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English Phonetics

English Vowels

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Introduction

• we have examined the articulatory phonetics of vowels

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Introduction

• we have examined the articulatory phonetics of vowels

• we now take a closer look at the English vowel system

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Introduction

• we have examined the articulatory phonetics of vowels

• we now take a closer look at the English vowel system

• we can represent the English vowels in a chart

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Introduction

• we have examined the articulatory phonetics of vowels

• we now take a closer look at the English vowel system

• we can represent the English vowels in a chart

• not all of these vowels are found in a single dialect of English

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Introduction

• we have examined the articulatory phonetics of vowels

• we now take a closer look at the English vowel system

• we can represent the English vowels in a chart

• not all of these vowels are found in a single dialect of English

some are found in only one dialect

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The Short Vowels

• English vowels may be divided into short and long vowels

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The Short Vowels

• English vowels may be divided into short and long vowels

• this equates with the traditional distinction of lax and tense

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The Short Vowels

• English vowels may be divided into short and long vowels

• this equates with the traditional distinction of lax and tense

• the short vowels are simpler to describe

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The Short Vowels

• English vowels may be divided into short and long vowels

• this equates with the traditional distinction of lax and tense

• the short vowels are simpler to describe

• there are short vowels at all vowel heights

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The Minimal Word

• short vowels may be stressed

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The Minimal Word

• short vowels may be stressed• they cannot stand alone, with or without an

initial consonant, as a full word of English

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The Minimal Word

• short vowels may be stressed• they cannot stand alone, with or without an

initial consonant, as a full word of English• this is due to a Minimal Word constraint

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The Minimal Word

• short vowels may be stressed• they cannot stand alone, with or without an

initial consonant, as a full word of English• this is due to a Minimal Word constraint• it requires either:

a long vowel tea [tiː] a diphthong eye [aɪ] a closed syllable it [ɪt] more than one syllable bitter [bɪtɹ]̩

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The Vowel [ɪ]

• the close front lax vowel, [ɪ], appears in numerous environments after any consonant or cluster of consonants before most consonants

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The Vowel [ɪ]

• the close front lax vowel, [ɪ], appears in numerous environments after any consonant or cluster of consonants before most consonants

• it cannot stand alone as a word

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The Vowel [ɪ]

• the close front lax vowel, [ɪ], appears in numerous environments after any consonant or cluster of consonants before most consonants

• it cannot stand alone as a word• Korean does not make a contrastive distinction

between [ɪ] and [i], but English does

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The Vowel [ɪ]

• the close front lax vowel, [ɪ], appears in numerous environments after any consonant or cluster of consonants before most consonants

• it cannot stand alone as a word• Korean does not make a contrastive distinction

between [ɪ] and [i], but English does• bit, pill, and mit contrast with words such as

beat, peel, and meat

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The Vowel [ɪ]

• the close front lax vowel, [ɪ], appears in numerous environments after any consonant or cluster of consonants before most consonants

• it cannot stand alone as a word• Korean does not make a contrastive distinction

between [ɪ] and [i], but English does• bit, pill, and mit contrast with words such as

beat, peel, and meat• they must be pronounced differently

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Spectrogram of [ɪ]

• compare the spectrograms of the vowels in bit and beat

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Differences

• the formants of the two words are distinct

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Differences

• the formants of the two words are distinct• the vowel of bit has an F1 at approximately 700

Hz and an F2 at around 1850 Hz

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Differences

• the formants of the two words are distinct• the vowel of bit has an F1 at approximately 700

Hz and an F2 at around 1850 Hz• the vowel of the word beat has a lower F1 at

around 350 Hz and a higher F2 at around 2200 Hz

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Differences

• the formants of the two words are distinct• the vowel of bit has an F1 at approximately 700

Hz and an F2 at around 1850 Hz• the vowel of the word beat has a lower F1 at

around 350 Hz and a higher F2 at around 2200 Hz• this demonstrates that the quality of the two

vowels is different

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Differences

• the formants of the two words are distinct• the vowel of bit has an F1 at approximately 700

Hz and an F2 at around 1850 Hz• the vowel of the word beat has a lower F1 at

around 350 Hz and a higher F2 at around 2200 Hz• this demonstrates that the quality of the two

vowels is different• the quantity of the two vowels is also different

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Differences

• the formants of the two words are distinct• the vowel of bit has an F1 at approximately 700

Hz and an F2 at around 1850 Hz• the vowel of the word beat has a lower F1 at

around 350 Hz and a higher F2 at around 2200 Hz• this demonstrates that the quality of the two

vowels is different• the quantity of the two vowels is also different• the vowel of bit is about 120ms, while the vowel

of beat is around 170ms, approximately 50% longer

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The Vowel [ʊ]

