Classification of English Vowels

Articulatory and Physiological

The first linguist who tried to describe and classify vowel sounds for all languages was D. Jones. He devised the system of 8 Cardinal Vowels. The basis of the system is physiological. Cardinal vowel No. 1 corresponds to the position of the front part of the tongue raised as close as possible to the palate. The gradual lowering

Fig. 7

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 No. 4. The upper back limit for the tongue position gives the point for cardinal No. 8. These positions for cardinal vowels No. 1, 4, 5 and were copied from X-ray photographs. The tongue positions between these points were X-rayed and the equidistant points for No. 2, 3, 6, 7 were found. The IPA symbols for the 8 Cardinal Vowels are: 1 — ı, 2 — e, 3 — ε, 4 — a, 5 — α| 6 — o, 7 — o, 8 — u.

Below we give some rough indications of the primary cardinal vowel qualities, using for comparison French, German and Russian languages.

No. 1 is the equivalent of the German /ie/ in Biene. This position is higher than for the Russian accented /и/ in the word пили.

No. 2 is pronounced with the position of the tongue narrower than for the Russian /e/ in the word тесть.

No. 3 is similar to the Russian /э/ in the word эта. No. 4 is similar to the French sound /a/ in la. No. 5 is nearly what is obtained by taking away the lip rounding from the English sound /υ/ in hot.

No. 6 is similar to the German sound of /o/ in Sonne.

No. 7 is similar to the French sound of /o/ in Rose.

No. 8 is similar to the German sound of /u/ in gut.

See Fig. 7. /и, ы, у, о, а, э/ are Russian vowels, given for comparison. The system of Cardinal Vowels is an international standard. The Cardinal Vowel scale is a fine and independent system needed on the auditory and articulatory levels.

In spite of the theoretical significance of the Cardinal Vowel System its practical application is limited to the field where no comparison is needed, in purely scientific work. In language teaching this system can be learned only by oral instruction from a teacher who knows how to pronounce the Cardinal Vowels.

Acoustically vowels are musical tones (not noises): the word "vowel" is a derivative of "voice". But vowels are not necessarily connected with voice. If the organs of speech are adjusted for the articulation of a vowel, it can be pronounced without voice, breathing the air out through the mouth cavity, then a voiceless vowel is produced. Such voiceless vowels exist in all languages as a "schwa" in a terminal position after voiceless (especially occlusive) consonants. E.g. in the Russian language /ъ/ is heard in the words: суд, кот, убит, кит, etc. When people pronounce vowels in whisper, they also articulate “voiceless vowels”.

Acoustically vowels differ due to their tembral colouring, each vowel is caracterised by its own formants (that is concentrations of energy in certain frequency regions on the spectrogram).

Russian phoneticians suggest a classification of vowels according to the following principles:

I. Position of the lips.

II. Position of the tongue.

III. Degree of tenseness and the character of the end.

IV. Length.

V. Stability of articulation.

I. The main effects of lip rounding on the shape of the mouth are:
a) to enlarge the oral cavity, b) to diminish the size of the opening of the oral cavity. Both of these deepen the pitch and increase the resonance of the front oral cavity according to the position of the lips. According to the position of the lips vowels are classified into: (a) rounded, (b) unrounded. The Russian rounded vowels are pronounced with lip protrusion. The English rounded vowels are: /u – u:, υ – o:/, the Russian rounded and protruded vowels are: /о, у/. The general pattern is that the front and open vowels are articulated with spread to neutral lip position while back vowels have rounded lips. The rounding tends to be more worked with closer tongue height.

II. According to the position of the tongue it is the bulk of the tongue
which conditions most of all the production of different vowels. It can
move forward and backward, it may be raised and lowered in the mouth
cavity.

Russian scientists divide vowels according to the (a) horizontal and (b) vertical movements of the tongue.

(a) When the bulk of the tongue moves backwards, it is usually the back part of the tongue which is raised highest towards the soft palate. Vowels produced with the tongue in this position are called back. They are subdivided into:

fully back: /υ, o:, u:/ and the Russian /о, у/;

back-advanced: /u, a:/.

