Linguistics | Vowel Articulation

 Linguistics:

Speech Production: Vowel Articulation

 

Vowel Articulation 

1. How are vowels made?

2. What the mechanism used to produce vowels?

3. How are vowels classified?

Speech sounds are classified into two sets: vowels and consonants. Vowels differ from consonants in terms of articulation. Consonants are produced with a modification of airstream passing through the mouth. Vowels are articulated with an open approximation, with a more pitch and loudness than consonants, thus causing more audible friction.

VOWELS:

❑ Vowels are produced with an open approximation
_ There is no contact of the articulators
_ Vowels are articulated in a manner different to that of consonants.
_ The manner of articulation used for consonants is inappropriate for vowels

❑ Vowels are voiced
_ The voiced/voiceless distinction important for consonants is generally unnecessary in describing vowels

❑ Vowels are oral
_ Vowels are produced in a smaller area of the vocal tract – the palatal and velar
regions

❑ Vowels are sonorants (louder)
_ Vowels form the “core” ,
“peak”, or nucleus of the syllable.

Vowel Classification:

Reference Points for Vowels: Cardinal Vowels
_ The IPA describes vowels using a set of reference vowels called cardinal vowels (CVs). The idea for this is found in the work of Daniel Jones who prospered Reference Points for
vowels that have predetermined phonetic values, known as the vowel space.

Primary Cardinal Vowels:

_ By reference to cardinal vowels as a system of classifying vowels, the phonetician can identify, describe and compare the vowel sounds of any given language.
_ Note that cardinal vowels do not actually belong to the vowel system of a specific language. They are instead a set of vowel sounds used by phoneticians in an attempt to identify and classify the vowel sounds of natural languages.
_ It shows the tongue position for the highest, furthest fore vowel [i] and the lowest, furthermost back vowel [ɑ], with six other approximately equidistant divisions.

_ As the diagram shows, the front vowels are all unrounded, and the back vowels are rounded EXCEPT for [ɑ] which is rounded.

Secondary Cardinal Vowel:

As more and more non-European languages were subject to phonetic investigation, more and more vowel-types were discovered; hence, the primary cardinal vowels were supplemented by a set of eight secondary vowels.
o In the system of secondary cardinal vowels, all front vowels are rounded, and all back vowels are unrounded ones.