Discovery toolkit Level 1: Sounds in isolation

Learning from the discovery activities

The aim of the first two discovery activities is to make sure that you have noticed
in your own vocal tract the difference between consonants, monophthongs and
diphthongs. If you are uncertain about this distinction you could study Fig. 3, or
go back over the discovery activity.

WHERE HOW
Monophthongs The distinguishing quality of each vowel is
produced by the shape and size of the There is no obstruction to the
resonant space in the mouth. This is escape of air through the mouth,
controlled by the position and shape of the and they are all voiced, ie the vocal
tongue, lips and jaw. cords vibrate in the air flow.

Diphthongs As for monophthongs the distinguishing

quality is produced by the tongue, lips and
As with monophthongs there is no
jaw. The difference is that there is one
obstruction to the escape of air
mouth posture at the beginning of the
through the mouth, and they are all
vowel sound, and another at the end. The
voiced, ie the vocal cords vibrate in
resulting glide between these two tongue
the air flow.
and lip positions gives the diphthong its
characteristic ‘two – sound’ quality.
Consonants Restrictions to the air flow can be
made in various ways, each giving a
The restrictions to the air flow that make different characteristic sound.
the characteristic consonant sounds are Restrictions can be produced by
made at one of the points of contact friction applied to the air flow, or by
between the various speech organs such as a momentary blocking of the air
tongue, teeth, lips, roof of mouth, etc. All flow followed by a sudden release,
consonants involve some sort of restriction or by diverting the air flow through
to the air flow except /w/ and /j/. the nose. The use of voicing and
unvoicing also characterizes
consonant sounds.

Fig. 3: The how and where for monophthongs, diphthongs and consonants
In general the aim of each discovery activity is to experience the auditory, visual
and physical aspects of sounds. To make this experience more vivid there are
three kinds of feedback you can give yourself in the discovery activities:
• kinesthetic feedback: the internal physical sensation of touch and of muscle
movement in your throat, mouth, tongue and lips, etc;
• auditory feedback: what you hear, externally through the air, and internally
through your head (you can enhance the latter by blocking your ears with your
fingers when you speak);
• visual feedback: any physical movement connected with the production of the
sound that you can see in yourself or in others (it is very helpful to have a
pocket mirror available).
You can also deepen your observations in each activity by making use of three
kinds of voicing, each of which reveal different aspects of articulation:
• speaking aloud;
• whispering;
• mouthing silently.

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 2 Vowels: monophthongs

2 Vowels: monophthongs
In the production of vowel sounds, the vocal tract is open so that there is no
obstruction to the air flow escaping over the tongue. The characteristic sound of a
vowel depends on the shape and size of the resonant space in the mouth. This is
determined by:
• the horizontal tongue position (front–center–back);
• the vertical tongue position (high–mid–low);
• the lip position (rounded–neutral–spread).
And there is a fourth characteristic of vowels which is not dependent on tongue
or lip position:
• the typical length or duration of the vowel (long–short).
In this section we’ll examine these four variables in turn, and through the
discovery activities you will be able to see how you are using these variables when
you make vowel sounds. This is important if you want to build up your repertoire
of precise and positive techniques for helping learners to shape or reshape their
vowel sounds. You will also see how these variables are incorporated in the design
of the chart.

The horizontal tongue position

5 Discovery activity 3 Horizontal tongue position

Say / i / as in tea, and now /u / as in two. Alternate the sounds /i ... u ... i ... u .../.
Try this slowly at first and then more rapidly. What internal physical movements do
you notice? What do you hear? What can you see in a mirror? It may help you to
focus attention on the internal movement if you whisper rather than say the
sounds aloud.
Try the same thing with /e/ as in pen, and / / as in door, alternating them /e ... :...
e ... :... /. With these two sounds the jaw is a little more open than before, and
the tongue correspondingly a bit lower. What movement does your tongue make as
you slide between these two sounds?
Finally, try the same activities with the pair /æ/ as in cat, and / / as in pot,
alternating them / æ ... ... æ ... ... /. The tongue is even lower in the mouth and
the lip position is more open, but you will still be able to notice the horizontal
forwards and backwards movement of the tongue.