When the bulk of the tongue moves forward, it is usually the front part of the tongue which is raised highest towards the hard palate. Vow­els produced with this position of the tongue are called front. They are subdivided into:

fully front: /i:, e, æ/ and the Russian /и, э/;

front-retracted: /ı/. In the production of central vowels the tongue is almost flat. Its central part is raised towards the juncture between the hard and soft palate. Central vowels are /з:, ə, Λ/.

Some phoneticians con­sidered that /з:, ə/ are mixed not central vowels (G.P. Torsuyev, A.L. Trakhterov, H. Sweet). G.P. Torsuyev re­ferred to the group of central vowels the Russian /a/ and /ы/. L.V. Shcherba does not mention central vowels at all, he considers the vowels of the /ы/ type and the English /з:, ə/ mixed.

(b) According to the ver­tical movements of the tongue vowels are subdivid­ed into:

high: /i:, ı, u, u:/, Russian /и, у, ы/;

mid-, half-open /e, з:, ə/, Russian /э, о/;

low, open: /Λ, æ, а:, υ/, Russian /a/.

Each of the subclasses is subdivided into vowels of narrow variation and vowelsof broad variation:

High: narrow variation: /i:, u:/, Russian /и, ы, у/; broad variation: /i, u/.

Mid: narrow variation: /e, з:, o, o: /, Russian /э, o/; broad variation: /ə/.

Low: narrow variation: /Λ/; broad variation: /a:, υ, æ/, Russian /a/.

The Russian /э/ is on the borderline between "narrow" and "broad" mid vowels, /o/ is on the borderline between "mid-open" and "open".

III. According to the degree of tenseness traditionally long vowels are defined as tense and short as lax. The term "tense" was introduced by

H. Sweet, who stated that the tongue is tense when vowels of narrow variety are articulated. This statement is a confusion of two problems: acoustic and articulatory because "tenseness" is an acoustic notion and should be treated in terms of acoustic data. However, this phenomenon is connected with the articulation of vowels in unaccented syllables (unstressed vocalism). The decrease of tenseness results in the reduction оf vowels, that is in an unstressed position they may lose their qualitative characteristics.

When the muscles of the lips, tongue, cheeks and the back walls of the pharynx are tense, the vowels produced can be characterized аs "tense". When these organs are relatively relaxed, lax vowels are рrоduced. There are different opinions in referring English vowels to the first or to the second group.

This problem can be solved accurately only with the help of electromyography. The Russian vowels are not differentiated according to their tenseness but one and the same vowel is tense in a stressed syllable; compared with its tenseness in an unstressed one.

English vowels can be checked and unchecked. Checked vowels are those which occur in stressed closed syllables, ending in a fortis voiceless consonant, e.g. /e/ in /bet/. The checked vowels are pronounced without any lessening in the force of utterance towards their end. They are abruptly interrupted by the following voiceless consonant. Unchecked vowels are those which occur terminally, or are followed by a lenis voiced consonant, e.g. /i:/ in /bi:/, /a:/ in /ka:d/. There are no checked vowels in Russian. All of them are unchecked.

The English vowel /ə/ does not occur in a stressed context. It must be regarded outside the free/checked classes.

IV. According to the length English vowels are subdivided into:

(historically) long and (historically) short.

Vowel length may depend on a number of linguistic factors:

(1) position of the vowel in a word,

(2) word stress,

(3) the number of syllables in a word,

(4) the character of the syllabic structure,

(5) sonority.

1) Positional dependence of length can be illustrated by the following example:

be — bead — beat

we — weed — wheat

tie — tied — tight

In the terminal position a vowel is the longest, it shortens before a voiced consonant, it is the shortest before a voiceless consonant.

(2) A vowel is longer in a stressed syllable than in an unstressed one:

forecast n /'fo:ka:st/ прогноз — forecast v /fo:'ka:st/ предсказывать

In the verb /o:/ is shorter than in the noun, though it may be pronounced with /o:/ equally long.

