Vowel diagram: Difference between revisions

[[File:California English vowel chart.svg|thumb|A vowel chart for southern [[California English]], showing how its vowels lie within the IPA vowel trapezium.<ref name="ladefoged-1999">{{cite book|author=[[Peter Ladefoged|Ladefoged, Peter]]|author-link=Peter Ladefoged|year=1999|chapter=American English|title=Handbook of the International Phonetic Association|pages=41&ndash;44|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-63751-1}}</ref>]]

[[File:Vowel triange, cardinal vowels.png|thumb|A schematic of vowel triangle, witharranged vowels arrangedaccording byto [[formant]]s.]]

A '''vowel diagram''' or '''vowel chart''' is a schematic arrangement of the [[vowel]]s. Depending on the particular language being discussed, it can take the form of a triangle or a quadrilateral. Vertical position on the diagram denotes the [[vowel height|vowel closeness]], with close vowels at the top of the diagram, and horizontal position denotes the [[vowel backness]], with front vowels at the left of the diagram.<ref name=SkanderaBurleigh>{{cite book|title=A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology|author=Paul Skandera and Peter Burleigh|year=2005|publisher=Gunter Narr Verlag|isbn=3823361252|pages=33&ndash;34}}</ref> Vowels are unique in that their main features do not contain differences in voicing, manner, or place (articulators). Vowels differ only in the position of the tongue when voiced. The tongue moves vertically and horizontally within the oral cavity. Vowels are produced with at least a part of their [[vocal tract]] obstructed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cancio|first=Mary Lou|title=Functional Phonetics Workbook|year=2007|publisher=Plural Publishing|location=San Diego, CA}}</ref>

In the vowel diagram, convenient reference points are provided for specifying tongue position. The position of the highest point of the arch of the tongue is considered to be the point of articulation of the vowel. The vertical dimension of the vowel diagram is known as vowel highheight, which includes high, central (mid), or low vowels. The horizontal dimension of the vowel diagram includes tongue advancement and identifies how far forward the tongue is located in the oral cavity during production. Vowels are also categorized by the tenseness or laxness of the tongue. The schwa [ə] is in the center of the chart and is frequently referred to as the neutral vowel. Here, the vocal tract is in its neutral state and creates a near perfect tube. For other vowels, there is a necessary movement of the vocal tract and tongue away from the neutral position, either up/down or backward/forward. The next dimension for vowels are tense/lax; here we can distinguish high/mid/low dimensions and the front/central/back dimensions. In other words, all vowels but schwas. For instance, [i] and [ɪ] or [o] and [ɔ] are very hard to tell apart, but we can categorize them into tense or lax. Tense vowels are [i] and [o] . Lax vowels are [ɪ] and [ɔ]. The next dimension of vowels is rounding. Rounding is important because it continues to help differentiate the vowels of English. For example, for [u], the lips are rounded, but for [i], the lips are spread. Vowels can be categorized as rounded or unrounded. Rounded vowels are [u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ] and the unrounded vowels are [i], [ɪ], [e], [ɛ], [æ], [ɑ], [ʌ], [ə].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~krussll/phonetics/articulation/describing-vowels.html |title=Describing English vowels |website=Phonetics |first=Kevin |last=Russell |publisher=[[University of Manitoba]] |date=27 November 2005 |accessdate=18 April 2013}}</ref>

VowelThe symbols[[International withPhonetic diacritics added are not included in theAlphabet chart|official vowel chart]] of the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]. Thedoes termnot ''mid''include doesvowel notsymbols with added diacritics as shown here, and only gives appearlabels onfor the [[Internationalheights Phonetic"close", Alphabet"close-mid", chart|official"open-mid", chart]]and "open" (shown here in bold).

*[[ChineseIPA vowel diagramchart with audio]] {{spoken}}

*[[IPA vowelconsonant chart with audio]] {{spoken}}

== External linksReferences ==