• the close back lax vowel, [ʊ], also appears in a number of environments

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The Vowel [ʊ]

• the close back lax vowel, [ʊ], also appears in a number of environments

• fewer cases than [ɪ] and it cannot stand alone as a word

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The Vowel [ʊ]

• the close back lax vowel, [ʊ], also appears in a number of environments

• fewer cases than [ɪ] and it cannot stand alone as a word

• Korean does not make a contrastive distinction between [ʊ] and [u]

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The Vowel [ʊ]

• the close back lax vowel, [ʊ], also appears in a number of environments

• fewer cases than [ɪ] and it cannot stand alone as a word

• Korean does not make a contrastive distinction between [ʊ] and [u]

• words such as soot, foot, and hood contrast with words such as suit, food, and who’d in English

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Spectrograms of [ʊ]

• Compare the spectrograms of the vowels in soot and suit

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Formant Differences

• the variation in the formants of [ʊ] and [u] is more subtle than with [ɪ] and [i]

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Formant Differences

• the variation in the formants of [ʊ] and [u] is more subtle than with [ɪ] and [i]

• F1 is lower for [u], indicating a higher vowel

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Formant Differences

• the variation in the formants of [ʊ] and [u] is more subtle than with [ɪ] and [i]

• F1 is lower for [u], indicating a higher vowel• the length difference is clear

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Formant Differences

• the variation in the formants of [ʊ] and [u] is more subtle than with [ɪ] and [i]

• F1 is lower for [u], indicating a higher vowel• the length difference is clear• approximately 100ms for [ʊ] and around 130ms

for [u]

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The Vowel [ɛ]

• The open-mid front lax vowel, [ɛ], also appears in a number of environments

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The Vowel [ɛ]

• The open-mid front lax vowel, [ɛ], also appears in a number of environments

• it contrasts with both [eɪ] and [æ]

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The Vowel [ɛ]

• The open-mid front lax vowel, [ɛ], also appears in a number of environments

• it contrasts with both [eɪ] and [æ]• Korean has a putative contrast between [ɛ] and

[æ], represented in Hangul byㅔ vsㅐ

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The Vowel [ɛ]

• The open-mid front lax vowel, [ɛ], also appears in a number of environments

• it contrasts with both [eɪ] and [æ]• Korean has a putative contrast between [ɛ] and

[æ], represented in Hangul byㅔ vsㅐ• this distinction does not form part of the

inventory for most Korean speakers nowadays

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The Vowel [ɛ]

• The open-mid front lax vowel, [ɛ], also appears in a number of environments

• it contrasts with both [eɪ] and [æ]• Korean has a putative contrast between [ɛ] and

[æ], represented in Hangul byㅔ vsㅐ• this distinction does not form part of the

inventory for most Korean speakers nowadays• English words such as pet, men, and head contrast

with words such as pat, man, and had

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Spectrograms of [ɛ] and [æ]

• Compare the spectrograms of the vowels in men and man

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The Vowel [æ]

• the English vowel [æ] is an open front unrounded lax vowel

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The Vowel [æ]

• the English vowel [æ] is a open front unrounded lax vowel

• it has formants similar to, but distinct from those of [ɛ]

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The Vowel [æ]

• the English vowel [æ] is a open front unrounded lax vowel

• it has formants similar to, but distinct from those of [ɛ]

• it is a contrastive lexical vowel of English

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The Vowel [ɔ]

• the open-mid back lax rounded vowel, [ɔ], occurs in all dialects of English

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The Vowel [ɔ]

• the open-mid back lax rounded vowel, [ɔ], occurs in all dialects of English

• there is some variation concerning its relation-ship to the low back vowels

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The Vowel [ɔ]

• the open-mid back lax rounded vowel, [ɔ], occurs in all dialects of English

• there is some variation concerning its relation-ship to the low back vowels

• in Canadian English, [ɔ] is the only short vowel in the lower back quadrant of the IPA vowel chart

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Canadian English Low Back Vowels

• words such as cot and caught are pronounced the same in Canadian English

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American English Low Back Vowels

• compare the American pronunciation of these words:

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The Vowel [ʌ]

• the open-mid back lax unrounded vowel, [ʌ], occurs in a wide range of contexts

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The Vowel [ʌ]

• the open-mid back lax unrounded vowel, [ʌ], occurs in a wide range of contexts

• it is a contrastive vowel of English

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The Vowel [ʌ]