(3) If we compare a one-syllable word and a word consisting of more than one syllable, we may observe that similar vowels are shorter in a polysyllabic word. Thus in the word verse /з:/ is longer than in university.

(4) In words with V, CV, CCV type of syllable the vowel length is greater than in words with VC, CVC, CCVC type of syllable. For example, /з:/ is longer in err (V type), than in earn (VC type), /ju:/ is longer in dew (CV type), than in duly (CVCV type).

(5)Vowels of low sonority are longer than vowels of greater sonority. It is so, because the speaker unconsciously makes more effort to produce greater auditory effect while pronouncing vowels of lower sonority, thus making them longer. For example, /ı/ is longer than /υ/; /i:/ is longer than /a:/, etc.

Besides vowel length depends on the tempo of speech: the higher the rate of speech the shorter the vowels.

Length is a non-phonemic feature in English but it may serve to differentiate the meaning of a word. This can be proved by minimal pairs, e.g.

beat /bi:t/ бить — bit /bit/ кусочек

deed /di:d/ дело (деяние) — did /did/ делал, сделал

The English long vowels are /i:, u:, a:, o: з:/. English phoneticians state that /æ/ is a short vowel, though in some words it may be long.

The English short vowels are /ı, e, υ, æ, u, Λ, ə/.

V. The stability of articulation is the principle of vowel classification which is not singled out by British and American phoneticians. In fact, it is the principle of the stability of the shape, volume and the size of the mouth resonator.

We can speak only of relative stability of the organs of speech, because pronunciation of a sound is a process, and its stability should be treated conventionally.

According to this principle vowels are subdivided into:

(a) monophthongs, or simple vowels,

(b) diphthongs, or complex vowels.

(a) English monophthongs are pronounced with more or less stable
lip, tongue and mouth walls position. They are: /i:, i, e, æ, a:, υ, Λ, u, u:, ə, з:/.

(b) Diphthongs are defined differently by different authors. One def­inition is based on the ability of a vowel to form a syllable. Since in
diphthong only one element serves as a syllabic nucleus, a diphthong is a
single sound.

Another definition of a diphthong as a single sound is based on the instability of the second element. The third group of scientists defines a diphthong from the accentual point of view: since only one element is accented and the other is unaccented, a diphthong is a single sound.

D. Jones defines diphthongs as unisyllabic gliding sounds in the ar­ticulation of which the organs of speech start from one position and then glide to another position.

N.S. Trubetskoy states that a diphthong should be (a) unisyllabic, that is the parts of a diphthong cannot belong to two syllables, (b) monophonemic with gliding articulation, (c) its length should not exceed the length of a single phoneme.

L.R. Zinder adds that phonemically diphthongs are sounds that cannot be divided morphologically. E.g. the Russian /ай, ой/ in чай, стой can be separated: ча-ю, сто-ю.

L.L. Bulanin calls combinations like Russian /ай, ей, ой/ phonetic diphthongs and English inseparable units like /aı, eı,.../ — phonemic diphthongs.

The first element of a diphthong is the nucleus, the second is the glide. A diphthong can be falling — when the nucleus is stronger than the glide, and rising — when the glide is stronger than the nucleus. When both elements are equal such diphthongs are called level.

English diphthongs are falling with the glide toward:

ı – /eı, aı, oı/,

u – /аu, əu/,

ə – /ıə, εə, uə/.

Diphthongs /eı, əu, υı, au, aı/ are called closing, diphthongs /ıə, εə, uə/ are called centring, according to the articulatory character of the second element.

There are two vowels in English — /i:, u:/ — that may have a diphthongal glide where they have full length, e.g. in open syllables and before lenis or nasal consonants: /bi:, bi:d, bi:n/, /du:, du:m/.

In allophonic transcription they can be represented as [ıi^j, uu^w]. Before fortis consonants it is more usual to hear steady-state /i:, u:/, e.g. /bi:t, bu:t/. Russian vowels /э, о/ are diphthongoids of the widening type. Russian /a/ between soft consonants is a diphthongoid, it begins and ends with /и/, e.g. сядь /с'äт'/, /ä/=[^иа^и].

