English Vowels

English Vowels: Allophonic Variation and Dialect Differences

Transcribing English Vowels

  • Conventional Usage vs. Strict IPA Usage:
    • There are differences between conventional usage and strict IPA usage when transcribing English vowels.
  • English /ʌ/:
    • It is a central vowel.
    • It is not a truly back vowel like on the IPA chart.
  • English /u/:
    • It is usually not a fully back vowel (and similarly for /ʊ/).
    • It is more toward the central, with /u/ being almost [ʉ].
    • This is even more so in dialects such as Australian English, New Zealand English, and Scottish dialects.
  • Single Low Vowel:
    • Most languages of the world have just a single low vowel, which is phonetically central
    • This is approximately the first element of English /aɪ, aʊ/ (pie, cow).
    • This vowel sound is usually transcribed as [a].
    • Despite the fact that in strict IPA usage, “[a]” represents a front vowel. So when you see “[a]” in a data set from some unfamiliar language, you should NEVER assume that it is a front vowel; it almost certainly isn’t!

Things to Remember When Transcribing

  • [ ə ] and its Rhotacized Counterpart [ ə˞]:
    • They occur ONLY in UNstressed syllables.
    • Examples: telephone, vitamin, drama, potato, ago
    • Examples: velar, container, authors, entertaining, comfort, martyr
    • Non-rhotic dialects (e.g. most British English) have plain [ə] in both sets.
  • [ ə ] in Stressed Syllables:
    • If you think you’re hearing an [ ə ] in a stressed syllable, it is almost certainly [ ʌ ].
    • Examples: puddle, Douglas, love, toughened, industrial
  • Stressed-syllable Counterpart of [ ə˞ ]:
    • The stressed-syllable counterpart of [ ə˞ ] is [ ɜ˞].
    • Examples: earth, words, curtains, assertive, thirsty
    • Some analyses of English view [ ɜ˞ ]/[ ə˞ ] as essentially a syllabic /r/ ([ ɹ̩ ]).
    • Non-rhotic dialects (e.g. British) have plain [ ɜ ] here instead.

English Vowels: Some Allophony

  • Duration (Length):
    • Vowels are longer in open syllables than in closed syllables.
      • Example: sea vs. seam
    • Vowels are longer in stressed syllables than in unstressed syllables.
    • Vowels are shorter before a voiceless consonant than before a voiced consonant.
      • Example: seat vs. seed/seen; rate vs. raid/rain
  • Nasalization:
    • Vowels are nasalized (i.e. pronounced as nasal, rather than oral) when a nasal follows within the same syllable: [æ̃, ɛ̃, ɑ̃, …]
      • sea vs. seam
      • god vs. gone
      • cat vs. can’t
      • rug vs. rung

Vowels in Different Dialects

  • What contrasts does your dialect maintain?
  • Three sets of words with low(ish) back vowels:
    • (1) balm, father, guard, shark, … (PALM words)
    • (2) bomb, sod, bother, shock, … (LOT words)
    • (3) bought, sawed, author, chalk, … (THOUGHT words)
  • Different patterns of contrast:
    • (1) ≠ (2) ≠ (3) three-way contrast /ɑ/ /ɒ/ /ɔ/
    • (1–2) ≠ (3) two-way contrast /ɑ/ /ɔ/
    • (1–3) no contrast /ɑ/
  • Difference in the number of contrasts that are maintained (i.e. number of distinct phonemes)
    • /ɑ/ vs. /ɒ/ vs. /ɔ/ issue (e.g. balm – bomb – bought)
    • /ʌ/ vs. /ʊ/ (e.g. flood – good)
    • /ɪ/ vs. /ɛ/ before nasals (e.g. pin – pen)
    • presence vs. absence of /ɜ/ (e.g. bird – bud in non-rhotic dialects)
  • Some other r-related issues:
    • /ʊə/ vs. /ɔ/ (e.g. poor – pour in non-rhotic dialects)
    • Do you keep any of these distinct? (Some dialects do!):
      • marry
      • Mary
      • merry
  • Difference in terms of which (sets of) words contain which phoneme
    • bad, lamb, racket, strap, … (/æ/)
    • father, calm, cart, … (/ɑ/)
    • bath, grass, faster, laugh, … (/æ/ in some dialects, /ɑ/ in others)
    • either, neither (/i/ or /aɪ/?)
    • tomato (/eɪ/ or /ɑ/?)
    • sometimes variation within a single dialect
    • economics (/ˌikəˈnɑmɪks/ or /ˌɛkəˈnɑmɪks/?)
  • Difference in the precise phonetic realization of individual phonemes
    • /ʌ/ How low (vs. mid) is it?
    • /u, ʊ/ How back (vs. central) are they?
    • /æ/ How low is it? How front is it?
    • /ɔ/ How low is it?
    • phonetically, /ɔ/ in dialects that DON’T have an /ɒ/ ≈ /ɒ/ in dialects that DO have an /ɒ/ phoneme
    • Diphthongs: What vowel qualities do they start with?
      • How back is the first part of /oʊ/? Or of /aɪ/?)
  • A phoneme may have a different phonetic realization (allophone) in some particular environment
    • /æ/ before /ɡ, ŋ/ in B.C. English (bag vs. bad; rank vs. rant)
      • raised to somewhere betw. [æ] and [ɛ]; a bit diphthongized?
    • “Canadian Raising”: /aɪ, aʊ/ before voiceless consonants (ice vs. eyes; a life vs. alive; scout vs. cow; house vs. howl)
      • raised to [ʌɪ, ʌʊ] (or something roughly like that)