1. LING 103
Introduction to
English Linguistics
2017

2. Previous Lecture In the previous lecture we discussed (1) The production of sounds There are 3 processes associated with the production of speech sounds 1. Initiation 2. Phonation 3. Articulation (2) The production of consonants. Consonants are described in terms of their 1. voicing 2. place of articulation 3. manner of articulation Today We will discuss vowels and their production. If there is time, we will also look at how we produce a syllable

3. The standard IPA vowel chart The quadrilateral is an idealised shape of the area in the vocal tract where vowels are produced.

4. front high back low Vowel production
Vowels are produced in the general area outlined in green below
front
In rest position, the tongue is mid–way between the roof and floor of the mouth.
high
back
low

5. Three parameters are used to describe the articulation of vowels:
1. vertical tongue position (how high or low is the tongue)
2. horizontal tongue position (which section of the tongue is raised
or lowered)
3. lip rounding (are the lips rounded or unrounded?)
A sagittal section showing the tongue position for [i:] and [a:]

6. Exercise. 1. Vertical movement
Exercise. 1. Vertical movement. Isolate and practice the vowels in bead [i:] bed [e] bad [æ] Can you describe the changes in tongue and jaw position that must happen for you to articulate these vowel sounds? For /i:/ the front of your tongue moves up towards the hard palate For [e] the front of your tongue will most likely move forwards but only very slightly up or down if at all. Your jaw will move down slightly from /i:/ For /æ/ the front of your tongue moves away from the hard palate and your jaw must lower as well.

7. High i: Mid e Low æ Marking them on a vowel chart
Since /i:/, /e/ and /æ/ all involve the movement of the front of the tongue, collectively they are all ‘front’ vowels. They differ in tongue height.
We represent them
Front Central Back
High i:
Mid e
Low æ

8. Horizontal movement Exercise: Learning to feel the Alternate between the vowel [i:] in bead and [u:] in boo. Which section of your tongue moves? Articulating [i:], the tongue moves to the of the hard palate [i:] is a vowel. For articulation of [u:] the tongue moves to the of the hard palate [u:] is a vowel. We generally refer to this as the ‘backness’ of a vowel

9. Lip Position The position of the lips, as well as the tongue, contributes to vowel quality. Exercise Alternate the vowels /i:/ and /u:/, what shape do your lips take? The lips are when producing /i:/ The lips are when producing /u:/ We can now label our vowels with a three part label for (1) height (2) backness and (3)rounding e.g /æ/ = low front unrounded vowel

10. Front Central Back high i: u: r mid e o u ɔ: n d e low æ a: ɒ
Exercise:
Use the chart below to label [i:] [ɒ] [u:] for their height + backness + roundness
Front Central Back
high i: u:
mid e
  ɔ:
low æ a: ɒ
[i:] high front unrounded [ɒ] low back unrounded [u:] high back rounded r o u n d e
unrounded

11. Other distinguishing features:
Vowel quality
Vowel quality distinguishes one vowel from another.
pat pot
æ ɒ
The quality of a vowel is determined by the combination of your tongue position, lip position, and the position of the lower jaw
Vowel quantity
Vowels can also be distinguished by how long they are held. Vowel length is referred to as the vowel’s quantity. Vowels may be long or short.
beat bead
i i:
Notice the symbol /i/ reveals that the vowel has the same quality, but we use a diacritic to show the difference in length.
: = length

12. Monophthong When the quality of a vowel remains relatively unchanged throughout its production, it is called a monophthong. In the IPA, these are represented by single symbols e.g. [e] and [a:] are typical monophthongs Diphthong A vowel that is produced with continually changing quality is a diphthong. The change in quality may be achieved by a movement of the tongue and/or lips. The vowels in bay, buy, and bough are all diphthongs. In the IPA, to capture the change of quality, diphthongs are represented by doubled symbols e.g. bay /ei/ buy /ai/ bough /au/ All diphthongs are long

13. A note on the mid-central vowel /ə/ ‘schwa’ Schwa is probably the most frequently occurring sound in English, but we are not taught and there is no spelling that represents it, so it can be tricky to perceive when you first study phonetics. Exercise Say as naturally as possible deepened depend Can you hear a difference in the two yellow vowels? Can you hear a difference in the two green vowels? DEEPened /di:pənd/ dePEND /dəpend/

14. about sofa photographer əbaut atom atomic soufə ətɒmɪk Exercise
Work with your neighbour. Say the following words aloud. Can you pick where schwa occurs in them?
about
sofa
photographer
atom
atomic
The answers reveal that English schwa occurs almost exclusively in unstressed (unemphasised) parts of a word
atom / atomic show it can move around in related words
əbaut
soufə
fətɒgrəfə
ætəm
ətɒmɪk

15. Exercise: Vowel identification
With your neighbour, use the words below to complete the tasks that follow.
spider revere banana photographer
1. How many vowels are there in each word?
2. Which are diphthongs and which are monophthongs?
3. If they are monophthongs, are they long or short?
Answers
spider revere banana photographer
IPA ai ə ə eə ə a: ə ə ɒ ə ə

16. Exercise: Divide the following into syllables
The Syllable
With a few exceptions, we generally combine Cs and Vs in various rule-governed patterns to create syllables.
Exercise: Divide the following into syllables
depend linguistics internationality
de + pend ling + guis + stics in + ter + nat + tio + nal + i + ty
If we transcribe them and label the Cs and Vs we see
də + pend
CV CVCC
What is the minimum requirement to qualify as a syllable?
lɪŋ + gwɪs + tɪks ɪn + tə + næ + ʃə + næl + ə + ti
CVC CCVC CVCC VC CV CV CV CVC V CV

17. The nucleus + the coda = the syllable’s rhyme δ (sigma = syllable)
All syllables require a vowel. This is called the syllable’s nucleus.
Any consonant or consonants before it are the syllable’s onset. In English, onsets are optional.
Any consonant or consonants after the nucleaus form the syllable’s coda. As far as is known codas are optional in every language in the world.
The nucleus + the coda = the syllable’s rhyme
δ (sigma = syllable)
Onset Rhyme
Nucleus Coda
(C) V (C)
k æ t
English allows up to three Cs in the onset and up to four Cs in the coda.