VOWEL SOUNDS Mean of Vowel Sounds Vowel is a speech sound in which the mouth is open and the tongue

is not toucing the top of the mouth , the teeth,etc1. Sound is sensation detected by the ear. Vowel sound is each language has a different vowel system, a letter used to represent such a sound. English has twelve vowel sounds. In the table above they are divided into seven short and five long vowels. An alternative way of organizing them is according to where ( in the mouth ) they are produced. We can qualify them further by how high the tongue and lower jaw are when we make these vowel sounds, and by wheter our lips are rounded or spread, and finally by whether they are short and long.

Kinds of Vowel Sounds In generally vowel sounds are divided into three part, they are : 1. Front Vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also called bright vowels because they are perceived as sounding brighter than the back vowels.2 /i:/ ( long high front spread vowel ) Example : sweet ( /swi:t/ ) Leaf ( /li:f/ ) Tree ( tri: ) /I/ (short high front spread vowel ) Example : big ( /bIg/ ) Five ( /faIv/ )

1 2

A.S Hornby,(2005) Oxford Advanced Learners Doctionary,Oxford: Oxford University Press.p 1334 Tsur, Reuven ( 2002). The Poetic Mode of Speech Perception. London: Duke University Press. p. 20.

// ( short mid front spread vowel, this may also be shown by the symbol /e/ ) Example : bed (/bed/) Head (/hed/)

// ( short low front spread vowel ; this may also be shown by /a/ ) Example : sad (/sd/) Stand (/stnd/)

2. Central vowel There are only two central vowel sounds, but they are represented by four symbols. Why? Because the symbol used depends on whether or not the syllable with the central vowel sound is stressed or not.3 Type of Centra Vowel One of the central vowels, [], is called schwa. It sounds nearly indistinguishable from the other central vowel [ ], (called caret), but linguists often use both. Schwa is used to represent unstressed vowels, as any like the second vowel of the word dated. Caret, however, is always used to represent a vowel that has some amount of stress. Central vowels are often referred to as neutral vowels, Since no movement of the tongue or lips is required for pronunciation. Both sounds also have a form that includes an r in it. EX: firm, brother Identifying both the unstressed [] and stressed [] forms is the same as with both schwa and caret.

3. Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels

http://tvmayaguez.pucpr.edu/Documentos/Presentaciones, 27/04/2012 21:07

are sometimes also called dark vowels because they are perceived as sounding darker than the front vowels.4 Type of back vowel : 1. /u/ (the phoneme spelled oo in food): high back vowel. 2. /U/ (the phoneme spelled u in put): high back vowel. This vowel is articulated slightly further forward and slightly lower than is the preceding vowel /u/. 3. /o/ (the phoneme spelled oa in boat): mid back vowel. 4. // (the phoneme spelled au in caught): mid back vowel. This vowel is articulated slighter further forward and slightly lower than is the preceding vowel /o/.

Peter roch.2009. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.p. 66