distinguish whether the
speaker produces [i] or [i:| and [o] or |u:|. Thus, |i| reflects the loss of contrast
between [i] and [i:| and |u| reflects the loss of contrast between [o] and |u:|.
|i| mainly occurs in unstressed word-final syllables, as in happy |'hpi|. |u| occurs in
unstressed syllables, especially after |]|, as in curator |k]u'reiIo|.

Finally, vowels |i| and |o| can be both strong and weak. For example, in the word
biscuit ['biskiI], the first vowel is strong and the second one is weak.

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Unit 2: Vowels

4. Related phenomena
4.1. Nasalization

As presented in section 2, vowels are usually produced with the velum or soft palate
raised so that the air escapes through the oral cavity. Thus, vowels are classified as oral
sounds. However, sometimes it is possible to produce vowels with a lowered velum
which makes the air escape through the nasal cavity. In this case, vowels are nasalized,
that is, they are produced with air going out through the nose. This is illustrated in
Figure 5 where the only difference between an oral vowel and a nasalized vowel is the
position of the velum.

Oral vowel Nasalized vowel

Figure 5. Schematization of oral and nasal vowels.

In English and in Spanish, nasalized vowels only occur next to nasal consonants. In
these languages, the phenomenon of nasalization is explained as a phonetic effect. That
is, a vowel (produced with a raised velum) may be nasalized (produced with a lowered
velum) next to nasal consonants if the lowering of the velum for the nasal consonant
also takes place during the vowel. For example, in English the vowel of the word mum
is nasalised [ntn]. The symbol to indicate nasalization is [ ].

In other languages, such as French, the nasalization of vowels is a phonological
phenomenon. In other words, nasalized vowels contrast with non-nasalized or oral
vowels. This means that the presence or absence of a nasalized vowel can trigger a
difference in meaning. This is illustrated in the French minimal pair [lo] lot (prize)
and [lo] long (long). See Be Aware Box 9 in the book for further details.

4.2. Voiceless vowels and aspiration

As pointed out in section 2, vowels are always produced with vocal fold vibration. It is
possible, though, to utter vowels with no vocal fold vibration (that is, voiceless vowels)
when we whisper.

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Unit 2: Vowels

It is interesting to interpret the phenomenon of aspiration in English as a partial
devoicing of vowels, that is, as the loss of a complete voicing in vowels. Aspiration is a
process which involves a delay in the vocal fold vibration for the production of a vowel
after the release of consonants [p], [I] and [k] (see tip 13 for more details). Vowels are
most of the time voiced. Thus, for example in the English word sea the consonant is
voiceless and the vowel voiced. The voicing of the vowel starts as soon as the vowel
starts, as illustrated below. The vertical lines indicate the limits of each segment. The
horizontal straight line means no vocal fold vibration and the wavy line indicates vocal
fold vibration. The English word pea, on the other hand, is produced with aspiration
of the [p], which means that the voicing of the vowel does not start immediately after
the release of the [p] but is delayed. Thus, part of the vowel is devoiced or voiceless.
Aspiration in marked with the symbol [']. You will learn more details on aspiration in
Unit 3 (Chapter 2 of the book, tip 13).

s i: p ' i:

ASPIRATION (or partially devoiced vowel)
Figure 6. Schematic representation of the activity of the vocal folds for the words sea and pea.

4.3. Pre-fortis clipping and rhythmical clipping

As described in section 2.4, English vowels vary in duration and theherefore the English
vowel inventory for monophthongs includes both short vowels (such as [b], [e] or [i])
and long vowels (such as [i], [o] or [u]). Apart from the intrinsic duration of each
vocalic sound, English vowels may also vary in duration depending on the voicing
condition of the consonant that follows or on the rhythmic structure of the word.

As we will see in more detail in the next unit (Consonants), vowels that precede a
voiceless sound (also known as fortis) are shortened or clipped, as opposed to vowels
preceding voiced sounds (or lenis). This phenomenon is known as pre-fortis clipping
and it mainly occurs when the consonant following the vowel occurs word-finally. For
example, in the following pair of words, the vowel [] is going to be shorter when it is
followed by [I] than when it is followed by [d].

cot [kI] (shorter duration of the vowel due to the presence of [I])
cod [kd] (longer duration of the vowel due to the presence of [d])

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Unit 2: Vowels
The other aspect which triggers differences in the duration of vowels is the rhythmic
structure of the word which has to do with the amount of unstressed syllables that
follow the stressed one. In that case, the higher the number of unstressed syllables the
shorter the duration of the vowel in the stressed syllable. An example is provided below
for the vowel [i] which will be longer in the word lead (sine no unstressed syllables
follow), shorter in leader (with one unstressed syllables after the stressed one) and even
shorter in leadership (since two unstressed syllables appear after the stressed one). This
phenomenon is known as rhythmical clipping. In the three words below the stressed
syllable is marked with the diacritic ['].

lead ['lid]
leader ['lid-o]
leadership ['lid-o-]ip]

Solutions to the self-evaluation activities
Exercise 1

[]
front

between half-open and open unrounded short
[o]
back

open unrounded long
[t]
central

open unrounded short
[e]
front between half-close and half-open unrounded short
[s]
central

between half-close and half-open unrounded long
[o]
central

between half-close and half-open unrounded short
[i]
front

close unrounded long
[i]
front

half-close unrounded short
[b]
back

open rounded short
[o]

back

between half-close and half-open rounded long
[o]
back

half-close rounded short
[u]
back

close rounded long

Exercise 2

[] and [t]

[s] and [o]

[o] and [b]

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Unit 2: Vowels
[i] and [i]

[e] and [o]

[] and [u]

[o] and [u]

[b] and [o]

11

Unit 2. Vowels: A Theoretical Approach

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Asignatura: Pronunciacin de la lengua inglesa

Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura (UNED)

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