LLE11121 - English Language (Phonetics and Phonology)

Instructor: Dr. Octavian More, Lecturer

Units 6 - 7:
Vowels vs Consonants
The English Vowel System

Unit objectives:

i. discuss the differences between vowels and consonants

ii. provide a classification of English vowels based on their acoustic and functional properties
iii. explain the design principles and the practical applications of the system of cardinal vowels
iv. examine the articulatory and functional characteristics of the English monophthongs
v. examine the articulatory and functional characteristics of the English diphthongs and
tripthongs

Key-words: vowel, consonant, cardinal vowel, front vowel, central vowel, back vowel, open vowel, close vowel,
distribution, vowel quality, vowel quantity, schwa, vowel reduction, diphthong, triphthong, smoothing

Unit outline:

1. Criteria of differentiating between vowels and consonants

2. Means of classifying (English) vowels
3. The system of cardinal vowels
4. Phonetic, phonological and orthographic characteristics of the English monophthongs
5. Phonetic, phonological and orthographic characteristics of the English diphthongs and
triphthongs

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Glossary:

monophthong = a vowel sound realised through a single, continuous articulatory

movement;
diphthong = a vowel sound realised through the combination of two sets of
vocalic characteristics, in a single, continuous articulatory
movement, and within the boundaries of the same syllable;
triphthong = a vowel sound realised through the combination of three sets of
vocalic characteristics, in a single, continuous articulatory
movement, and within the boundaries of the same syllable;
schwa = the term used for the vowel [ǝ] (from the Hebrew word
meaning “weak”); it indicates the special acoustic features of this
vowel in English, at the same time pointing at its peculiar
phonemic status
distribution = the position (in a word or in a syllable) a speech sound is
allowed to occur in a language
(vowel) quantity = the perceived duration of a sound, leading to a distinction of the
type long – short
quality = the set of distinctive articulatory features of a speech sound,
whereby it is identified as part of class of sound (i.e., the features
responsible for its phonemic status in a language)

Questions:
1. What is the difference between /b/ and /ʊ/? What articulatory movements are responsible for
it?
2. Which class of sounds can form syllables in Romanian? Is the situation the same in English?
3. What are the acoustic forms of the article in English? How are they used in connected speech?
4. What is the difference between /i:/ and /u:/? What articulatory movements are responsible for
it?
5. What is the acoustic / articulatory difference between the Romanian vowel /i/ and the English
vowel /ɪ/? Compare their respective realisations in words like “copii” (Rou.) and “copy”
(Eng.).
6. Which class of English sounds are normally limited in their distribution to initial and medial
positions in words? Which English vowel phoneme can only appear in medial position in a
word? Give examples to support your answers.
7. What happens to the vowel /ɔ:/ in “board” when this morpheme appears in the compound
“cupboard”? What happens to the diphthong /ǝʊ/ in “photo” in the derivative “photography”?
What accounts for the change?
8. What is the relationship between the English vowels /ǝ/ and /ɜ:/ in terms of distribution?

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1. Criteria of differentiating between vowels and consonants
The differences between vowels and consonants, as well as the most adequate scientific and empirical grounds on which
they can be explained, represented, for a long time, a constant preoccupation within the field of general phonetics.
Phoneticians have suggested different approaches to this question. Most of these, as can be seen in the following, proved
imperfect (since they insisted on various acoustic or functional peculiarities of vowels and consonants, which, while in
most of the cases representing pertinent observations, could not capture the essential difference between these categories
of sounds).

Criterion Essence Shortcomings/Criticism/Remarks

1. Etymology / “Con” + “sonare” (Latin: “to sound  it is impossible to prove that in the
Pronounceability in with”). Consonants are supposed to production of a consonant another, distinct,
isolation be sounds whose articulation is sound is involved (consider, for,
accompanied by another sound (a instance, /h/)
vowel).  any sound can be articulated in isolation
2. Semantic The acoustic segments that can form  both vowels and consonants can form
value (Hjelmslev) notional units by themselves should notional units by themselves (as proof,
be considered vowels; the others are consider interjections: “oh!” /əʊ/ or
consonants “ssh!” /ʃ/)
3. Sonority (D. Jones) The most sonorous acoustic  all sounds (whether vowels or consonants)
segments should be considered possess varying degrees of sonority (there
vowels, the rest would be consonants is no “inaudible” sound). Long vowels are
the most sonorous units, followed by short
ones, then the voiced consonants
(e.g., /b/, /d/, /g/ etc.) and the voiceless
consonants (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/). Furthermore,
in different phonetic environments, the
sonority of a sound may change (e.g., in the
neighbourhood of voiceless consonants,
vowels tend to be less sonorous than in a
voiced environment), proving that the
criterion is of relative, not absolute value.
4. Syllabicity As a consequence of sonority, vowels  there are languages with which syllables
present a theoretically higher can be formed exclusively by acoustic units
availability to form syllables (tonal that are universally regarded as consonants
units) without the involvement of (e.g., Chinook, Salish - languages of the
any other sound; therefore any sound American North-West);
that is capable of forming a syllable  even in English, a series of consonants
by itself should be considered a (belonging to the group of nasals and
vowel, while one that cannot form called “syllabic”), may sometimes form
syllables should be regarded a syllables without the help of vowels:
consonant)
/m/, /n/, /ɳ/ and /l/ in word-final position,
when preceded by another consonant, e.g.,
“rhy-thm” /ˈrɪˍðm/, “bu-tton” /ˈbʌˍtn/,
“ba-con” /ˈbeɪˍkɳ/, “lit-tle” /ˈlɪˍtl/; /r/ in
medial position, e.g., “li-bra-ry” (in rapid
speech) /ˈlaɪˍbrˍrɪ/

