Chapter 4
English Vowels
Vowels are Classified for
height
backness
rounding
tenseness
worksheet
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
The Latitude in Vowel Articulation Accounts for Many Regional Differences
/
hQd/ NJ [Q=] Chicago [Q1] (advanced)
/
aI/ NJ [a] NY [a4I] (lowered)
/
hid/ Amer [hid] Brit [hi4d] (lowered)
Variation in English Vowels
Primary Cardinal Vowels
Related Scottish Vowels
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]?
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
Northern Cities Shift
(Labov 1991)
/
/ ®
/
A/ caught becomes like cot
[aI kAt «
kold]
/A/ ®
/Q/ cot becomes like cat
[op«
n D«
kQt]
/Q/ ®
/E/ cat becomes like ket
[D«
kEt Iz so kjut]
etc.
Northern Cities Shift
(Labov 1991)
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 : /
/
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)
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
The Rhotacized Vowel
in American English
In her and sister, the entire articulation of the vowel is r-colored, so these vowels have separate IPA symbols
- the vowel Î
Õ
- does not appear on the vowel chart
- is described only in auditory terms
[sÎ
Õ
] sir
[hÎ
Õ
d] heard
schwa is also subject to r-coloring
[sIstÔ
] sister Dictation
The Diphthong:
Allophones of
[eI] and [oU]
A single phoneme consisting of two vowel elements: an onglide and an offglide
[eI]
and [e]
stressed: [pleI],[greId]
unstressed:
[pleIket],[ribet]
[oU]
and [o]
stressed: [roUtet]
unstresed: [roteISn`]
Diphthongs: /
aI/, /aU/, /
I/
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
worksheet
Vowel Reduction
worksheet
stress is assigned to morphological root words
Im.plaI@
stress rules reassign stress to morphologically derived words
Im.pl«
.ke@I.S«
n
in the reassignment, the stressed vowel of the root word is reduced to a schwa («
) or a barred I (ö
)
This explains Cols 1 & 3 in Table 4.1