1. Articulation and Description of English Vowels
Phonetics Continued
Articulation and Description of English Vowels

2. Properties of Vowels Most sonorant (audible) sounds
Sound is caused by vocal fold vibration
Usually function as syllable nuclei
Almost always voiced
Vowel sounds change according to SHAPE of vocal tract, no obstructions in vowels

3. How Many Vowels in English?
Teacher said 5 and sometimes y
We say 11 and 3 diphthongs
1/2 of languages have 5, some have 3

4. Parameters Review: consonant parameters:
Voicing.
Place of articulation.
Manner of articulation.
Vowel articulation is described using FOUR parameters.

5. Four Parameters of Vowels
Tongue HEIGHT
High / mid / low
Tongue BACKNESS
Front / central / back
Lip ROUNDING
Round / unround
Tenseness
Tense / lax

6. Vowels of English  front central back high mid low i I e E   u o 
Lax
Tense
Round 

7. Tongue Height Put your hand under your chin and say seat, set, sat
High: leak, lick, Luke, look
[I], [I], [u], [U]
Mid: bait, bet, but, bought, boat
[eI], [E], [], [], [o]
Low: cat, con
[Q], [a]

8. Tongue Advancement Front: seek, sick, sake, sec, sack Central: luck
[I], [I], [eI], [E], [Q]
Central: luck
[]
Back: ooze, look, road, law, dot
[U], [U], [o], [], [a]

9. Lip Rounding
In English, only the high and mid back vowels are produced with lip rounding
Round vowels: [u], [U], [o], []
Unround vowels: all the other vowels

10. Tenseness Tense vowels Lax vowels Compare Pete and pit
The tongue is at an extreme height or backness
Lax vowels
The tongue is not at an extreme position
Compare Pete and pit

11. Diphthongs
A diphthong is a complex vowel where the tongue begins in one place and moves to another (a two part vowel sound)
The vowel diphthongs:
[Ai]: bite
[AU]: bout
[oI]: boy
[eI]: stay ([e] is not a ‘true’ English vowel sound)
(Also: [o]: go, though we may write this with one symbol)