VOWEL SOUND

What is vowel sound Vowel sound is sound in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips. A doctor who wants to look back of a patient’s mouth often ask them to say ‘ah’; making this vowel sound is the best way of presenting an obstructed view. The obstraction of air can be felt when making sound like /s/ or /d/.

Close and Open vowel Make a vowel like the i: in the English word ‘see’ and look in a miror; if you tilt your head back slightly you will be able to se that the tongue is held up close to the roof of the mouth. Now make an æ vowel (as in the word ‘cat’) and notice how the distance between the surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth is now much greater

Close and Open vowel #2 The difference between i: and æ is a difference of tongue hight. We would describe i: as a relatively close vowel and æ as relatively open vowel. Tongue height can be changed by moving the tongue up or down, or moving the lower jaw up or down.

Close and Open vowel #3 Sound like i: is produced when the front of tongue raised to the hard palate (without blocking the air flow) while sound like æ is produced when tongue is lower than the position of i:

Front and Back vowel #1 In making the two vowels described above, it is the front part of the tongue that is raised. We could describe i: and æ as comparatively front vowels and u as a back vowel. By changing the shape of the tongue we can produce vowels in which a different part of the tongue is the highest point. A vowel in which the back of the tongue is the highest point is called a back vowel.

Tense and lax vowel Tense vowel is supposed to be pronounced with a general tension of the muscle of speech while the lax vowel is pronounced more relax than the tense one. For example: A sound like /i/ as in ‘beet’ is tense and /ɪ/ as in ‘bit’ is a lax vowel.

Lip-Rounding In classifying vowel sounds, we sometimes wish to distinguish different degrees of lip-rounding. There are three forms of it: Rounded : where the concerns of lips are brought toward each other and lips pused forward like the sound /u/ Neutral : where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. This noise most English people make when they are hesitating (written ‘er’) has neutral lip position. Spread : With the corners of lips moved away from each other, as for a smile just like sound /i/

English and Indonesian vowels English has twelve vowel single sounds (monophthongs) such as i:, ɪ, ɛ, æ, ə:, ə, ʌ, u:, u, ɔ:, ɔ, ɑ: and Indonesian has ten monophthongs such as i:, ɪ, e, ɛ, a, ə, ɔ, o, U, u.

Vowel sound i: For examples: See, feel, bead, ream Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips High-up Front Close Spread For examples: See, feel, bead, ream

Vowel sound ɪ For examples: It, lid, fill, rich Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips High-down Front Close-mid Spread For examples: It, lid, fill, rich

Vowel sound ɛ (epsilon) / e Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Middle Front Close-mid Spread For examples: fell, get, led

Vowel sound æ (ash) For examples: Bad, cat, bat Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Low Front Open-mid Neutral For examples: Bad, cat, bat

Vowel sound ə: (schwa) / ȝ: Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Middle-up Middle Close-mid Spread For examples: Bird, burn, heard

Vowel sound ə (schwa) For examples: Ago, colour, perhaps Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Middle-down Middle Open-mid Neutral For examples: Ago, colour, perhaps

Vowel sound ʌ (caret or wedge) Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Low Middle Open-mid neutral For examples: Up, cup, luck

Vowel sound ɑ: For examples: Card, dark, hard Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Low-down Back Open neutral For examples: Card, dark, hard

Vowel sound ɔ (open o) For examples: Box, hot, lock Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Low-down Back Open Rounded For examples: Box, hot, lock

Vowel sound ɔ: For examples: Cord, law, saw Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips Low-up Back Open-mid Rounded For examples: Cord, law, saw

Vowel sound u For examples: Put, pull, look Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips High-down Back Close-mid Rounded For examples: Put, pull, look

Vowel sound u: For examples: Pool, too, shoed Height of tongue Front and back Vowel Close and open vowel Forms of lips High-Up Back Close Rounded For examples: Pool, too, shoed

EXERCISE 1