I.9 The duration of vowels.*
The description of the allophonic variations of English vowels is
made convenient if we split all English vowel phonemes into two categories:
I. The First Category.
The following vowels are referred to this category:
1) All tense vowels: / ί /, / /, / /, / /, / /;
2) One lax vowel: / /;
3) All diphthongs and triphthongs: //, / /, / /, / / /, / /, / /, //, / /, / e /,/ /, / /, / /, / /;
The vowels of this category have two degrees of duration:
1).They are long in the following combinatorial positions:
a) when they occur in an open syllable:
shore [ ], knee [ ί ], fur [ ],pooh [ ],
sea [ ί ], par [ ], car [ ], bear [ ];
b) when they precede a weak consonant:
nose [ ], bard [ ], robe [ ], lies [ ],
seed[ ί ], bag [ ], plays [ ], pad [ ];
c) when they precede a sonant:
dome [], keen [ kίn ], seal [ ί ], shine [ ],
lean [ ί ], balm [ ], cool [ ], sang [ ŋ ];
2)They are short when a vowel precedes a strong consonant:
leaf [ί ], seat [ί ], mice [ ],deep [ί ],
fat [ ], loose [ ], cope [ ], beach [ ί ];
Final or + lenis C +nasal C+fortis C*
1st category monophthongs 17.2 13.3 10.3
2nd category monophthongs 31.9 23.3 16.5
diphthongs 35.7 26.5 17.8
The diagrams given below, show the duration of one and the same vowel in different combinatorial positions:
[ Ί ] in “seed” [ ί ] in “seat”
Figure 14: [ ί ] in “seed”. and [ ί ] in “seat”.
II. We refer the following vowels to the second category:
/ /, / e /, / /, / /, / /.
They are all lax and a student should bear in mind that they never occur in an open accented syllable.
The vowels of this category have three degrees of duration:
1) They are long when they precede a weak consonant:
good [ ], dog [ ], big [ ], said [ e ];
* Kalevi Wilk (1965) in A.C.Gimson’s work (see. p. 28).
2) They are shorter when they precede a sonant, but a student should bear in mind that a sonant is prolonged in this case. It is a kind of a reciprocal compensation:
tin [ ], bun [ n ], till [ ], sing [ ŋ ];
3) They are short when they precede a strong consonant:
luck [ ], kiss [ ], cot [ ], lit [ ],
cuff [ ], toss [ ], less [ ], if [ ]:
Figure 15: [ ] in “cod” and [ ] in “cot”.
“Nevertheless, this length is not a constant distinctive feature of the vowel, but is rather dependent upon the context or is characteristic of the pronunciation of particular words” (A.C.Gimson, p. 94).
I.10 Key to phonetic symbols
Vowels
In describing vowel sounds, the positions of the lips, tongue and soft palate are especially taken into account. A system of classification should include, dut not confuse, all three factors.
1 |
ί |
as in |
tea / ί / |
14 |
|
as in |
game/ / |
2 |
|
as in |
lit / / |
15 |
|
as in |
care/ / |
3 |
|
as in |
pen / / |
16 |
|
as in |
time/ / |
4 |
|
as in |
bad / / |
17 |
|
as in |
town/ / |
5 |
|
as in |
cup/ / |
18 |
|
as in |
rose/ / |
6 |
|
as in |
girl/ / |
19 |
|
as in |
cure/ / |
7 |
|
as in |
again/ / |
20 |
|
as in |
toy/ / |
8 |
|
as in |
shoe/ / |
21 |
|
as in |
core */ / |
9 |
|
as in |
book/ / |
22 |
e |
as in |
ə/ |
10 |
|
as in |
law/ / |
23 |
|
as in |
fire/ ə |
11 |
|
as in |
log/ / |
24 |
|
as in |
hour/ / |
12 |
|
as in |
car/ / |
25 |
|
as in |
Boer/ / |
13 |
|
as in |
ear/ / |
26 |
|
as in |
coir/ / |
*a “dying” diphthong, used for distinguishing words by few people in the south of England *See page 17.
Consonants
1
|
|
as in
|
paw / /
|
13
|
|
as in
|
fee / ί /
|
2
|
|
as in
|
bee / ί /
|
14
|
|
as in
|
vow / /
|
3
|
|
as in
|
tower / /
|
15
|
|
as in
|
thaw / /
|
4
|
|
as in
|
dear / /
|
16
|
|
as in
|
though / /
|
5
|
|
as in
|
key / ί /
|
17
|
|
as in
|
sea / ί /
|
6
|
|
as in
|
go / /
|
18
|
|
as in
|
zoo / /
|
7
|
|
as in
|
chair / /
|
19 |
|
as in
|
she / ί /
|
8
|
|
as in
|
jaw / /
|
20
|
|
as in
|
rouge /
|
9
|
|
as in
|
may / /
|
21
|
|
as in
|
war / /
|
10
|
|
as in
|
no / /
|
22
|
|
as in
|
lie / /
|
11
|
|
as in
|
sing / ı /
|
23
|
|
as in
|
your / /
|
12
|
|
as in
|
who / /
|
24
|
|
as in
|
rye / /
|