English Vowel Every language possesses vowel sounds that play an inevitable role in producing speech. ‘Vowel’ is one of the two general categories used for the classification of speech sounds. This type of sound is articulated with the air from the lungs passing through the vibrating glottis and the vocal tract without any interruption.

Monophthongs ‘Monophthongs’ is a term used in phonetic classification of vowel sounds on the basis of their manner of articulation. That is, a monophthong is a simple or pure vowel articulated without any obstracles in the vocal tract. The English language has twelve monophthongs as listed below: 1. / i: / as in the words see, unique, feel

2. / ɪ / as in the words wit, mystic, little

3. / e / as in the words set, meant, bet

4. / æ / as in the words pat, cash, bad

5. / ʌ / as in the words bus, come, but

6. / ɑ: / as in the words half, part, father

7. / ɒ / as in the words not, what, cost

8. / ɔ: / as in the words port, caught, all

9. / ə / as in the words alone, butter

10. / ɜ: / as in the words beard, word, fur

11. / ʊ / as in the words wood, could, put

12 / u: / as in the words you, music, rude

The twelve monophthongs can be shown in a diagram as follows:

Figure: Monophthong Diagram

Let us now study the characteristics or properties of the twelve monophthongs as shown in the

diagram above.

1) The first monophthongs / i: / as in the words bean, leap, sheep etc is pronounced in the

front part of the vocal tract with the lips in a relatively close and spread position. This is a

long vowel.

2) The second monophthongs / ɪ / as in the words bin, lip, ship, it, etc is produced in the

front-centralized part the vocal tract with the lips in a half close and spread position. This

is a short vowel.

3) The third monophthong / e / as in the words men, pen, ten, etc is articulated in the front

part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mid and spread position. This is a short vowel.

4) The fourth monophthong / æ / as in the words man, pan, tan etc is pronounced in the front

part of the vocal tract with the lips in a half open and spread position. This is also a short

vowel.

5) The fifth monophthong / ʌ / as in the words cut, nut, shut, etc is articulated in the central

part of the vocal tract with the lips in a half open position. It is short vowel.

6) The sixth monophthong / ɑ: / as in the words bards card, farm etc is produced in the back

part of the vocal tract with the lips with their completely open and spread position. It is a

long vowel.

7) The seventh monophthong / ɒ / as in the words dog, pot, fog etc is articulated in the vocal

tract with the lips in a half open and rounded position. It is a short vowel.

8) The eight monophthong / ɔ: / as in the words lord, cord, short etc is produced in the back

part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mind rounded position. It is a long vowel.

9) The ninth monophthong as / ə / in the words ago, today, perhaps etc is pronounced in the

part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mid position. It is the shortest vowel in the

English lanague.

10) The tenth monophthong as / ɜ: / in the words bird, girl, shirt etc is produced in the central

part of the vocal tract with the lips in their mid position. It is a long vowel.

11) The eleventh monophthong as / ʊ / in the words book, look, cook, etc is articulated in the

back-centralized part of the vocal tract with the lips in their half-close and rounded

position. It is a short vowel.

12) The twelfth monophthong as / u: / in the words fool, cool, tool etc is pronounced in the

back of the vocal tract with the lips in their close and pround position. It is a long vowel.

Diphthongs

A diphthong is a speech sound that is usually considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular

language. But, in fact, it involves two pure vowels or monophthongs, with one vowel gliding into

the other.

The English language has eight diphthongal

phonemes:

1. / eɪ / as in the words lady, make, may

2. / aɪ / as in the words my, time, hi

3. / ɔɪ / as in the words boy, noise, joy

4. / ɪə / as in the words here, beard, deer

5. / ɛə / as in the words fair, scarce, care

6. / ʊə / as in the words pure, your, poor

7. / əʊ / as in the words go, home, so, no, go

8. / ɑʊ / as in the words now, round, how,

cow

We can categorize the diphthongs as demonstrated below:

Now we can put the centering and closing diphthongs on a diagram according to their articulation:

Figure: Diphthong Diagram The centering diphthongs glide towards / ə /:

1) / ɪə / (e.g. beard, near, etc): The glide of / ɪə / begins with a tongue position approximately as that used for /t/ i.e. centralized, front, half-close, and moves in the direction of the more open variety of / ə / when / ə / is final in the word, e.g. in ‘near’ in non-final position ‘ beard’ the glide may not be so extensive, the quality of the / ə / element being of a mid type. The lips are neutral throughout, with a slight movement from spread to open.

