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Phonetics Week 4

The document discusses vowels and consonants in English phonology. It defines vowels as sounds produced with an open vocal tract, while consonants involve obstructing airflow. It describes different types of vowels, including monophthongs which have a single, consistent sound, versus diphthongs which involve a change in quality over time. It classifies vowels based on tongue position (high, low, front, back, central) and provides examples of different vowel sounds in English words. Exercises are included to demonstrate applying vowel classification and identification.

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178 views3 pages

Phonetics Week 4

The document discusses vowels and consonants in English phonology. It defines vowels as sounds produced with an open vocal tract, while consonants involve obstructing airflow. It describes different types of vowels, including monophthongs which have a single, consistent sound, versus diphthongs which involve a change in quality over time. It classifies vowels based on tongue position (high, low, front, back, central) and provides examples of different vowel sounds in English words. Exercises are included to demonstrate applying vowel classification and identification.

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Hải Yến
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© © All Rights Reserved
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QUESTIONS

Question 1: The difference between vowels and consonants is how the air is shaped along the way.
Sounds are produced when air is pushed up from the lungs, through the vocal tract, and out the mouth
(oral cavity) and, sometimes, the nose (nasal cavity).
Vowels are produced when the air meets few obstructions on its trip up the vocal track. In other words,
vowels are produced by a fairly loose and open vocal track. This is in contrast to consonants, which are
produced when the air is obstructed in various ways in the vocal tract.
For example: To make the “b” or “p” sounds, the mouth is totally closed. Less so for “d” or “t.”
Question 2:
A monophthong is a vowel sound pronounced as a single, unchanging sound, without any significant
change in quality or length.
In contrast, diphthongs are vowel sounds that involve a gradual change in quality and length.
Question 3:
Classification of monophthongs on the basis of the highest part of the tongue:
/i:/;/ɪ/;/u:/;/ʊ/
Question 4:
/ɪ/; /i:/; /e/; /æ/ are classified as spread vowels because when pronounced, the corners of the lips stay the
same or move away from each other, as for a smile
Question 5:
A high vowel (such as /i:/ in “machine” and /u:/ in “rule”) is pronounced with the tongue arched toward
the roof of the mouth. A low vowel (such as /ɑ:/ in “father”) is produced with the tongue relatively flat
and low in the mouth and with the mouth open a little wider than for high vowels.
Question 6:
In English, there are five primary short vowel sounds: /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/
/æ/: cat, hat, fat
/ɛ/: bed, red, bet
/ɪ/: sit, hit, fit
/ɒ/: dog, hot, knot
/ʌ/: bus, sun, fun
Question 7:
Based on the highest part of the tongue when pronounced, vowels are divided into front, central and back
vowel.
Front: /i/; /ɪ/; /e/; /æ/
Central: /ə/; /ɜ:/; /ʌ/
Back: /u:/; /ʊ/; /ɔ:/; /ɒ/; /ɑ:/
Question 8:
The vowel of English referred to as the schwa is /ə/
A schwa is a vowel sound in an unstressed syllable, where a vowel does not make its long or short vowel
sound. To say the schwa sound, we hardly even open our mouth! The mouth position is completely
neutral, the lips are relaxed not rounded, the jaw is roughly halfway open, and the tongue is flat (not
forward or back). It takes very little time to say it in the word, and because of this we sometimes even skip
over it. Therefore, it is called weak vowel.
Question 9:
Centring diphthongs in English: /iə/, /ʊə/, /eə/
Diphthongs are glides (movement of the tongue, lips and jaw) from one pure vowel to another. The first
sound in each phoneme is longer and louder than the second. Centring diphthongs end with a /ə/. They are
called centring diphthongs because /ə/ is a central vowel.
Question 10:
Examples of closing diphthongs:
/ɔɪ/ – toy, boy, avoid
/aɪ/ – high, bye, eye
/aʊ/ – house, how, loud
/əʊ/ – go, snow, low
Closing diphthong is the diphthong sounds that the second vowel is closer than the first vowel because the
movement of the tongue is carried out from the position of open vowel to the closer vowel.
EXERCISES:
Exercise 1:
Word that begins with a high vowel: Expensive
Exercise 2:
Words that contain a closing diphthong: child, buffet, entertainment
Exercise 3:
Words that contain a back vowel: charm, chocolate, tomb
Exercise 4:
Words that contain a centring diphthong: musketeer, tear
Exercise 5:
Words do not contain a closing diphthong: temperature, cheer
Exercise 6:
Word does not contain a high, front, long vowel: steak
Exercise 7:
quay /kiː/ leopard /ˈlepəd/
flour /flaʊər/ lettuce /ˈletɪs/
preface /ˈprefɪs/ water /ˈwɔːtər/
courageous /kəˈreɪdʒəs/ purpose /ˈpɜːpəs/
Christ /kraɪst/ mosquito /məˈskiːtəʊ/

Exercise 8:
a. shoot, school
b. angle, apple
c. data, camera
d. argument, origin
e. near, bear
Exercise 9:
Words The number of vowels The vowels
Secretary 3 vowels /ˈsekrətəri/ /e/, /ə/, /i/
Choir 2 vowels /kwaɪər/ /ə/, /ai/
Alumni 3 vowels /əˈlʌmnaɪ/ /ə/, /ʌ/, /ai/
archive 2 vowels /ˈɑːrkaɪv/ /ɑː/, /ai/
colonel 2 vowels /ˈkɜː.nəl/ /ɜ:/, /ə/

Exercise 10:
The confusion occurs because the words “dad” and “dead” sound very similar when spoken and Speaker
B misinterprets “dad” as “dead”. The word “dad” contains /æ/ while the word “dead” contains /e/. Two
vowels are spread and front vowel. The distinctive feature between them is the position of the tongue: /e/ -
middle position and /æ/ - low position.

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