Unit 5 Phonetics

UNIT 5 Cardinal Vowels The most clear and independent system of vowel description is that devised by Daniel Jones and known as the CARDINAL VOWEL SYSTEM. The basis of the system is physiological: a) The vertical axis corresponds to the movement of the tongue towards the palate. By means of this movement, we can distinguish between open, mid-open, midclose and close vowels. b) The horizontal axis corresponds to the part of the tongue affected by the movement. By means of it, we can distinguish between front, central and back vowels.

Front

i

Central

Back

y

u

e

ø

ɛ

PRIMARY [i] = 1 [e] = 2 [ɛ] = 3 [a] = 4 [ɑ] = 5 [ɔ] = 6 [o] = 7 [u] = 8

Ɣ

o

œ

ʌ

ɔ

a ɶ

ɒ

ɑ

Spread lips

Rounded lips

close

open

SECONDARY [y] = 9 [ø] = 10 [œ] = 11 [ɶ] = 12 [ɒ] = 13 [ʌ] = 14 [Ɣ] = 15 [ ] = 16

Primary vowels are the most frequent in languages. Secondary vowels can be obtained by reversing lip position.

Rounded lips

Spread lips

ENGLISH VOWEL CHART

/ɪ/ short, front, high, close, loosely spread lips, oral /e/ short, front, mid, spread lips, oral /æ/ short, front, low, open, slightly spread lips, oral /ɒ/ short, back, low, open, slightly open lip-rounding, oral /ʊ/ short, back, high, close, rounded, oral /ʌ/ short, central, low, open, neutral lips, oral /ə/ very short, central, mid, neutral lips, oral /i:/ long, front, high, close, spread lips, oral /ɑ:/ long, back, low, open, neutral lips, oral /u:/ long, back, high, close, rounded lips, oral /ɜ:/ long, central, mid, neutral lips, oral /ɔ:/ long, back, mid, rounded lips, oral

•

Pre-fortis clipping: The first element of the diphthong is shortened before voiceless consonants (plosive, fricatives, affricates).

•

Smoothing: Affects triphthongs. The vowel in the middle disappears and there is a compensatory lengthening. /eɪə/ [eɪə] -> [e:ə] /aɪə/ [aɪə] -> [ɑ:ə] /ɔɪə/ [ɔɪə] -> [ɔ:ə] /aƱə/ [aƱə] -> [ɑ:ə] /əƱə/ [əƱə] -> [ə:] (only one ə)

Usual spelling forms for vowels •

/i:/

→ ea i ie ei, ey

e, ee complete, these, be, bee, tree leaf, tea, reason, sea ski, machine, police piece, field, siege seize, receive, key

•

/ɑ:/

→

aBach, pass, after, bath, path, branch, father,

ar ear er al au * Note:

morale, aren’t part, car, card, march heart, hearth clerk, derby, sergeant calm, palm, half aunt, laugh French –oir in English /w:/ reservoir, repertoire, memoir

tomato,

•

/ɔ:/

→ ore our oar, oor au, augh a aw ou

ar, or war, quart, cord, horse, sword, born, for before, more court, course, four oar, board, door, floor fault, cause, daughter all, talk, salt, water saw, lawn, jaw, yawn, awesome bought, ought

•

/u:/

→ oo o ou ew ue, ui, oe wo * Note:

u rude, June, Susan, crucial, rule food, fool, soon, moon, spoon do, who, move, lose group, soup, wound, through chew, flew, askew blue, juice, shoe two in many cases of spelling u, eu, ew, ue, ui /u:/ is precede by /j/: music, duke, neuter new, few, hue,

argue, nuisance, beauty er, err her, serve, perfect, err turn, church, nurse, cursor, purr sir, bird, first, girl, myrtle, myrrh earth, heard journey, journal, courtesy word, world, work, worse colonel /ˈk :nl/, milieu /mi:lˈj :/

•

/ɜ:/

→ ur, urr ir, yr ear our w + or * Note:

•

/ɪ/ →

i y e ie a * Note:

fifth, rich, sit, with rhythm, symbol pretty, needed, wicket, except, careless, houses ladies village, private build /b ld/, Sunday / s nd / (the days of week), business / b zn s/, women / w m n/, minute /

ebed, set, went breath, dead, head many, Thames /e/ in says, said, bury, Geoffrey / d efri/, Leicester / lest /, friend, ate, again

m n t/ •

/e/

→ ea a * Note:

• •

/æ/ /ɒ/

→ ahand, lamp, marry, rash, sat → o dock, bonk, dog, holiday, sorry, gone a (following w) was, what, swan, want, watch, quality, squash,

quarrel ou, ow au * Note:

cough, trough, Gloucester, knowledge because, sausage, laurel, Austria, cauliflower / / in yatch

•

/ʊ/

→ oo o ou

u butcher, cellular, cushion, full, put, sugar book, good, wood, wool bosom, wolf, woman could, courier, should, would

•

/ʌ/

→ o

u cut, drug, dull, sun, yuppie son, come, some, among, one, done, month,

colour,

•

monkey, mother, nothing, Monday, onion, London ou country, southern, couple, enough, young oo blood, flood oe does /ə/ → may be spelt with most vowel letters and their combinations (weak form, usually in unstressed syllables)

Diphthongs The sequences of vowels which form a glide within one syllable. They have a first element (the starting point) and a second element (the point in the direction of which the glide is made). The direction is marked on the diagram by an arrow. The first element is the most important, most of the length and stress is concentrated on it, the second element being only lightly sounded. No diphthong occurs before / / According to the direction to which the diphthong changes (the tongue moves): Closing diphthongs /eɪ/ bay /əʊ/ no, low /aɪ/ pie /aʊ/ now /ɔɪ/ boy [ɪ ] [ʊ ] [ə ] [e]

[ɔ] [a]

Centring diphthongs /ɪə / hear /eə / bear /ʊə/ sure

[ɪ ]

[ʊ ] [ə ]

[e]