English Vowels

1
Lecture 7

• English Vowels
• (Ladefoged Chap 4, RJ Chap 7)

2
Vowels are Classified for

• height
• backness
• rounding
• tenseness (?ATR)
• worksheet

3
Vowel values are relative

• Consonant articulation is absolute
• a C cannot be somewhere between a stop and a
  fricative
• Vowel articulation is relative
• a V is identifiable in relation to other Vs

4
The Latitude in Vowel Articulation Accounts for
Many Regional Differences

• /hQd/ NJ Q Chicago Q? (advanced)
• /aI/ NJ aI NY a1I (advanced)
• /b?d/ Amer b?d Brit b?4d (lowered)

5
Variation in English Vowels

• Primary Cardinal Vowels Related Scottish
  Vowels

i
u
i
u
o
e
e
o
E
?
?
E
Q
A
a
Related GA Vowels
Related RP Vowels
i4
u4
u4
i4
o
e
?3 ?
E3
E3
?4
Q3
Q3
A?
A?
6
Labov. Phonological Atlas of American English

• Which city is associated with short vowels?
• Which region with long vowels?
• Which region diphthongizes vowels?
• Which region raises Q?

7
Chain Shifting (Labov 1991)

• The place of articulation of one vowel is
  dependent on the place of articulation of
  neighboring vowels
• A change in the place of articulation of one
  vowel causes a displacement of the place of
  articulation of other vowels

8
Northern Cities Shift (Labov 1991)

• /?/ ? /A/ caught becomes like cot
• /A/ ? /Q/ hot becomes like hat
• /Q/ ? /E/ had becomes like head
• etc.

9
Northern Cities Shift (Labov 1991)
i
u
U
I
o
e
E
?
?
Q
A
worksheet
10
British English postvocalic r dropping

• In Brit. English, postvocalic r is dropped
• hAd hard
• or a schwa is substituted for the r
• bi?d beard
• Amer. Eng. distinguishes hard from hod on the
  basis of the postvocalic r
• Brit. Eng. has introduced another vowel to make
  the distinction /?/
• hAd hard vs. h?d hod

11
Post-vocalic r

• root of tongue retracts, narrowing pharynx
• Two ways of articulating r
• tip and blade of tongue are curled
• (retroflexed articulation)
• OR
• tip is down, tongue body bunched upwards
• (bunched articulation)

12
Rhotacization the r-coloring of a vowel

• In American English, r modifies the
  articulation of the preceding vowel
• For most vowels in American English that are
  followed by r, the vowel is changed but retains
  its quality.
• beI bay be? bare
• tu too tu? tour
• waI why waI? wire
• l? law l?? lore

13
The Rhotacized Vowelin American English

• In her and sister, the entire articulation of the
  vowel is r-colored, so these vowels have separate
  IPA symbols
• the vowel ??
• does not appear on the vowel chart
• is described only in auditory terms
• s?? sir
• h??d heard
• schwa is also subject to r-coloring
• sIst? sister Dictation

14
Pure vowels and diphthongs

• a pure vowel has the same quality throughout
• a diphthong shifts from one vowel quality to
  another
• in a homogeneous diphthong both qualities are
  close in articulation and share lip gesture
• in a heterogeneous diphthong the two qualities
  are distant in articulation and may vary in lip
  gesture

15
Homogeneous Diphthongs

• some vowels have a tendency to break
  particularly syllable finally
• see Ii
• pay eI
• who Uu
• low oU

16
Heterogeneous Diphthongs

• aI night aU how ?I boy
• Evolution of aI

i iI eI ?I aI
i
I
e
?
a
17
Centering Diphthongs

• non-rhotic accents tend to replace the
  postvocalic r with ?

poor
I?
U?
pier
??
E?
dare
door
18
Vowel Tenseness

• Vowels are either tense or lax
• Tense vowels are produced with a greater degree
  of muscular effort than lax vowels
• tense front vowels are made with a more extreme
  fronting gesture
• tense back vowels are more rounded than lax back
  vowels

19
Distribution of Tense Lax Vowels

• Tense vowels can occur in stressed open
  syllables. lax vowels cannot. (Ladefoged)
• Tense mi, me, mu, mo, m?, mA
• Lax mI, mE, mQ, m?, mU
• a syllable without a consonant at the end.

20
Isochrony

• The organization of speech into portions
  perceived as being of equal or equivalent
  duration.
• Bouzon and Hirst
• Since lax vowels are shorter, they need the extra
  segment at the end to give the syllable the
  requisite length. Ladefoged. Course in Phonetics.
  3rd edition