• the open-mid back lax unrounded vowel, [ʌ], occurs in a wide range of contexts

• it is a contrastive vowel of English• in the dialects of Northern England, it is replaced

by the high back lax rounded vowel, [ʊ]

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The Vowel [ʌ]

• the open-mid back lax unrounded vowel, [ʌ], occurs in a wide range of contexts

• it is a contrastive vowel of English• in the dialects of Northern England, it is replaced

by the high back lax rounded vowel, [ʊ]• [ʌ] and [ə] are very similar phonetically, and

occur in complementary distribution in English

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Spectrograms of [ʌ] and [ə]

• [ʌ] and [ə] are acoustically distinct and serve different functions phonologically

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Differences

• The most obvious difference between the two vowels is in F2

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Differences

• The most obvious difference between the two vowels is in F2

• the spectrogram shows that [ə] is signifcantly further forward, more a central vowel, than [ʌ]

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Differences

• The most obvious difference between the two vowels is in F2

• the spectrogram shows that [ə] is signifcantly further forward, more a central vowel, than [ʌ]

• a vowel plot of the two vowels confrms that [ə] is further forward and slightly higher than [ʌ]

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Differences

• The most obvious difference between the two vowels is in F2

• the spectrogram shows that [ə] is signifcantly further forward, more a central vowel, than [ʌ]

• a vowel plot of the two vowels confrms that [ə] is further forward and slightly higher than [ʌ]

• [ʌ] is clearly in the region of a mid back vowel

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Schwa [ə]

• Schwa, [ə], does not have a contrastive function in English

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Schwa [ə]

• Schwa, [ə], does not have a contrastive function in English

• it is very frequent as the reduced form of vowels in the absence of stress

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Schwa [ə]

• Schwa, [ə], does not have a contrastive function in English

• it is very frequent as the reduced form of vowels in the absence of stress

• compare the vowels in declaration [ˌdɛkləˈɹeɪʃn ̩] and declarative [dəˈkʰlæɹətɪv]

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Schwa [ə]

• Schwa, [ə], does not have a contrastive function in English

• it is very frequent as the reduced form of vowels in the absence of stress

• compare the vowels in declaration [ˌdɛkləˈɹeɪʃn ̩] and declarative [dəˈkʰlæɹətɪv]

• schwa is the most frequently occurring vowel in English, despite its non-lexical status

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The Long Vowels

• the English long vowels equate with tense vowels

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The Long Vowels

• the English long vowels equate with tense vowels

• long vowels may stand alone as a word, for instance awe [ɔː] or two [tuː]

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The Long Vowels

• the English long vowels equate with tense vowels

• long vowels may stand alone as a word, for instance awe [ɔː] or two [tuː]

• the open mid vowel, [ɜː], occurs only in non-rhotic varieties of English and the [ɑː] does not appear in all varieties

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The Vowel [iː]

• the close front unrounded vowel, [iː], appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and it is able to stand alone

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The Vowel [iː]

• the close front unrounded vowel, [iː], appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and it is able to stand alone

• [iː] is considerably longer than [ɪ], and is somewhat higher, as indicated by its F1

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The Vowel [iː]

• the close front unrounded vowel, [iː], appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and it is able to stand alone

• [iː] is considerably longer than [ɪ], and is somewhat higher, as indicated by its F1

• it is somewhat further forward also, as shown by its higher F2

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The Vowel [iː]

• the close front unrounded vowel, [iː], appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and it is able to stand alone

• [iː] is considerably longer than [ɪ], and is somewhat higher, as indicated by its F1

• it is somewhat further forward also, as shown by its higher F2

• the numerous minimal pairs demonstrate that [iː] and [ɪ] are contrastive

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Spectrogram of [iː] and [ɪ]

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[iː] and [j]

• a further property of [iː] is its frequent co-occur-rence with [j] when it is followed by another vowel

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[iː] and [j]

• a further property of [iː] is its frequent co-occur-rence with [j] when it is followed by another vowel

• for instance when the defnite article, the, precedes a word beginning with a vowel

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[iː] and [j]

• a further property of [iː] is its frequent co-occur-rence with [j] when it is followed by another vowel

• for instance when the defnite article, the, precedes a word beginning with a vowel

• in such cases, the [iː] leads immediately into the glide [j]

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The Vowel [uː]

• the close back rounded vowel, [uː], also appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and is able to stand alone as a word

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The Vowel [uː]

• the close back rounded vowel, [uː], also appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and is able to stand alone as a word

