1. Classification of Vowels
Traditional Classification
Chapter 4
First quiz next Wednesday over single sylibal words. Only

2. Outline Discuss the traditional classification of vowels:
Identify phonetic symbols for front, central and back vowels.
Describe vowels according to the traditional classification.

3. Production of Vowels
Vowels are produced in essentially the same manner and voicing.
Produced with oral resonance
All are voiced
Identification of a vowel is a result of the shaping of the oral cavity.
Tongue movement
Jaw opening/closing
Lip rounding & tenseness
NO voiceless vowels.

4. Traditional Vowel Classification
Tongue Movement
Tension
Lip Rounding

5. Tongue Movement Tongue Height *Vertical movement
High Vowels: tongue at highest position
Mid Vowels: tongue at mid position
Low Vowels: tongue at lowest position

6. Tongue Movement Tongue Advancement *Horizontal movement
Front Vowels: tongue in front; most of resonating cavity in back of mouth
Central Vowels: half of resonating cavity in front and half in back
Back Vowels: tongue in back; resonating cavity in front of mouth

7. Tongue Height + Tongue Advancement = 9 Positions
VOWELS
Front
High
/i, I/
Mid
/e, ɛ/
Low
/æ/
Central
none
/ə, ʌ, ɚ, ɝ/
Back
/u, Ʊ/
/o, ɔ/
/ɑ/
Overview of were the tongue is placed when saying vowles.

8. Tension Tense Vowels: increased muscular tension in the tongue
Lax Vowels: opposite of tense; decreased muscular tension
Neutral Vowels: tongue usually in rest position
Some vowes have more tention some are more neutral.

9. Lip-Rounding Rounded Lips Unround/retracted Lips Neutral Back vowels
Front vowels
Neutral
Central vowels
All back sounds are rounded…all front vowles are unrounded

10. Vowel Quadralateral (chart)
Will have to label on a test. Looks like the shape of the tongue and where the vowles are placed when saying them.

11. Front Vowel: /i/ Description: Front, high, tense, unround Sounds like:
Sometimes changed to /I/
Hear /hir/ /hIr/
Sounds like:
Eat, leave, money

12. Front Vowel: /I/ Description: Front, high, lax, unround Sounds like:
In, mitt

13. Front Vowel: /e/ Description: Front, mid, tense, unround
When elongated = diphthong /eI/
Occurs more often
Sounds like:
Operate, vacation
Monothong- sounds that have ONE sound
Dipthong- Phonames made up of TWO sounds.

14. Front Vowel: /ɛ/ Description: Front, mid, lax, unround Sounds like:
End, head
Egg,

15. Front Vowel: /æ/ Description: Front, low, lax, unround Sounds like:
Add, cat

16. Central Vowels
The central vowels are more difficult to teach because there is a lot of variation in central tongue positioning.
Central stressed or unstressed

17. Central Vowel: /ʌ/
Description: Central, mid, tense, neutral lip rounding
Occurs in stressed syllables only
Referred to as: “caret”
Sounds like:
Under, tub
Symbol is refered to as a caret.

18. Central Vowel: /ə/
Description: Central, mid, lax, neutral lip rounding
Occurs in unstressed syllables
Referred to as: “shwa”
Sounds like:
Away, elephant, arena
Difficult to hear in connected speech.

19. Central Vowel: /ɝ/ Description: Central, mid, tense, rounded
Occurs in stressed syllables only
Duration is longer and more tense as compared to /ɚ/
Sounds like:
Earth, learn, her

20. Central Vowel: /ɚ/
Description: Central, mid, lax, neutral lip rounding
Occurs in unstressed syllables
Most often in final position of words
Referred to as: “shwar”
Sounds like:
Understand, mother

21. Rhotic Vowels /ɝ, ɚ/
Rhotacized: refers to positioning or influence of /r/
Often misarticulated
Both have retroflex
Tongue-tip is curled or pulled back
Tongue is arched in middle

22. Rhotic /ɝ,ɚ/ vs /r/ RHOTIC /ɝ,ɚ/ Greater duration
Constitutes a syllable
Tongue movement toward, rather than away from the consonant /r/ position
It is never voiceless following voiceless consonants, as /r/ may be
/r/ CONSONANT
Shorter duration
Never constitutes a syllable
Tongue movement is away from /r/ position

23. Back Vowel: /u/ Description: Back, high, tense, round Sounds like:
Oops, fruit, tu

24. Back Vowel: /Ʊ/ Description: Back, high, lax, round Sounds like:
Only occurs in medial positions of words
Lips are not as round as /u/
Sounds like:
Cook, would
wood

25. Back Vowel: /O/ Description: Back, mid, tense, round
When elongated = diphthong /oƱ/
Occurs more often
Sounds like:
Obey, nobility
All back sounds are lip rounded. Dope, pope, scope, cantalope, soap

26. Back Vowel: /ɔ/ Description: Back, mid, lax, round Sounds like:
More prominent in Northeastern dialects; not common in Southern dialects
Frequently collapsed to /ɑ/ in Southern dialects
Sounds like:
Off, talk, jaw
Yall,

27. Back Vowel: /ɑ/ Description: Back, low, lax, round Sounds like:
Very little rounding
Sounds like:
On, stop