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Файл:Теоретическая фонетика английского языка = English Theoretical Phonetics. Учебное пособие
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UNIT 3.
VOWEL SYSTEM IN MODERN ENGLISH
There are two major classes of sounds traditionally distinguished
in any language: consonants and vowels. The opposition “vowels vs.
consonants” is a linguistic universal. The distinction is based mainly on
auditory eect. Consonants are known to have voice and noise combined,
while vowels are sounds consisting of voice only. From the articulatory
point of view the dierence is due to the work of speech organs. In case
of vowels no obstruction is made, so on the perception level their integral
characteristic is tone, not noise. The quality of a vowel is known to
be determined by the size, volume and shape of the mouth resonator
modied by the movement of active speech organs, that is the tongue
and the lips. The particular quality of a vowel can depend on a lot of
other articulatory characteristics, so vowel quality could be thought of as
a bundle of denite articulatory characteristics which are interconnected
and interdependent.
The rst linguist who tried to describe and classify vowels for
all languages was D. Jones. He devised the system of eight Cardinal
Vowe ls. The basis of the system is physiological. Cardinal vowel No. 1
corresponds to the position of the front part of the tongue raised as closed
as possible to the palate. The gradual lowering of the tongue to the back
lowest position gives another point for cardinal vowel No. 5. The lowest
front position of the tongue gives the point for cardinal vowel No. 4.
The upper back limit for the tongue position gives the point for cardinal
No. 8. The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols for the eight
Cardinal Vowels are: 1 – [i]; 2 – [e]; 3 – [ε]; 4 – [a]; 5 – [ɑ]; 6 – [ɔ]; 7 – [o];
8 – [u].
21
Unit 3. Vowel System in Modern English
1 [i]
2 [e]
3 [ε]
4 [a]
8 [u]
7 [o]
6 [ɔ]
5 [α]
The system of Cardinal Vowels is an international standard. In spite
of the theoretical signicance of the Cardinal Vowel system its practical
application is limited. In language teaching this system can be learned
only by oral instructions from a teacher who knows how to pronounce
the Cardinal Vowels.
Belarusian phoneticians suggest the criteria which are conceived to be
of great importance for classicatory description:
y stability of articulation;
y tongue position;
y lip position;
y character of the vowel end;
y length;
y tenseness.
3.1. Stability of Аrticulation
The stability of articulation species the actual position of
the articulating organ in the process of the articulation of a vowel. There
are two possible varieties:
y the tongue position is stable. The articulated vowel is relatively pure;
y the tongue position changes, that is the tongue moves from one
position to another.
According to this principle the English vowels are subdivided into:
y monophthongs (the tongue position is stable);
y diphthongs (it changes, a vowel consists of two clearly perceptible
element s);
y diphthongoids (an intermediate case, when the change in the position
is fairly weak).
22
3.2. The Position of the Тongue. Lip Рosition
Monophthongs are vowels the articulation of which is almost
unchanging. The quality of such vowels is relatively pure. The English
monophthongs are [ı], [e], [æ], [a:], [ᴅ], [ɔ:], [ʋ], [ʌ], [ɜ:], [ə].
Diphthongs are dened dierently by dierent authors. A.C. Gimson,
for example, distinguishes twenty vocalic phonemes which are made of
vowels and vowel glides. D. Jones denes diphthongs as unisyllabic gliding
sounds in the articulation of which the organs of speech start from one
position and then elide to another position. Scholars like V.A. Vasilyev
and L.R. Zinger grant the English diphthongs monophonemic status on
the basis of articulatory, morphonological and syllabic indivisibility as
well as the criteria of duration and commutability.
Articulatory indivisibility of the diphthongs could be proved by
the fact that neither morpheme nor syllable boundary that separate
the nucleus and the glide can pass within it, e. g.: [′seı-ıŋ] saying, [′sləu-ə]
slower, [′klıə-rə] clearer.
The present study of the duration of diphthongs shows that the length
of diphthongs is the same as that that characterizes the English long
monophthongs in the same phonetic context, e. g.: [saıt – si:t], [kəut –
kɔ:t]. The application of commutation test proves the monophonemic
status of diphthongs because any diphthong could be commutated with
practically any vowel, e. g.: bite – bit [baıt – bıt], bite – but [baıt – bʌt],
bite – bought [baıt – bɔ:t].
Monophonemic character of English diphthongs is proved by native
speakers’ intuition, who perceive these sound complexes as a single
segment. So special attention should be given to the pronunciation of
English diphthongs which consist of two elements: the nucleus, being
strong and distinct, and the glide, being very weak and indistinct.