• [uː] is longer than [ʊ], and is slightly higher, as indicated by its F1 and further back, as shown by its higher F2

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The Vowel [uː]

• the close back rounded vowel, [uː], also appears widely in English, after any consonant(s) and before most consonants and is able to stand alone as a word

• [uː] is longer than [ʊ], and is slightly higher, as indicated by its F1 and further back, as shown by its higher F2

• minimal pairs, although not as numerous as for the high front vowels, are sufcient to demonstrate that [uː] and [ʊ] are contrastive

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[uː] and [w]

• [uː] also frequently co-occurs with the semi-vowel, [w], when followed by another vowel

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The Vowel [ɔː]

• the open-mid back rounded vowel, [ɔː], appears in some varieties of English in words such as law, raw, saw, etc.

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The Vowel [ɔː]

• the open-mid back rounded vowel, [ɔː], appears in some varieties of English in words such as law, raw, saw, etc.

• the distinction between [ɔː] and [ɑː] does not exist in Canadian English, just as with the short varieties of these vowels

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The Vowel [ɑː]

• the open back unrounded vowel, [ɑː], appears in both Standard British English and some varieties of American English

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The Vowel [ɑː]

• the open back unrounded vowel, [ɑː], appears in both Standard British English and some varieties of American English

• it is used to distinguish between words such as ant and aunt, or cant and can’t

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The Vowel [ɑː]

• the open back unrounded vowel, [ɑː], appears in both Standard British English and some varieties of American English

• it is used to distinguish between words such as ant and aunt, or cant and can’t

• this distinction is not found in Canadian English

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The Vowel [ɑː]

• the open back unrounded vowel, [ɑː], appears in both Standard British English and some varieties of American English

• it is used to distinguish between words such as ant and aunt, or cant and can’t

• this distinction is not found in Canadian English• both pairs of words are pronounced the same

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[ɑː] and [æ]

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The Vowel [ɜ:]

• the open-mid central unrounded vowel, [ɜ:], occurs only in non-rhotic dialects such as Standard British English

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The Vowel [ɜ:]

• the open-mid central unrounded vowel, [ɜ:], occurs only in non-rhotic dialects such as Standard British English

• it is the result of the absence of the r-sound in words such as bird, burr, etc.

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The Vowel [ɜ:]

• the open-mid central unrounded vowel, [ɜ:], occurs only in non-rhotic dialects such as Standard British English

• it is the result of the absence of the r-sound in words such as bird, burr, etc.

• the vowel is slightly lower than schwa and is longer (300 ms)

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Acoustic Properties of English Vowels

• the frst three vowel formants (F1-F3) provide a picture of the variation in vowel quality

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Acoustic Properties of English Vowels

• the frst three vowel formants (F1-F3) provide a picture of the variation in vowel quality

• formants range systematically within specifed limits

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Acoustic Properties of English Vowels

• the frst three vowel formants (F1-F3) provide a picture of the variation in vowel quality

• formants range systematically within specifed limits

• the range for children is higher than for adults, and that for women is higher than for men

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Acoustic Properties of English Vowels

• the frst three vowel formants (F1-F3) provide a picture of the variation in vowel quality

• formants range systematically within specifed limits

• the range for children is higher than for adults, and that for women is higher than for men

• vowels tend to be longer in open syllables, i.e., when there is no consonant following in the syllable

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Acoustic Properties of English Vowels

• the frst three vowel formants (F1-F3) provide a picture of the variation in vowel quality

• formants range systematically within specifed limits

• the range for children is higher than for adults, and that for women is higher than for men

• vowels tend to be longer in open syllables, i.e., when there is no consonant following in the syllable

• vowels are longer when followed by a voiced sound

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Peterson & Barney (1952)

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Vowels and Gender

• We can clarify the relationship between the vowels of men, women and children by examin-ing the data in the vowel plot

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Vowels and Gender

• We can clarify the relationship between the vowels of men, women and children by examin-ing the data in the vowel plot

• children’s vowels are the lowest and most leftward within each set

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Vowels and Gender

• We can clarify the relationship between the vowels of men, women and children by examin-ing the data in the vowel plot

• children’s vowels are the lowest and most leftward within each set

• men’s are the highest and most rightward

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English Diphthongs

• in addition to short and long vowels, English also has a number of diphthongs of different types

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English Diphthongs

• in addition to short and long vowels, English also has a number of diphthongs of different types

• there are several diph-thongs with either [ɪ] or [ʊ]

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English Diphthongs

• in addition to short and long vowels, English also has a number of diphthongs of different types

• there are several diph-thongs with either [ɪ] or [ʊ]

