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5. Vowels

he who

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Vowels are normally described with reference to four criteria:

the part of the tongue that is raised – front, center, or back.

the extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate. Normally, three or four degrees are recognized: high, mid (often divided into mid-high and mid-low), and low.

the kind of opening made at the lips – various degrees of lip rounding or spreading.

the position of the soft palate – raised for oral vowels, and lowered for vowels which have been nasalized.

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It should be pointed out that it is difficult to be precise about the exact articulatory positions of the tongue and palate because very slight movements are involved. Absolute values are not possible due to differences in the mouth dimensions of individual speakers.

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Cardinal vowels The idea of a system of cardinal vowels was first

suggested by A. J. Ellis in 1844 and was taken up by A. M. Bell in his Visible Speech (1867).

The system we are now considering here is the most famous of all and was put forward by Daniel Jones in a number of writings from 1917 onwards, particularly in his Outline of English Phonetics (1962).

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For Jones, the cardinal vowels are a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and unchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.

When the cardinal vowels are explained, examples are usually given from various languages to help the student. It should not be thought however that the cardinal vowels are actually based on whatever examples are given.

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Jones: An Outline of English Phonetics (1918)

Black: IPA

Red: English

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