The English diphthongs are: [eı], [aı], [ɔı], [aʋ], [əʋ], [ıə], [eə], [ʋə].
There are two vowels in English [i:], [u:] that may have a diphthongal
glide where they have full length (be [bi:], do [du:]) , and the tendency for
diphthongization is becoming gradually stronger.
3.2. The Position of the Тongue. Lip Рosition
Concerning the position of the tongue in the mouth cavity it is
characterized from two aspects, that is the horizontal (forward and
backward) and vertical movement (to various heights in the mouth).
23
Unit 3. Vowel System in Modern English
According to the horizontal movement Belarusian phoneticians
distinguish ve classes:
y front: [i:], [e], [eı], [æ], [eə];
y front-retracted: [ı], [ıə];
y central: [ʌ] [з:] [ə], [əʋ];
y back: [ɒ], [ɔ:], [u:], [a:];
y back-advanced: [ʋ], [ʋə].
Front vowels are those which are produced with the bulk of the tongue
in the front part of the mouth while the front of the tongue is raised in
the direction of the hard palate, forming a large empty space in the back
part of the mouth.
Front-retracted vowels are those which are produced with the bulk
of the tongue in the front part of the mouth, but somewhat retracted (as
compared with its position for [i:], [e], [æ]), while the front of the tongue is
raised in the direction of the hard palate. [ı] is the only one front-retracted
monophthong in English. The nucleus of diphthong [ıə] is also frontretracted.
Central vowels are those in which the central part of the tongue is
raised towards the juncture between the hard and soft palate.
Back vowels are produced with the bulk of the tongue in the back part
of the mouth, while the back part of the tongue is raised in the direction
of the soft palate, forming an empty space in the front part of the mouth.
Back-advanced vowels are produced with the bulk of the tongue in
the back part of the mouth, but somewhat advanced (as compared with its
position for back vowels), while the back part of the tongue is raised in
the direction of the front part of the soft palate, forming an empty space
in the front part of the mouth.
British phoneticians do not single out the classes of front-retracted and
back-advanced vowels. So both [i:] and [ı] are classied as front, and both
[u:] and [ʋ] are classied as back.
The way British and Belarusian phoneticians approach the vertical
movement of the tongue is also slightly dierent. British scholars
distinguish three classes of vowels:
y high (or close);
y mid (or half-open);
y low (or open).
Soviet phoneticians made the classication more detailed distinguishing two subclasses in each class, i. e. broad and narrow varia-
24
3.3. Character of the Vowel End, Vowel Length and Tenseness
tions of the three vertical positions. Consequently, six groups of vowels
are distinguished.
Table 5. Broad and Narrow Variations of Vertical Positions
Position Close Mid Open
Narrow [i:] [u:] [e], [з:], [ə], [eı], [əʋ] [eə], [ɔ:], [ɔı]
Broad [ı], [ʋ], [ıə], [ʋə] [ə], [ʌ] [æ], [a:], [ɒ], [aı], [aʋ]
Close vowels are produced when one of the parts of the tongue comes
close to the roof of the mouth and the air-passage is narrowed, but not so
much as to form a consonant.
Open vowels are those in the production of which the tongue is very
low in the mouth, and the air-passage is rather wide.
Mid vowels are produced with the raised part of the tongue being
half-way between its high and low positions.
For the purpose of classication it is sucient to distinguish between
two lip positions:
y rounded;
y unrounded, or neutral.
Any back vowel in English is produced with rounded lips. The
degree of rounding is dierent and depends on the height of the raised
part of the tongue. The higher it is raised the more rounded the lips are.
The English rounded vowels are [ᴅ], [ɔ:], [ʋ], [u:] and the nuclei of [ʋə],
[ɔı]. The English unrounded vowels are [i:], [ı], [e], [æ], [a:], [ʌ], [ɜ:], [ə] and
the nuclei of [ıə], [eı], [eə], [əʋ],[aı], [aʋ]. When pronouncing a rounded
vowel the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are
pronounced with the lips relaxed.
3.3. Character of the Vowel End, Vowel Length and Tenseness
This quality depends on the kind of the articulatory transition from
a vowel to a consonant. This transition (VC) is very closed in English
unlike Russian. As a result all English short vowels are checked when
stressed. The degree of checkness may vary and depends on the following
consonant. Before fortis voiceless consonant it is more perceptible than
before a lenis voiced consonant or sonorant.
Long vowels are free.