2) / ɛə /: (e.g. air, share, etc.) : The glide of / ɛə / begins in the /e/ position, and moves in the

direction of the more open variety of / ə /, especially when the diphthong is final; where / ɛə /

occurs in a syllable closed by a consonant, the [ə ] element tends to be of a mid [ə ] type. The lips are neutrally open throughout.

3) / ʊə /: (e.g. poor, pure, etc.): RP / ʊə / glides from a tongue position similar to that used for / ʊ / toward the more open type of / ə / , and a somewhat closer varity of / ə / when the diphthong occurs in a closed syllable.

Three closing diphthongs glide towards / ɪ / and the remaining two towards / ʊ /: Glide towards / ʊ /:

1) / eɪ /: (e.g. day, fail): The glide starts from the tongue position of that used for /e/, and moves in the direction of RP / ɪ /, there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw, and the lips being spread.

2) / aɪ /: (e.g. time, die, by, etc.): The RP glide begins at a point slightly behind the front open

position, and moves towards the position associated with RP / ɪ /. The lips change from a neutral to a loosely spread position.

3) / ɔɪ /: (e.g. boy, toy, etc): For RP and moves towards the position of changing to neutral for the second.

4. The closing diphthongs glide towards /

1) / əʊ /: (e.g. so, no, go, etc): The glide of RP the direction of RP / ʊ /, there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips are neural for the first element, but ha

2) / ɑʊ /: (e.g. how, town, house, etc): The glide of RP front open positions, and moves towards the position for RP

neutrally open to a weakly rounded position.

Each of some complex vowels id found to be made up of three monophthongs. The English language has such vowels that are very difficult to recognize and pronounce. However, atriphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into the third one. For example / a: / glides into / ʊtriphthong: • Triphthong : 5 closing diphthongs with ‘eɪ + ə = / eɪə /. as in layer, player aɪ + ə =/ aɪə / . as in lire, fire ɔɪ + ə =/ ɔɪə /, as in loyal, royal əʊ + ə =/ əuə /, as in lower, mower aʊ + ə =/ auə /, as in power, hour.

Now we can put the centering and closing articulation:

: (e.g. boy, toy, etc): For RP / ɔɪ /, the tongue glide begins at a point associated with and moves towards the position of / ɪ /; the lips opening rounded for the first element, changing to neutral for the second.

glide towards / ʊ /:

: (e.g. so, no, go, etc): The glide of RP / əʊ / begins at a mid-central position, and moves in there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips

are neural for the first element, but have a tendency to round on the second element. : (e.g. how, town, house, etc): The glide of RP / ɑʊ / begins at a point between the back and

front open positions, and moves towards the position for RP / ʊ /. The lips change from a neutrally open to a weakly rounded position.

Triphthongs

Each of some complex vowels id found to be made up of three monophthongs. The English language has such vowels that are very difficult to recognize and pronounce. However, atriphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into

ʊ / and then / ʊ / preceded by / a:/ glides into /

• Triphthong : 5 closing diphthongs with ‘ə’ added on the end.

Now we can put the centering and closing Triphthongs on a diagram according to their

Figure: Triphthongs Diagram

, the tongue glide begins at a point associated with / ɔ: /, /; the lips opening rounded for the first element,

central position, and moves in there being a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips

ve a tendency to round on the second element. begins at a point between the back and

The lips change from a

Each of some complex vowels id found to be made up of three monophthongs. The English language has such vowels that are very difficult to recognize and pronounce. However, a triphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into

/ ə /, and thus the

on a diagram according to their