LESSON 2-3

English Vowels

Unlike consonants, vowels are produced with no oral obstruction at all. Note that vowels usually constitute the main part/peak of a syllable. In classifying the vowels, we traditionally use 4 criteria:

1. How high is the tongue?

2. What part of the tongue is raised or lowered?

3. What is the position of the lips?

4. How tense or lax is the articulation?

Let us consider examples for the first 3, before considering the notion of tenseness/laxness. The vowel in the word seen is a high front unrounded vowel [i] in that the front part of the tongue is raised and the lips are unrounded as we articulate the vowel. Compare that to the vowel in soon, where we have the high back rounded vowel [u]. Notice that for [u], the back part of the tongue is raised and the lips are rounded. The best way to see the difference is by saying these words aloud and slowly, and by somewhat accentuating/exaggerating the vowel.

Now, as far as the tense vs. lax distinction, it is important to note that actually these terms are “cover terms” that refer to a number of phonetic properties, including height, duration and diphthongization. Again the best way to show this is by comparing vowels in pairs of words. Compare seen and sin. Both of the i vowels are high front and unrounded. The one in seen is tense: it is produced by slightly higher tongue position; it is longer in duration; and it is diphthongized (i.e., a vowel followed by a glide – either [y] or [w]). In sin, on the other hand, we have a lax i. Similarly, compare the name Luke and the verb look. The former has a high back tense rounded vowel, while the latter contains the lax counterpart.

Now I would like you to study Figure 1 (vowel chart) on page 49 carefully.

Once you are familiar with the consonants and vowels of English, you’ll be ready to work on Exercise 2 (which requires online discussion via Online Conferencing).

Exercise 2

Same grouping as before—I’ll change them for the next discussion.

Think of at least one English sound that you’ve noticed non-native speakers have trouble with- from your ESL classrooms if you’re teaching; from other sources if not, e.g., TV. Describe the sound, or give the IPA symbol if your word-processor allows you to do that. Example: [z] or write out: voiced alveolar fricative. Discuss why you think this sound seems to be problematic—at least for some speakers.

Think of one word where your pronunciation (of the word) differs from that of another speaker (or speakers). Of course, yours is the correct pronunciation! Share the word with your group members and how you feel about other people’s pronunciation; please be honest.

Click on Some Non-English Sounds to go to the next subsection.