CMSD 4010 Unit 2

/ɑ/

low, back, unrounded

• hot

• star

• watch

/i/

high, front, unrounded

• meet

• key

• leaf

/u/

high, back, rounded

• boot

• zoo

• shoe

/æ/

low, front, unrounded

• cat

• glass

• bad

Vowels

• a speech sound that’s formed w/o a significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal cavities, and that serves as a syllable nucleus

• they’re made in a relatively open airway

What three terms/features are used to describe vowel articulation?

• Tongue Height

• Tongue Advancement

• Lip Rounding

When describing a vowel’s tongue height, what are the different ways you can describe it?

• this means where the body of the tongue is

• Options:

  • high

  • mid

  • low

When describing a vowel’s tongue advancement, what are the different ways you can describe it?

• front

• central

• back

Cardinal Vowels

• vowels at the corners of the vowel quadrilateral

• the most extreme positions your tongue can go for a vowel

What are the cardinal vowels?

• /i/

• /u/

• /æ/

• /ɑ/

Coarticulation

• overlapping of movements in the production of two or more sounds

• there are different types of this

Nasalization

• an allophonic variation that results from coarticulation where a nasal consonant changes the quality of the vowels around it

• e.g., hand, hang, Alabama, standard

How would you indicate that you have a nasalized vowel in broad transcription and narrow transcription?

• Broad Transcription: /æ/

• Narrow Transcription: [æ̃]

/ɪ/

high-mid, front, unrounded

• itch

• myth

• went

/e/

mid, front, unrounded

• cake

• paper

• rain

/ɛ/

low-mid, front, unrounded

• edge

• egg

• lead

What are the front vowels?

• /i/

• /ɪ/

• /e/

• /ɛ/

• /æ/

True or False: Vowels are where we see dialect-differences

True

Are all front vowels rounded or unrounded?

Unrounded

What are the most common spellings for the /ɪ/ sound?

• itch

• myth

What are the most common spellings for the /e/ sound?

• cake

• paper

• rain

• play

What are the most common spellings for the /ɛ/ sound?

• edge

• egg

• lead

• many

What are the most common spellings for the /i/ sound?

1. he

2. peek

3. meat

What are the most common spellings for the /æ/ sound?

1. cat

2. half

3. laugh

What are the most common spellings for the /u/ sound?

1. boot

2. cute

3. soup

What are the most common spellings for the /ɑ/ sound?

1. hot

2. car

3. palm

Low-Back Vowel Merger

• the distinction between the /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ is being lost in some dialects

• e.g., happening in Boston, but in the rest of NE U.S. there’s still a distinction

Are all the back vowels rounded or unrounded?

All, except for /ɑ/, are rounded

What are the back vowels?

• /u/

• /ʊ/

• /o/

• /ɔ/

• /ɑ/

/ʊ/

high-mid, back, rounded

• hook

• put

• woman

/o/

mid, back, rounded

• go

• home

• boat

/ɔ/

low-mid, back, rounded

• caught

• law

• ball

What are the most common spellings for the /ʊ/ sound?

• hook

• put

• woman

• wolf

What are the most common spellings for the /o/ sound?

• go

• home

• boat

What are the most common spellings for the /ɔ/ sound?

• caught

• law

• ball

• thought

What is the name of the vowel /ə/?

Schwa

/ə/ is referred to as the ____ ____ and ____ ____ vowel

maximally central and maximally reduced

Is /ə/ stressed or unstressed?

unstressed

What is our most common vowel sound?

/ə/

Which vowel can be represented in writing by all five of the English vowels, even sometimes y

/ə/

In what kinds of syllables is /ə/ used in?

Weak, or unstressed, syllables

What is the main difference between /ə/ and /ʌ/?

Syllable stress

• /ə/ is in unstressed syllables (together)

• /ʌ/ is in stressed syllables (mother)

Syllable Stress

emphasis or prominence given to syllable relative to other syllables

Unstressed syllables tend to be…

• Quieter

• Shorter in duration

• Lower in pitch

Stressed syllables tend to be…

• Louder

• Longer in duration

• Higher in pitch

Vowel Reduction

when vowels become more centralized and take shorter time