It is common knowledge that a vowel like any sound has physical
duration. When sounds are used in connected speech they cannot help
25
Unit 3. Vowel System in Modern English
being inuenced by one another. Vowel length may depend on a number
of linguistic factors:
y position of a vowel in a word: in the terminal position a vowel is
the longest, it shortens before a voiced consonant and it is the shortest
before a voiceless consonant, e. g.: be [bi:] – bead [bi:d] – beat [bi:t];
y word stress: a vowel is longer in a stressed syllable than in an
unstressed syllable;
y the number of syllables in a word, e. g.: [ɜ:] in verse is longer than
in university;
y the character of the syllabic structure.
Besides vowel length depends on the tempo of speech: the higher
the rate of speech the shorter the vowel.
Vowel length or quant ity has for a long time been the point of
disagreement among phoneticians. The problem the analysts are concerned
with is whether variations in quantity or length are meaningful (relevant),
that is whether vowel length can be treated as a relevant feature of English
vowel system.
D. Jones underlies phonological relevance of vowel quantity. That
means that words in such pairs as [bid] – [bi:d], [sit] – [si:t], [ful] – [fu:d],
[′fɒ:wə:d] ( foreword) – [′fɔ:wəd] ( forward) are distinguished from
one another by the opposition of dierent length, which D. Jones calls
chronemes. The dierence in quantity is considered to be decisive and
the dierence in quality (the position of the active organ of speech) is
considered to be subordinate to the dierence in quantity. According to
the point of view of V.A. Vasilyev, English is not a language in which
chronemes as separate prosodic phonological units can exist.
Tenseness characterizes the state of the organs of speech at
the moment of vowel production. Special instrumental analysis shows
that long vowels are tense when the muscles of the lips, tongue, cheeks
and the back walls of the pharynx are tense and short vowels are dened
as lax when the organs of speech are relatively relaxed.
The greater tenseness of long vowels is connected with their length.
Retaining the quality of a long vowel unchanged requires greater muscular
tension of the organs of speech than in the articulation of a short vowel.
English vowels can be checked and unchecked according to
the character of their end. It depends on the character of the articulatory
transition from a vowel to a consonant.
26
3.4. The Phonemic Status of the Neutral Sound [ə]
The checked vowels are those which occur in stressed closed
syllables, ending in a fortis voiceless consonant, e. g.: [e] in [bet]. These
vowels are pronounced without any lessening in the force of utterance
towards their end. They are abruptly interrupted by the following
voiceless consonant and they can only occur in a closed syllable.
The unchecked vowels are pronounced with lessening the force of
utterance towards their length. Therefore they have weak end and occur
terminally, or are followed by a lenis voiced consonant, e. g.: [i:] in [bi:].
The English long vowels and diphthongs when stressed both in open
and closed syllables followed by voiced consonants are unchecked.
The same is true of unstressed vowels.
Phonological analysis of articulatory features of English vowels
allows to consider functionally relevant the stability of articulation and
tongue position. Though lip position, character of vowel end, length, and
tenseness have no phonological value they are considerably important in
teaching English phonetics.
3.4. The Phonemic Status of the Neutral Sound [ə]
It is well-known that a vowel in an unstressed syllable is perceived
as very short, weak, and indistinct. The unstressed syllables are usually
associated with vowels of central or centralized quality [ə], [ı], sometimes
[ʋ] and the diphthongs [əʋ], [aı] (or a syllabic consonant), e. g.: among
[ə′mʌŋ], before [bı′fɔ:], useful [′ju:sfʋl], tomato [tə′ma:təʋ], exercise
[′eksəsaız], sudden [′sʌd n].
Vowels of full quality sometimes occur in unstressed positions, often
in borrowed words of Latin and Greek origin, e. g.: architect [′a:kıtekt],
paragraph [′pærəgra:f ], canteen [kæn′ti:n].
The phonological analysis marks the opposition of the neutral sound
to other unstressed vowels, the most common among them being [ı].
In the minimal pairs ocers [′ɒfısəz] – oces [′ɒf ısız]; accept [ək′sept] –
except [ı k′se pt], armour [′a:mə] – army [′a:mı] the neutral sound is
phonologically opposed to the phoneme [ı] with its own distinctive features
capable of dierentiating the meaning of lexical units. So the neutral
sound [ə] in ocers, accept, armour is an independent phoneme opposed
to the [ı] phoneme of the minimal pairs given above.
The problem of the phonemic status of the neutral sound has
a morphological aspect. In English as well as in Russian there are
27
Unit 3. Vowel System in Modern English
numerous alternations of vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables
between the derivatives of the same root or dierent grammatical forms
of the same word.
