Transcript Unit 5 English Front Vowels & Central Vowels

Unit 5 English Front Vowels
& Central Vowels
Front vowels: / i:, I, e,
A /
Central vowel: / V:, E, Q
/
Classification of Vowels
1) Cardinal vowels
In the production of vowels ,the vocal organs do not come very close
together to form obstruction to the airstream, so it is difficult to have a clear
sensation of the whereabouts of the vocal organs. Therefore methods for
describing vowels on some basis other than articulators were sought in the
last century . Eventually , it occurred to the phoneticians that it would be a
way out to establish, on an auditory basis, a set of arbitrary reference
points--cardinal vowels , so that a given vowel could be described in terms
of its relation to them.
Of the various cardinal vowel systems, the most satisfactory is the one
devised by Daniel Jones. Jones first fixed the qualities of the two vowels
which were produced with the tongue in most easily felt positions.
When the soft palate is raised and the lips are unrounded, the vowel
produced with the tongue raised as high and as forward as possible without
causing audible friction is symbolized as / i/ ;and the vowel produced
with tongue held as low and as far back as possible without causing audible
friction is symbolized as / A /.Then between the / i/ and / A/ positions
he selected three points where the vowel qualities seemed to be
equidistant and symbolized them as /e ,3,a/. The same procedure was applied
when the back of the tongue was raised from the / a/ position while the lips
changed progressively from a wide open shape to a closely rounded one.
Another three auditorily equidistant points were thus established from the
highest position and they were given the symbols /o,u ao/.
The first five of these vowels are pronounced with the lips unrounded and
the remaining three are pronounced with the lips rounded.
With the cardinal vowels as the standard ,the vowels in a particular
language can be described with relative accuracy and ease. The English / i : / ,
for example ,may be described as pronounced with the front of the tongue in
a bit lower and more centralized position than the cardinal / i / . The English
/e / is pronounced with the front of the tongue in a position between the
cardinal / e/ and / 3/.
2) Classification of vowels
There are 20 vowels in English . Twelve pure vowels
( monophthongs) / i:, I, e, A ,  , :, Q , : : , D,, u: /
and eight diphthongs ( gliding vowels ) /eI , aI , I, , a,
I,
e ,  / .
The distinction between pure and gliding vowels is known
more familiarly as one between monophthongs and diphthongs.
A gliding vowel involves a change in quality within the one vowel.
It glides from one element to a second element, and
usually the first part is more prominent than the second.
While a pure vowel has an unchanging quality, which can be
prolonged at will, the quality of a gliding vowel is not the same
at the end as it was at the beginning.
Gliding vowels may be shown as an arrow which indicates the
quality of the starting point and the direction in which the quality
change is made (corresponding the tongue movement ).
Tongue positions for English front and
central vowels (unrounded):
Classification of pure vowels
The pure vowels can be classified according to different
5 principles.
(1 ) According to the height of the raised part of the
tongue,they are classified as close vowels ,half-close
vowels ,half-open and open vowels.
(2)According to the length of the vowels ,they are
divided into long vowels and short vowels. The ones
with two dots are long vowels. The rest are short ones.
(3)According to the part of the tongue raised , they are
called front vowels ,back vowels and central vowels.
(4)According to the shape of the lips, the vowels can be
divided into rounded vowels and unrounded vowels . The
rounded vowels are / : , D, , u:/ and the rest are unrounded
vowels including spread and neutral vowels.
(5)According to the degree of tenseness of the muscles, the
pure vowels are classified as tense vowels and lax vowels .
( All the short vowels are lax vowels because in the production
of which the muscles of speech organs are lax. All the long
vowels are tense vowels except / : / because the muscles are
usually tense when they are produced.)
Practice the following words:
// about aware flower
/:/ bird her fur
/e/ bet set head
/I/ hit bit pit
/Q/ cut hut duck
/Q/ cut hut duck
/ i:/ beat feat weak
/A/ bat fat cat