ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS:

AN OVERALL VIEW

UFPB CCHLA DLEM

English Phonology and Phonetics I
Student: Priscilla Thuany
 WHAT ARE VOWELS?

1) VOWEL / 'val / n [C] 1- one of the human speech sounds that you make by
letting your breath flow out without closing any part of your mouth or throat; 2- a
letter of the alphabet used to represent a vowel (LONGMAN, 2003).
2) vowel (n.) (V) One of the two general categories used for the classication of
speech sounds, the other being consonant. Vowels can be dened in terms of both
phonetics and phonology. Phonetically, they are sounds articulated without a
complete closure in the mouth or a degree of narrowing which would produce
audible friction [...] From a phonological point of view, vowels are those units which
function at the center of syllables (CRYSTAL, D. 2008).
3) Vowel noun[C] Aspeechsoundproducedbyhumanswhen thebreath flowsout
through themouthwithout beingblockedby theteeth,tongue, orlips (Cambridge
Dictionary).
 FOR EXAMPLE, THE TYPE OF SOUND
WE MAKE WHEN A DOCTOR
EXAMINING OUR THROAT ASKS US TO
OPEN OUR MOUTH AND SAY AH.
 PRODUCTION

Normally made without any closure or

narrowing such as would result in the noise
component characteristic of many consonantal
sounds; moreover, the escape of the air is
characteristiclly accomplished in an unimpeded
way over the centre line of the tongue.
The organs mainly responsible for shaping
these sounds are the soft palate, lips and
tongue. (Gimsom, 1970)
 WHAT ARE VOWELS?

Generally, in phonetic materials, the noun "vowel" has the

following meanings: a vowel sound; a letter representing a
vowel sound in writing. Vowels are speech sounds
produced without obstructing the flow of air from the
lungs, so that the breath stream passes freely through the
mouth. Vowels are always voiced.
Vowel sounds are divided into monophthongs, diphthongs,
and triphthongs. All vowel sounds together are called the
vowel system.
 MONOPHTHONGS

Monophthongs articulate a single vowel phoneme that does not

change during its articulation; i.e., it starts and ends in the same
quality, and the speech organs do not change their position during its
pronunciation. Monophthongs are also called simple vowels, pure
vowels, or stable vowels and American linguists list from 9 to 12
monophthongs in American English.
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at the
beginning and end is relatively xed, and which does not glide up and
down towards a new position of articulation. We can also say that a
vowel sound whose quality does not change over the duration of the
vowel is called as a monophthong.
PURE VOWELS
 INITIAL MIDDLE FINAL
i: eat, economy, eel week, seizing, machine tree, key
invite, ill pin, synthax --
e end bed, tell --
at, ask glass, bat --
: are cart, path far. memoir
on pot --
: august door, board flaw
-- wood, would Unstressed form of the
preposition to, the verb do
or the pronoun who. *
u: ooze rude chew, tattoo
under, utter sun, flood --
: earth learn fur
aside, about collide teacher, rather
.

THE SCHWA SOUND

Uh...
1 This sound is so important that it has a name: schwa.
The name is originally from Hebrew, meaning nought or
absence of vowel. Its also said to be derived from two
German words:
Schwaches Ausspruch
2 The Schwa sound is the easiest to produce: if we just
open our mouth a little and emit voice, we will be
pronouncing it. The mouth is in neutral position.
3 Its the most frequent sound in English. According to the
chart of frequencies of English phonemes (Gimson, An
Introduction to the Pronunciation in English, Arnold, 1970),
appears with a frequency of 10.74%. But why is it so
 DIPHTHONGS

Diphthong is a vowel sound in which the tongue changes position to

produce the sound of two vowels (Cambridge Advanced Learners
Dictionary).
Diphthong is a single sound produced when two vowels - one dominant in
duration and stress, and one reduced in duration and stress - are paired
together in a sequence (Linda I. House: Introductory Phonetics and
Phonology).
A diphthong is a complex vowel sound that consists of two components. The
rst part of the diphthong is its main strong component (the nucleus); the
second part is short and weak (the glide). Together, the nucleus and the
glide form one vowel sound that is indivisible and forms only one syllable.
DIPHTHONGS
SOME OTHER EXAMPLES
 TRIPHTHONGS