Commentary ŶŶŶ
You probably notice two distinct areas of movement: the movement of the lips
from a spread position to a rounded position, and the movement of the tongue
sliding backwards and forwards in the mouth. For the moment it is the tongue
movement we are interested in, and it will help if you try to distinguish between
the internal sensations of the tongue and the lip movement.
The next discovery activity helps you to mask off the sensation of lip movement. Ŷ

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Discovery toolkit Level 1: Sounds in isolation

Discovery activity 4 Isolating your perception of the tongue movement

Say the sound /i /, and as you do so put the tip of your finger (or a pencil) in
contact with the tip of your tongue. Now gradually slide towards the sound /u /,
maintaining the contact between finger and tongue. Alternate the sounds /i ...
u ... i ... u ... /. Try this a few times and you should find that your finger has to
move further into your mouth if you are going to keep contact with your tongue.
Another way to focus on your perception of tongue movement is to adopt the
mouth position for /i / Place a finger along the line of your open lips, gently
touching both the top and bottom lip. Now alternate /i ... u ... i ... u ... / paying
attention to the movement of your tongue. The finger on your lips may help you to
mask out the sensation of lip movement.
You can also register where your tongue is on the front – back continuum by first
saying the vowel and then moving your tongue vertically to touch the roof of your
mouth. This sense of contact may indicate how forward or back your tongue is with
different vowels.
Try each of these ways of masking off the sensation of lip movement using the
other two pairs /e ... ... e .... ... / and / æ ... ... æ ... ... /.

Commentary ŶŶŶ
The aim of these activities is to highlight the role of the backwards and forwards
movement of the tongue in determining the vowel sound. We have explored three
pairs of vowels, each pair consisting of a vowel with the tongue forward in the
mouth and a vowel with the tongue back in the mouth. The vowels produced with
the tongue forward are called front vowels, being produced by the front part of
the tongue in the front of the mouth. The other vowel in each pair is called a back
vowel, being produced by the back of the tongue in the back of the mouth. In
Fig. 4 you can see how this relates to the layout of the chart. Ŷ

Fig. 4: Front and back monophthongs

6 Discovery activity 5 Finding the in – between vowels

Say the sound /i / and slowly glide towards the sound /u /. Listen to the changing
quality of the vowel sound, while noticing the movement of the tongue and lips.
Now repeat the glide /i ... u /, but this time stop along the way to see what other
vowel sounds you arrive at on the continuum between /i / and /u :/. In theory there
are many sounds possible, but two in particular correspond to English phonemes.
You may find a point soon after starting where you have a sound that corresponds
approximately with /I/ as in it, and you will have to shape it and shorten it. As you
draw your tongue further back along the continuum you’ll find a sound close to / /
as in put. You’ll have to make it short to give it its RP quality.

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 2 Vowels: monophthongs

You can find other English monophthongs as you move on the continuum between
the other front–back pairs. Take the continuum /e ... /. As your tongue slides
back from Id you may be able to locate fal as in ago. For this the tongue is in a
neutral position, and the tongue and mouth are relaxed. The sound is short and
uses relatively little energy. The next sound on this line is ɡ / as in her. You may
find this in the same place as /ԥ/, or you may sense that the tongue is slightly
further back. This sound is the longer, stressed cousin of /ԥ/. Again the tongue
and mouth are relaxed, but the sound itself has more force. As you move the
tongue to the back position, you should find a sound close to / /. Here you may
get a sensation of the back of the tongue being pulled to the back of the mouth,
while the lips are pushed forward.
And now try the continuum / æ ... /. Here the tongue is in low position and the jaw
is open. As you move the tongue back from /æ/ towards / / you should find that you
pass quite close to /ȁ/. In fact if you stop the tongue at a certain point, and make a
very small adjustment, then you should have the sound /ȁ/. Can you find that
point? What small adjustment, if any, do you have to make? As your tongue
proceeds on its backward journey you will find yourself in the region of / /. Again,
see what adjustments are necessary.
Finally at the end of that continuum you have / /, which in RP is short.

Commentary ŶŶŶ
In this activity we have found a rough and ready way of discovering vowels lying
more or less on a line between other vowels. This is achieved by moving the
tongue along the front–back continuum as shown by the three horizontal lines of
vowels shown on the chart. (See Fig. 5.)
The aim of this activity is also to help you to become aware of which sounds are
neighbours to which others, and exactly what you have to do to change one sound
into another. Lip position is also important to ‘tune’ the sound made by the
tongue position.