If we compare classifications of vowels suggested by Russian and foreign authors, we may state that the classification of vowels suggested by Russian authors is more exact from the articulatory point of view and more simple for teaching purposes. It reflects more exactly distinctively relevant differences between the English vowel phonemes.

Articulation bases of English and Russian vowels are different.

(1) The lips. In the production of Russian vowels the lips are considerably protruded and rounded: /o, y/. In the articulation of the simiar
English /υ, o: 1, /u, u:/ protrusion does not take place. Englishmen have
the so called "flat-type" position of the lips, their lips are more tense than
the lips of the Russian people, and the corners of the lips are raised
which resembles a smile.

(2) The bulk of the tongue. In the articulation of the English vowels
the bulk of the tongue occupies more positions than in the production of
the Russian vowels. When the bulk of the tongue moves in the horizontal
direction it may occupy a fully front and a front-retracted, a fully back
and a back-advanced position. Horizontal movements of the tongue соndition the articulation of the /ə, з:/ vowels, which are of mixed type.

Each of the three vertical positions of the tongue (high, mid, low) in English is subdivided into a narrow and broad variety. Thus, six groups of vowel sounds are formed in the system of English vowels.

Such broad variety of the bulk of the tongue positions is not observed in the production of the Russian vowel sounds. When classified according to the vertical movement of the tongue they may be divided into high — /и, ы, у/, mid — /э, о/ and low — /a/.

According to the horizontal movement of the bulk of the tongue Russian vowels may be subdivided into: front — /и, э/, central — /ы, a/ an back — /о, у/. The articulatory peculiarities in the pronunciation of English vowels constitute the basis for the formation of diphthongs when the position of the tongue changes within the articulation of one and the same vowel.

(3) The principle of the degree of tenseness in vowel classification is
inseparably connected with the free or unchecked and checked character
of the vowels.

(4) The length of the vowels. Long vowels in English are considered
to be tense. There are no long vowels which can be opposed phonemically to short vowels in the Russian language. Length (and stability of articulation) in the Russian vowel system is an irrelevant feature.

(5) The stability of articulation. There are monophthongs and diphthongoids in the Russian vowel system, but there are no diphthongs.

(6) There are 6 vowel phonemes in Russian and 20 in English. Given below are English vowels which have no counterparts in Russian:

1) long and short vowels /i: — i/, /o: — υ/, /u: — u/, /з: — ə/, /а: — Λ/;

2) slightly rounded, but not protruded vowels /u:, o:/;

3) vowels articulated with the "flat" position of the lips in the /i:, ı, e, eı/ production;

4) very low vowels, such as /æ, υ, a:/;

5) front-retracted /ı/ and back-advanced /u, a:/;

6) central or mixed /ə, з:/;

7) checked and free vowels /'siti/ /'mΛnı/ Russian сити, мани;

8) diphthongs /eı, aı, oı, ıə, au, ou, εə, uə/.

In articulating English vowels Russian students are apt to make the following mistakes:

(1) they do not observe the quantitative character of the long vowels;

(2) do not observe the qualitative difference in the articulation of such vowels as /i:— ı/, /u: — и/, /о: —υ/,

(3) replace the English vowels /i:, о, u, æ, Λ/ by the Russian vowels /и, о, у, а, э/; '

(4) pronounce /i:, ı, e, eı/ without the "flat position" of the lips;

(5) soften consonants which precede /i:, ı, e, æ, eı/ front vowels as a result of which the latter become more narrow and the consonants are palatalysed;

(6) articulate /υ, o:, u, u:, əu/ with the lips too much rounded and protruded;

(7) make the sounds /æ, υ/ more narrow because they don't open the mouth properly, similarly to the Russian /э, о/;

(8) do not observe the positional length of vowels;

(9) make both elements of the diphthongs equally distinct;

(10) pronounce initial vowels with a glottal stop (?).

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