: VowelsSyed Mohsin RizviSyed Mohsin Rizvi M.A EnglishM.A English Roll 40Roll 40

Vowels may differ in three waysLengthQuality (i.e. the difference between /i:/ and

/u:/Oral or nasal production (unlike French, this

does not have a phonemic function in English)

Here is the vowel quadrilateral divided into sectors with the IPA symbols at fixed points. These are called Cardinal Vowels.

N.B. Do not confuse symbols for cardinal vowels with language specific phonemes

The IPA vowel quadrilateral is a grid on which we can plot vowels

It indicates the total area in which vowels can be produced by human beings, the cardinal vowels are fixed reference points on this chart, just like lines of longtitude and latitude on a map

Plots of language specific vowels do not usually correspond to the cardinal vowels, e.g. the Italian /a/ does not correspond to the cardinal vowel [a]

Generally, front vowels are unrounded and back vowels rounded…

Italian and English follow this pattern…

…while German and French do not (v. /y/, // etc.)

The vowel system of Br English

Short Long/ɪ/ Fish /i:/ Week/e/ Bed /ɔ:/ Door/æ/ Cat /ɑ:/ Car/ʌ/ Cut /u:/ Food/ə/ Mother /ɜ:/ Nurse/ʊ/ Good/ɒ/ Dog

The fact that Italian lacks vowels in the central area may well explain why Italian students of English have so much trouble with these sounds

Each vowel has a different disposition of Each vowel has a different disposition of formants (peaks at certain frequencies)formants (peaks at certain frequencies)

We can note that the values of the We can note that the values of the acoustic properties are not always exactly acoustic properties are not always exactly the same: they tend to vary considerablythe same: they tend to vary considerably