• words with ɪ-fnal diph-thongs include bay [beɪ], buy [baɪ], and boy [bɔɪ]

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ʊ-final diphthongs

• words with ʊ-fnal diphthongs include bow [baʊ] ‘bend the head or body forward’ and bow [boʊ] ‘a knot tied with two loops’ or ‘a weapon for shooting arrows’

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ʊ-final diphthongs

• words with ʊ-fnal diphthongs include bow [baʊ] ‘bend the head or body forward’ and bow [boʊ] ‘a knot tied with two loops’ or ‘a weapon for shooting arrows’

• the spelling of these two words is identical but the pronunciation is different

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ə-final diphthongs

• there is a third type of diphthong found only in non-rhotic varieties of English

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ə-final diphthongs

• there is a third type of diphthong found only in non-rhotic varieties of English

• this third type of diphthong ends with [ə]

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ə-final diphthongs

• there is a third type of diphthong found only in non-rhotic varieties of English

• this third type of diphthong ends with [ə]

• it arises from the loss of the [ɹ] at the end of the syllable in such dialects

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Non-rhotic Dialects

• in words which have a fnal underlying [ɹ], the facts are somewhat different in non-rhotic varieties

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Non-rhotic Dialects

• in words which have a fnal underlying [ɹ], the facts are somewhat different in non-rhotic varieties

• fnal [ɹ] is realized as [ə] when at the end of a phrase or when followed by a consonant in the next word

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Non-rhotic Dialects

• in words which have a fnal underlying [ɹ], the facts are somewhat different in non-rhotic varieties

• fnal [ɹ] is realized as [ə] when at the end of a phrase or when followed by a consonant in the next word

• when a vowel-initial sufx such as -ing is added, the [ɹ] moves into the beginning of the next syllable and all dialects pronounce it

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Non-rhotic Dialects

• in words which have a fnal underlying [ɹ], the facts are somewhat different in non-rhotic varieties

• fnal [ɹ] is realized as [ə] when at the end of a phrase or when followed by a consonant in the next word

• when a vowel-initial sufx such as -ing is added, the [ɹ] moves into the beginning of the next syllable and all dialects pronounce it

• the diphthong in the non-rhotic varieties disappears

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Acoustic Properties of English Diphthongs

• English diphthongs are invariably of the falling type, i.e., the frst part of the diphthong is prominent and the second part consists of a high vowel

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Acoustic Properties of English Diphthongs

• English diphthongs are invariably of the falling type, i.e., the frst part of the diphthong is prominent and the second part consists of a high vowel

• if we examine a spectrogram of an English diphthong, we can see the two distinct vowel qualities and the gliding formant between them

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Acoustic Properties of English Diphthongs

• English diphthongs are invariably of the falling type, i.e., the frst part of the diphthong is prominent and the second part consists of a high vowel

• if we examine a spectrogram of an English diphthong, we can see the two distinct vowel qualities and the gliding formant between them

• one cannot measure a diphthong at only one point in the formant, since the frequency is continually changing from one point to the next

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Diphthongs

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Syllabic Sonorants in English

● syllabic sonorant consonants are common in English

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Syllabic Sonorants in English

● syllabic sonorant consonants are common in English● the nasals, [m] and [n], and the liquids, [l] and [ɹ],

can all be syllabic

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Syllabic Sonorants in English

● syllabic sonorant consonants are common in English● the nasals, [m] and [n], and the liquids, [l] and [ɹ],

can all be syllabic● forms below demonstrate the difference between

non-syllabic and syllabic sonorant consonants

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• syllabic sonorant consonants are never stressed

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• syllabic sonorant consonants are never stressed• they may fuctuate between being syllabic and

non-syllabic, based on the context

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Acoustic Differences

• the physical differences are clearly shown in the spectrogram of the words lightning and lighten

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Acoustic Properties of Syllabic Sonorants

• syllabic sonorants are similar to non-syllabic sonorants in their spectrographic profle

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Acoustic Properties of Syllabic Sonorants

• syllabic sonorants are similar to non-syllabic sonorants in their spectrographic profle

• the formants are somewhat more intense and darker, showing the syllabic nature of these segments

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Acoustic Properties of Syllabic Sonorants

• syllabic sonorants are similar to non-syllabic sonorants in their spectrographic profle

• the formants are somewhat more intense and darker, showing the syllabic nature of these segments

• below, the syllabic sonorant follows the fricatives [s] or [z] in order to clearly indicate the boundaries of the sounds

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Acoustic Properties of Syllabic Sonorants

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The End