Phonetics: Vowel articulation, transcription LING 200 Spring 2003 Reading: Files 3.3, 3.6

Manner of articulation How close are lower and upper articulator? –Relatively close: consonants –Relatively far apart: vowels

Vowels Vowel ‘quality’ –Height: high, mid, low –Backness: front, central, back –Labiality (lip rounding): rounded, unrounded Vowel quantity: long, short Can differ in:

A five vowel inventory Spanish (place of articulation) frontcentralback (manner of articulation) highiu mideo low 

Spanish vowels frontcentralback high [mis  ] ‘Mass’ [mus  ] ‘muse’ mid [mes  ] ‘table’ [mosk  ] ‘housefly’ low [m  s  ] ‘dough’

Phonetic description of vowels [i] = high front unrounded vowel [e] = mid front unrounded vowel [o] = mid back rounded vowel [u] = high back rounded vowel [  ] = low central (-back) unrounded vowel –cf. [a] = low front unrounded vowel

Another five vowel inventory Mandarin (Chinese) [ü] = high front rounded vowel [  ] = mid central unrounded vowel frontcentralback highiüu mid  low 

Mandarin vowel quality [  ] = high falling tone (see File 3.7) frontcentralback unroundroundunroundround high [l  ] ‘advantage’ [lü  ] ‘green’ [lû] ‘road’ mid [l  ] happy’ low  ‘spicy’

Vowel quantity: Sahaptin frontcentralback highi i:  u u: low  : [:] = long [  ] = high central unrounded vowel [i] = high front unrounded vowel [i:] = long high front unrounded vowel

Sahaptin short vowels frontcentralback high[latít] ‘flower’  t  t] ‘tooth’  tút] ‘your father’ low  k  k] ‘your (maternal) uncle’ [  ] = glottal stop; [  ] = stress (see File 3.7)

Sahaptin short vs. long vowels shortlong [sts’  t] 'night'[sts’  :t] 'dark' [pišíš] 'paternal aunt' [c  i:š] 'water' [pyuš] 'snake' [pu:š]  'juniper'

English vowels English, a Germanic language Proto-Germanic vowels i i:u u: e e: o:  Historical length > 'tense'/'lax' contrast –Long vowels > tense –Short vowels > lax

English vowels frontcentralback unrounded rounded highiu lower-high  mid higher-mid eo lower-mid  low  North Atlantic English (UK, Ireland):

i u  e o   a  The vowel space

frontcentralback unrounded rounded high[bid] bead[bud] booed lower-high [b  d] bid[b  d  st] Buddhist higher-mid[bed] bayed[bod] bode lower-mid  bed[b  d] bud[b  d] bawd low [b  d] bad  b  ] bard [b  ] bah [b  di] body English vowels A speaker from Southern England:

English vowels Sound changes in N. America. What happened to [  ]: – ,  > (‘merged as’)  (East) [  ]: body, bawd, [  ]: bah – ,  >  (East, Midwest) [  ]: body, bah, [  ]: bawd – , ,  >  (West) [  ]: body, bah, bawd

English vowels More [  ], [  ] pairs –hockvs.hawk [h  k] [h  k] or [h  k][h  k]? –cotvs.caught –Pollyvs.Paulie –Donvs.dawn

English vowels Western North America frontcentralback unrounded rounded highiu  mideo  ()() low 

English vowels Diphthongs: 2 vowel qualities –[  w] = [a  ]: [h  wd] (how’d) –[  y] = [a  ]: [h  yd] (hide) –[oy] = [o  ]: [toyd] (toyed) For many speakers, [e], [o] are diphthongs –[ey] = [e  ] –[ow] = [o  ]

English vowels Stressed and unstressed syllables –verbs: nouns: –to [ri  kt]a [rí  kt] (reject) –to [prot  st]a [prót  st] (protest) to [prót  st]

English vowels [  ] only occurs in unstressed syllables stressed: [  ]unstressed: [  ] cup [k  p]hiccup [h  k  p] cud [k  d]wicked [w  k  d] cut [k  t]racket [r  k  t]

English vowels [  ] + nasals, liquids For many speakers, –[  r] = [r  ][p  kr  ] picker –[  l] = [l  ] [p  kl  ]pickle –[  n] = [n  ] [  kn  ]thicken –[  m] = [m  ] [r  m  ] rhythm [  ] = syllabic

English vowels In Western North America, [  ] only before [r]: [m  r] more [mor  ] mower [m  r] mar

Rhotic nuclei ([V+r] combinations) in North American English frontcentralback high [ur  ] [  r] mid  [  r] = [r  ][  r] low  English vowels: rhotic nuclei

W. N. Amer.S. England beer [b  r][b  ] bare [b  r][b  ] bard [b  rd][b  d] bored [b  rd][b  ] bird [br  d][b  d] boor [bur  ][b  ] English vowels: rhotic nuclei In most of England, syllable-final [r] > [  ] or 

Transcription practice fish scrimmage schism asthma azalea mayonnaise

Transcription practice fish [f  š ] scrimmage[skr  m  ] schism [sk  zm  ] asthma[  zm  ] azalea[  zely  ] mayonnaise[m  nez]