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 inventorySpanish
(place of articulation)
front central back
(manner of
articulation)
high i u
mid e o
low
Spanish vowels
front central back
high [mis] ‘Mass’
[mus] ‘muse’
mid [mes] ‘table’
[mosk] ‘housefly’
low [ms] ‘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 inventoryMandarin (Chinese)
[ü] = high front rounded vowel
[] = mid central unrounded vowel
front central back
high i ü u
mid
low
Mandarin vowel quality
[ ] = high falling tone (see File 3.7)
front central back
unround round unround round
high [l] ‘advantage’
[lü] ‘green’
[lû] ‘road’
mid [l] happy’
low ‘spicy’
Vowel quantity: Sahaptin
front central back
high i i: u u:
low :
[:] = long
[] = high central unrounded vowel
[i] = high front unrounded vowel
[i:] = long high front unrounded vowel
Sahaptin short vowelsfront central back
high [latít] ‘flower’
tt] ‘tooth’
tút] ‘your father’
low kk] ‘your (maternal) uncle’
[] = glottal stop; [ ] = stress (see File 3.7)
Sahaptin short vs. long vowels
short long
[sts’t] 'night' [sts’:t] 'dark'
[pišíš] 'paternal aunt' [ci: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
front central backunrounded unrounded rounded
high i ulower-high
mid higher-mid e olower-mid
low
North Atlantic English (UK, Ireland):
i u
e o
a
The vowel space
front central back
unrounded unrounded rounded
high [bid] bead [bud] booed
lower-high [bd] bid [bdst] Buddhist
higher-mid [bed] bayed [bod] bode
lower-mid bed [bd] bud [bd] bawd
low [bd] bad b] bard
[b] bah
[bdi] body
English vowelsA 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
– hock vs. hawk
• [hk] [hk] or
• [hk] [hk] ?
– cot vs. caught
– Polly vs. Paulie
– Don vs. dawn
English vowelsWestern North America
front central backunrounded unrounded rounded
high i u
mid e o
()low
English vowels
• Diphthongs: 2 vowel qualities
– [w] = [a]: [hwd] (how’d)
– [y] = [a]: [hyd] (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 [rikt] a [ríkt] (reject)
– to [protst] a [prótst] (protest)
to [prótst]
English vowels
[] only occurs in unstressed syllables
stressed: [] unstressed: []
cup [kp] hiccup [hkp]
cud [kd] wicked [wkd]
cut [kt] racket [rkt]
English vowels
• [] + nasals, liquids• For many speakers,
– [r] = [r] [pkr] picker–[l] = [l] [pkl] pickle– [n] = [n] [kn] thicken– [m] = [m] [rm] rhythm
[ ] = syllabic
English vowels
In Western North America, [] only before [r]:
•[mr] more
•[mor] mower
•[mr] mar
Rhotic nuclei ([V+r] combinations) in North American English
front central back
high [ur]
[r]
mid
[r] = [r] [r]
low
English vowels: rhotic nuclei
W. N. Amer. S. England
beer [br] [b]bare [br] [b]bard [brd] [bd]
bored [brd] [b]bird [brd] [bd]
boor [bur] [b]
English vowels: rhotic nucleiIn most of England, syllable-final [r] > [] or
Transcription practice
• fish
• scrimmage
• schism
• asthma
• azalea
• mayonnaise
Transcription practice
• fish [fš]
• scrimmage [skrm]
• schism [skzm]• asthma [zm]
• azalea [zely]
• mayonnaise [mnez]
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