A triphthong is a complex vowel sound that consists of three

components. A triphthong is indivisible and forms only one
syllable. A triphthong is always stressed on its rst main
component.
Two triphthongs are usually listed in British English: [ai] hire,
re, require; [au] our, hour, flour. American linguists generally
do not list triphthongs because the neutral sound (i.e., the third
component of these triphthongs) is often lost before voiced [r]
in AmE, for example, re [fair], [fai()r]; flour [flaur], [flau()r].
In other cases with [ai], [au], these sounds are regarded as
two separate vowels in two adjoining syllables, for example, di-
 CLASSIFYING VOWELS

In describing vowel sounds, we have to

consider especially the position of the lips,
tongue and soft palate. A system of
classication should include, but not
confuse all three factors. (Gimsom, 1970)
 THE POSITION OF THE LIPS

pool /p u: l/ leak /l i: k/ dark /d : k/

 THE PART OF THE TONGUE RAISED
AND THE HEIGHT TO WHICH IT MOVES
 THE VO WE L SO UND CHART

Visually, there are several

systems for representing
vowel position. One of them
is made by the quadrangle
(cardinal vowel system).
 High

Low

The diagram represents the vowel space in the centre of the

mouth where vowel sounds are articulated. The position of each
phoneme represents the height of the tongue and the part of the
tongue which is raised.
 CLASSIFYING VOWELS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF VOWEL

SOUNDS:
The part of the tongue that is raised: front, back and central
vowels.
The height to which it is raised: close (high), mid and open
(low) vowels.
The position of the lips: rounded, spread (unrounded) and
neutral vowels.
 PRACTICE: CLASSIFYING VOWELS

/ i:/ = a close front spread long vowel

/ I / = a half close front spread short
/ vowel
u: /
= a close back rounded long vowel
/e/
= a mid front neutral short vowel
/
= an open front spread short vowel
/
= a mid central neutral short vowel
VARIATIONS
 RHOTIC ANDNON-RHOTICACCENTS

Arhoticaccent (for instance, While anon-rhoticaccent (for

in Los Angeles or Edinburg) is
one wherercan be heard in
all the places where it is found
in thespelling. So in a rhotic
accent, theris heard in both
'car' and 'park'.
instance, in London or Sydney
Australia) only has ther-soundif
the next sound is a vowel- so not
at the end of a word, as in 'car',
or before a consonant, as in
'park'.
 AMERICAN ENGLISH X BRITISH ENGLISH

A nal Schwa is pronounced very weak in both BrE

and AmE, but if it happens at the end of speech (if
after the schwa we pause or stop), then in BrE it
often opens and becomes a sound very similar to/
/, but in AmE it doesn't change.
AMERICAN ENGLISH X BRITISH ENGLISH
 COMMON DIFFICULTIES STUDENTS
MIGHT FACE

As we all know, English is not a phonetic language, which means that when we
see a letter or a group of letters, it wont necessarily always be pronounced
the same in each word in which it occurs. (I KISS IRISH)
When it comes to production, the differences in the position of the lips are
easier to identify, but it is very difficult to see or to feel the tongue differences.
Brazilian learners come from a background of just ve vowels; suddenly, we
have to face the English system, which is considered one of the most complex.
It is to be expected that students have difficulties in the areas where vowels
are closest.
Homophones and homographs.
 WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

As a teacher, what strategies or

activities would you use to practice
vowel sounds in the classroom?
USE THE VOWEL CHART
PAY ATTENTION TO THE
QUALITY OF A SOUND!
CONCENTRATE ON
LISTENING

PRACTICE SIMILAR WORDS

IMITATING
 CONCLUSION

English is not a phonetic language: that is

one of the reasons why its so important that
we, as students and (future) teachers of the
English language, are familiar with the
English vowel sounds, as it can affect
communication.
As a teacher, knowing the English vowel
sounds will probably help you understand
your students' problems much better.
 REFERENCES
Gimsom, A. C. An introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Edward
Arnold, 1970.
OConnor, J. D. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge, CUP, 1967.
Godoy, S. English pronunciation for brazilians: the sounds of american English: Snia
Godoy, Cris Gontow, Marcello Marcelino. So Paulo: Disal, 2006.

Websites visited:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/features/schwa/
http://ingles-americano.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/phonetis-sound-of-american-english-
1.html
http://www.multimedia-english.com/phonetics/british-english-vs-american
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
/'KS/