Fig. 5: Front, back and central monophthongs

You probably find that the movements involved are very slight, and at first give
you little internal sensation. But as you keep your attention on it, you will find that
it becomes more perceptible. Our aim is to gain insights that will qualify us to
guide our learners. Ŷ

Summary
Tongue position is the most important variable in determining the sound of a
vowel. For each of the twelve English monophthongs the tongue is curved in
some way, such that one part of the tongue is closer to the roof of the mouth than
any other part. This raised part may be the front of the tongue, raised towards the

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Discovery toolkit Level 1: Sounds in isolation

hard palate; or the centre of the tongue, raised towards the juncture of hard and
soft palate; or the back of the tongue, raised towards the soft palate. The resulting
vowels are correspondingly referred to as front, centre or back vowels.

The vertical tongue position (high – mid – low)

To complete the description of a vowel, it is also necessary to fix the position of
the tongue on a vertical axis – in other words, to state how far from the roof of the
mouth the raised part of the tongue actually is. To describe this the labels high,
mid and low are used. High denotes that the raised part of the tongue is relatively
close to the roof of the mouth, and above the level it holds in ‘neutral’ position.
Low denotes that the tongue is relatively distant from the roof of the mouth, and
below the level it holds in neutral position. Mid indicates a neutral or middle
position between these two extremes.
In the next discovery activity we’ll explore this vertical positioning, and observe
its effect on the mouth shape and on the resulting vowel sound.

7 Discovery activity 6 Vertical tongue position

Say the sound /i / and hold it. Slowly close the gap between the front of your
tongue and the roof of your mouth (or more exactly the alveolar ridge, behind the
top front teeth). Do this again whispering, and repeat until you have a clear
sensation of the inner movement. You’ll notice that as soon as you start to raise
the tongue from the /i / position you start to get friction against the top of the
mouth, and if you raise it any further, you stop the sound and the air flow
altogether, perhaps producing the nasal consonant /n/.
What this shows is that in the position for /i / the tongue is as high as it can be
without causing audible friction.
Now take the position for the sound /æ/, and again close the gap between the front
of your tongue and the roof of your mouth, and see how far it is this time. You
should find that the gap is much wider than for /i /. In fact for /æ/ the tongue is low
in the mouth. If you can distinguish the physical sensation of these two tongue
positions then you are noticing the difference between high and low tongue
position.
Now look at the second vertical column in the monophthong section of the chart,
/ȱ/to /ȁ/. Say each sound in turn, both aloud and whispering. While saying each
sound in turn close the gap between your tongue and the top of your mouth. Notice
the size of the gap, and also where on the roof of your mouth your tongue touches.
Do the same investigation for the third column, / / to / /, and for the fourth
column, /u / to / /

Commentary ŶŶŶ
In this activity we have explored four high – low pairs of vowels. The first of each
requires the tongue to be high, that is as close as possible to the roof of the mouth
without actually causing friction, and the second requires the tongue to be low,
that is relatively distant from the top of the mouth, and below the neutral point of
the tongue. (See Fig. 6.)

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 2 Vowels: monophthongs

You will also have noticed that when your tongue moves between high and low,
your jaw tends to move with it from a more closed position to a more open one.
We’ll investigate this further in discovery activity 9. Ŷ

Fig. 6: High and low monophthongs

8 Discovery activity 7 Finding the in – between sounds in the vertical

continuum
Take the first monophthong column on the chart, /i /to / æ /. Say /i /, and gliding
slowly towards / æ /, listen carefully to the changing vowel quality as your tongue
lowers and your jaw opens. Stop at several points along the way, and see what
vowel you have discovered. In theory there are many possibilities, but only one
corresponds to RP. About halfway between /i /and /æ/ you can isolate the sound
/e/. Here the tongue is in mid or neutral position vertically, and in a front position
horizontally. Try this both aloud and whispering.
Do the same with the second monophthong column, /ȱ/ to /ȁ/. Glide slowly from /ȱ/
to /ȁ/ while saying the sound, and notice the other ‘in – between’ vowel sounds that
you can make if you stop the movement at any point. About halfway down this
vertical glide, when the tongue is in mid or neutral position, you should find a
sound which when made short, and with tongue and mouth relaxed, sounds like
/ԥ/. This is known as a centre vowel because the tongue, jaw and lips are all in a
relaxed, neutral posture.
Try the same sequence of experiments for the third vertical column, / / to / /. At a
point roughly midway you should find /ɡ /, which needs some length, and again
requires your mouth, tongue and lips to be relaxed. This is also a centre vowel,
and you may find that your tongue is in the same position as for /ԥ/, or it may be
just a little further back.
Try the same sequence of experiments with the fourth vertical column, /u / to / /
At a point roughly midway between /u / and / / you should find / /, which needs
length, but also needs your tongue to be well back, giving the sensation of being
bunched up at the back of your mouth. Rounding the lips is also important to
achieve the exact acoustic quality. (More about this in the section on lip position,
following discovery activity 11.)

