Lecture 5: Chapter 4: The sounds of

language

Lecturer: Haifa Alroqi

Introduction to Linguistics - LANE 321

What is a vowel?

produced with a relatively free flow of air

Vowels are all voiced

Describing Vowels

How do we describe/ classify consonants? Voicing POA MOA

How do we describe/ classify vowels? How high is the highest part of the tongue in

the mouth? How front or back is the highest part of the

tongue in the mouth? Are the lips rounded or unrounded?

Describing Vowels

How high is the highest part of the tongue in the mouth? High Mid Low

How front or back is the highest part of the tongue in the mouth? Front Central Back

Vowel Height

High Mid Low

Upper High Lower High

[i], [u] [ɪ], [ʊ]

Upper Mid Lower Mid

[e], [ə], [o] [ɛ], [ʌ], [ɔ]

Upper Low

[æ], [ɒ]

Lower Low

[a], [ɑ]

Vowel Height

High Mid Low

[i]

eat/ key/ see

[ɛ]dead, pet, said

[æ]ban, laugh, sat

Vowel Height

Upper High [i], [u]

[i] (front)

e.g. eat/ key/ see

[u] (back)

e. g. move/ two/ too

Vowel Height

Lower High [ɪ], [ʊ]

[ɪ]

e.g. hit, myth, women

[ʊ]

e.g. could, foot, put

Vowel Height

Upper Mid [e], [ə], [o]

[e]

e.g. great, tail, weight

[ə]

e.g. above, sofa, support

[o]

e.g. no, road, toe

Vowel Height

Lower Mid [ɛ], [ʌ], [ɔ] [ɛ]

e.g. dead, pet, said

[ʌ]

e.g. blood, putt, tough

[ɔ]

e.g. ball, caught, raw

Vowel Height

Upper Low

[æ]

e.g. ban, laugh, sat

[ɒ]

e.g. Tom, hot, got (UK)

Vowel Height

Lower Low

[a]

e.g. bomb, swan (American)

[ɑ]e.g. spa, طويل, father

Vowel Backness

Front Central Back

[i], [ɪ], [e],

[ɛ], [æ] [ə], [ʌ], [a]

[u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ], [ɑ], [ɒ]

Front and back vowels

Who /hu/He /hi/

Lip roundedness

Rounded [u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ], [ɒ] [u] e.g. noon

Unrounded [i], [ɪ], [e], [ɛ], [æ], [ə], [a], [ʌ]

[i] e.g. heat

Diphthongs

A combination of two sounds begins with a vowel & ends with the glides [w] or

[j] vowel + glide

[aw]

cow, down, loud, doubt [ɔy] or [ɔj]

boy, toy, noise, void [ay] or [aj]

ride, high, bye, eye, my

Activity: identifying diphthongsCall top Fright joy

Top Haste Avoid Proud Hide

Fright [ay] Joy [ɔy] Avoid [ɔy] Proud [aw] hide [ay]

Vowels’ full description

Can be classified according to three parameters: height, backness, and lip rounding

Examples: [i] high front unrounded vowel [u] high back rounded vowel

Phonetic Transcription

The best-known system: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

IPA has been developing since 1888. The system represents each sound of

human speech with a single symbol. The symbol is enclosed in brackets [ ]

or / /.

Phonetic Transcription

We can use IPA transcription across languages, there is one symbol for EVERY possible human sound

There is a 1-1 correspondence of sound to symbol Cat [kæt] Cell [sɛl]

Transcription Practice

Transcribe the following words

Kick Boot She The Thin

[kIk] [but] [ʃi] [ðə] [θɪn]

Important terms

Articulatory phonetics articulators Consonants and vowels Places of articulation Manner of articulation Voicing Parameters for describing vowels Phonetic transcription

Thank you

Next class:Plz read chapter 5: The sound patterns of

language