The alternated sounds are allophones of one and the same phoneme as
they are derivatives of the same lexical units, the same morphemes. Thus
the neutral sounds in the examples above are the neutralized allophones
of the non-reduced vowels of full formation.
Table 6. The Neutral Allophones
Neutralized Allophone Example
[æ] [ə] man – sportsman
[ʌ] [ə] some – wholesome
[ɒ] [ə]
[eı] [ə] operation – operative
[əʋ] [ə] post – postpone
combine, n – combine, v
3.5. Differences in the Articulation Bases
of the English and Russian Vowels
The lips
In the production of Russian vowels the lips are considerably
protruded and rounded, e. g.: [о], [у]. In the production of similar
English [ɔ:], [ᴅ], [u:], [ʋ] protrusion does not take place.
The bulk of the tongue
In the articulation of the English vowels the bulk of the tongue
occupies more positions than in production of the Russian vowels.
The length of the vowel
Long vowels in English are considered to be tense. There are no long
vowels wich can be opposed phonemically to short vowels in the Russian
language. Length in the Russian vowel system is an irrelevant feature.
The stability of articulation
There are no diphthongs in the Russian vowel system.
There are 6 vowels in Russian and 20 vowels in English.
In articulating English vowels Belarusian students can make
the following mistakes:
y they do not observe the quantitative character of the long vowels;
28
3.5. Differences in the Articulation Bases of the English and Russian Vowels
y they do not observe the qualitative dierence in the articulation of
such pairs as [i:] – [ı], [u:] – [ʋ], [ɔ:] – [ᴅ];
y they pronounce [i:], [ı], [e], [eı] without the “at position” of the lips;
y they pronounce initial vowels with a glottal stop;
y they make both elements of the diphthongs equally distinct;
y they do not observe the positional length of vowels;
y they make the sounds [æ], [ᴅ] more narrow because they do not open
the mouth properly;
y they articulate [ᴅ], [ɔ:], [u:], [ʋ] with the lips too much protruded and
rounded.
Questions
1. What are the articulatory dierences between vowels, consonants
and sonorants?
2. What is the quality of a vowel determined by?
3. What are the principles of vowel classication?
4. What groups of vowels are distinguished in English?
5. From what aspects is the position of the tongue in the mouth cavity
characterized?
6. What are the traditional lip positions in English pronunciation?
7. What does the checkness of English vowel sounds depend on?
8. What is duration of a vowel modied by and what does it
depend on?
9. What are the distinctive features of vowels?
10. What are irrelevant characteristics of vowels?
11. What groups of vowels are there according to the stability of
articulation?
12. What are the dierence between closing and centering diphthongs?
13. What is the phonemic status of the neutral sound [ə]?
14. What are the principal dierences in the articulation bases of
English and Russian vowels?
15. What mistakes result from the dierences in the articulation bases
of English and Russian vowels?
Pract i c al Tasks
1. Make a glossary of the main notions and give their denitions.
2. Study articulatory features of RP vowels.
29
Unit 3. Vowel System in Modern English
Table 7. RP Monophthongs
Vowel Description
[i :] a monophthong , long, tense, unrounded, front, high / close vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety
[ı] a monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, front retracted, high / close
vowel phoneme of the wide variety
[e] a monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, front, mid / half-open vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety
[æ] a monophthong, half-long, lax, unrounded, front, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety
[ʌ] a monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, central / mixed, mid vowel
phoneme of the wide variety
[a:] a monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, back, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety
[ɒ] a monophthong, short, lax, rounded, back, low / open vowel phoneme
of the wide variety
[ɔ:] a monophthong, long, tense, rounded, back, low / open vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety
[ʋ] a monophthong, short, lax, rounded, back advanced, low / open
vowel phoneme of the wide variety
[u :] a monophthong, long, tense, rounded, back, high / close vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety
[з:] a monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, central / mixed, mid vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety
[ə] a monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, central / mixed, mid vowel
phoneme of the wide variety
Table 8. RP Diphthongs
Vowel Description
[eı] a closing diphthong with the ı-glide
[aı] a closing diphthong with the ı-glide
[ɔı] a closing diphthong with the ı-glide
[əʋ] a closing diphthong with the ʋ-glide
[aʋ] a closing diphthong with the ʋ-glide
[ıə] a centering diphthong with the ə-glide
[eə] a centering diphthong with the ə-glide
[ʋə] a centering diphthong with the ə-glide
30
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