Commentary ŶŶŶ
In this activity we find that there is a position approximately midway between high
and low where a third English vowel is produced. These mid sounds are shown in
Fig. 7 on p 10. Lip position is also important to ‘tune’ the sound made by the
tongue position. Ŷ

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Discovery toolkit Level 1: Sounds in isolation

Fig. 7: The mid – vowels on the vertical continuum

Fig. 8: Summary of tongue positions: front – centre – back and high – mid – low

The traditional vowel box and the Sound Foundations phonemic chart
Traditionally the front–back and high–low co-ordinates of tongue position have
been shown on a vowel box (Fig. 9a). A great number of different vowel sounds
are possible within this vowel box, yet each language makes use of only a few of
them, dividing up the space available to suit its own requirements.
The traditional vowel diagram (Fig. 9a) is transferred to the Sound Foundations
phonemic chart (Fig. 9b) to give the layout shown in Fig. 9c. Fig. 9d shows how
the chart relates to the mouth.

Fig. 9a Fig. 9b Fig. 9c

Fig. 9d

Discovery activity 8 Experiment with all the monophthongs

Look at the monophthong part of the phonemic chart.
1 Take any horizontal or vertical row and:
• say the sounds aloud, slowly, registering their inner physical movements;
• whisper the sounds;
• adopt the tongue postures, but without sound or exhalation.
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 2 Vbwels: monophthongs

2 Take symbols at random and say the corresponding sound both aloud and
whispered.
3 Close your eyes or look away and think of monophthongs at random. Find the
tongue posture, notice it, whisper and voice the sound. Then look back at the
chart and locate the sound.
4 Look away and visualize the monophthong section of the chart in your mind’s
eye. Start anywhere. Visualize the symbol. Can you hear the sound in your
mind’s ear? And can you link that to a sensation of the muscular movement?

Schwa: a note on a special sound

The central vowel /ԥ/ can claim to be the ‘smallest’ English vowel sound and yet it
is the only phoneme with its own name. It is by far the most frequent vowel sound
in continuous speech, though it never carries stress. It is its unstressed nature that
contrasts with stressed vowels to contribute to the rhythmical nature of English.
(‘You can’t have stress without unstress’ – more on this in Level 2 of the discovery
toolkit.) Its correct use is crucial to the smooth rhythmic quality of spoken
English. /ɡ / is its longer, stressed equivalent.

9 Discovery activity 9 Noticing your jaw position

Place your forefinger on the bridge of your nose and the thumb of the same hand
on the point of your chin. Say /i / and glide slowly to /æ/. Notice the downward
movement of your jaw indicated by the increased distance between thumb and
forefinger.
Try the movement /i ... æ... i ... æ .../ several times both aloud and whispering to
confirm the link between tongue lowering and jaw opening. Try the same activity
with the other three vertical columns of monophthongs /ȱ/ to /ȁ/, / / to / / and /u /
to / /.

Commentary ŶŶŶ
This illustrates that jaw position and tongue position are interlinked, so that when
the tongue is relatively high or close to the roof of the mouth the jaw is usually
relatively closed, while when the tongue is low the jaw is usually relatively open.
This makes good mechanical sense as a more open jaw enables the tongue to
move further (lower) from the roof of the mouth.
In some systems of vowel description the terms ‘close–open’, referring to jaw
position, are used in place of the terms ‘high–low’, referring to tongue position.
On the monophthong section of the phonemic chart, jaw position could be
indicated as in Fig. 10. Ŷ

Fig. 10: Jaw positions for monophthongs

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