VOWELS

VOWELS

DEFINITION:

A letter of the alphabet (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) that represents a speech sound created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity

ARTICULATORY 

The articulatory features that distinguish different vowel sounds are said to determine the vowel's quality. Daniel Jones developed the cardinal vowel system to describe vowels in terms of the common features height (vertical dimension), backness (horizontal dimension) and roundedness (lip position). These three parameters are indicated in the schematic IPA vowel diagram on the right. There are however still more possible features of vowel quality, such as the velum position (nasality), type of vocal fold vibration (phonation), and tongue root position.

INTONATION

intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words.  It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody. Intonation patterns in some languages, such as Swedish and Swiss German, can lead to conspicuous fluctuations in pitch, giving speech a sing-song quality.

Fluctuations in pitch either involve a rising pitch or a falling pitch. Intonation is found in every language and even in tonal languages, but the realisation and function are seemingly different. It is used in non-tonal languages to add attitudes to words (attitudinal function) and to differentiate between wh-questions, yes-no questions, declarative statements, commands, requests, etc. Intonation can also be used for discourse analysis where new information is realised by means of intonation. It can also be used for emphatic/contrastive purposes.

All languages use pitch pragmatically as intonation — for instance for emphasis, to convey surprise or irony, or to pose a question. Tonal languages such as Chinese and Hausa use pitch for distinguishing words in addition to providing intonation.

Generally speaking, the following intonations are distinguished:

Rising Intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time [↗]

Falling Intonation means that the pitch decreases with time [↘]

Dipping Intonation falls and then rises [↘↗]

Peaking Intonation rises and then falls [↗↘]

Sounds	Letters	Examples	Notes
[i:]	e, ee ea ie, ei	be, eve, see, meet, sleep, meal, read, leave, sea, team, field, believe, receive	been [i]; bread, deaf [e]; great, break [ei]; friend [e]
[i]	i y	it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, system, busy, pity, sunny	machine, ski, liter, pizza [i:]
[e]	e ea	let, tell, press, send, end, bread, dead, weather, leather	meter [i:] sea, mean [i:]
[ei]	a ai, ay ei, ey ea	late, make, race, able, stable, aim, wait, play, say, day, eight, weight, they, hey, break, great, steak	said, says [e]; height, eye [ai]
[æ]	a	cat, apple, land, travel, mad; AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half
[a:]	ar a	army, car, party, garden, park, father, calm, palm, drama; BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half	war, warm [o:]
[ai]	i, ie y, uy	ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die, my, style, apply, buy, guy
[au]	ou ow	out, about, house, mouse, now, brown, cow, owl, powder	group, soup [u:] know, own [ou]
[o]	o	not, rock, model, bottle, copy
[o:]	or o aw, au ought al, wa-	more, order, cord, port, long, gone, cost, coffee, law, saw, pause, because, bought, thought, caught, hall, always, water, war, want	work, word [ər]
[oi]	oi, oy	oil, voice, noise, boy, toy
[ou]	o oa, ow	go, note, open, old, most, road, boat, low, own, bowl	do, move [u:] how, owl [au]
[yu:]	u ew eu ue, ui	use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune, few, dew, mew, new, euphemism, feud, neutral, hue, cue, due, sue, suit
[u:]	u o, oo ew ue, ui ou	rude, Lucy, June, do, move, room, tool, crew, chew, flew, jewel, blue, true, fruit, juice, group, through, route; AmE: duty, new, sue, student	guide, quite [ai]; build [i]
[u]	oo u ou	look, book, foot, good, put, push, pull, full, sugar, would, could, should
neutral sound [ə]	u, o ou a, e o, i	gun, cut, son, money, love, tough, enough, rough, about, brutal, taken, violent, memory, reason, family
[ər]	er, ur, ir or, ar ear	serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir, work, word, doctor, dollar, heard, earn, earnest, earth	heart, hearth [a:]