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Criterion Essence Shortcomings/Criticism/Remarks
5. Context (M. Wise) If the article is pronounced /ðɪ/ or  though this criterion is satisfactory with
/ən/, the sound after it is a vowel, if it native speakers of English (who intuitively
is pronounced /ðə/ or /ə/ the sound know when to use one or the other acoustic
that follows is a consonant; e.g. /ðɪ form of the articles, depending on the
phonetic context), it does not work with
ˈæpl/, /ən ˈæpl/ but /ðə ˈmæn/, /ə
foreign speakers (it is in fact used in the
ˈmæn/ opposite way, to teach the right form of the
article, depending on whether the following
sound is a vowel or a consonant)
6. Acoustic-articulatory If in the articulation of the sound the  this is the only criterion that can
properties air-stream is (partially or completely) adequately indicate the difference
obstructed by an impediment between vowels and consonants: in the
(obstacle), the sound is a consonant; case of any vowel, the impediment is
if there is no impediment in the present at some level (even with the
articulation of the sound, it is a glottal /h/, arguably the sound of “pure
vowel breathing”, there is a narrowing of the
glottis, causing the air to be released with
friction); consequently, any consonant will
have a point of articulation (vowels, by
contrast, do not have points of articulation)

2. Means of classifying (English) vowels

The universally valid principles used by phoneticians for classifying vowels can be applied, almost
without exception, to classifying the vowel phonemes of English too. However, the position of the
uvula (and soft palate), whereby vowels are distinguished into oral or nasal sounds (raised,
respectively, lowered position of the uvula), applicable to many languages (e.g., French), does not
bear any relevance to English vowel phonemes (all of them are oral sounds; they may be nasalised, in
a nasal environment, but this is an allophonic feature – i.e. a nasal variant of the same vowel phoneme
is realised in such cases, not a distinct nasal phoneme, e.g., /æ/ in “man” or /ɪ/ in “enquire”, etc.).
Criterion Remarks
1. Stability of articulation  Monophthongs (/i:/, /ɪ/, /æ/, /e/, /ɑ:/, /ɒ/, /ɔ:/, /ʊ/, /u:/, /ʌ/, /ɜ:/ and /ǝ/ are
stable sounds
 Diphthongs (/aɪ/, /eɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aʊ/, /ǝʊ/, /ɪǝ/ /eǝ/, /ʊǝ/) and triphthongs
(/aɪǝ/, /aʊǝ/) are unstable (gliding) sounds; in their production the tongue
performs a gliding movement from one vowel position to another
2. Position (shape) of the lips  The lips can be in a neutral position (/ɪ/, /æ/, /e/, /ǝ/, /ʌ/), can be spread
(/i:/ and /ɜ:/ or rounded (/ɒ/, /ɔ:/, /ʊ/, /u:/) (the degree of rounding with
these last four vowels increases in direct relation to the height of the vowel,
the least rounded being the first, the most rounded the last of this series)
3. Duration  Vowels can be short (e.g., /ɪ/, /æ/, etc.) or long (e.g., /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, etc.). In
present-day English, length (duration) is a non-distinctive feature, meaning
that it is impossible to find a vowel pair whose members are distinguished
(i.e. as different phonemes) solely based on the difference in their duration.
In addition, the length of the vowel may change in different phonetic
environments: long vowels tend to be longer in final position, shorter
before voiced consonants and even shorter before voiceless consonants.
4. Muscular effort  Muscular effort is in direct ratio to duration: short vowels require less effort
in their articulation (they are lax), while long ones require more effort (they
are tense)
5. Distribution  English vowels present certain restrictions regarding the position in a word
in which they may occur, as follows:

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 ◦ short vowels appear in initial and medial positions, as a rule; the
exceptions are /ǝ/ (it can appear in any position, but only in unstressed
syllables) and /ɪ/ (it can appear in final position too, but only if the
respective syllable is unstressed); the vowel /ʊ/ can only appear in
medial position (there is no word in contemporary English that begins
or ends in this sound); the /ʊ/ sound which may occasionally be heard
in “to” /tǝ/ is a rounded allophone of the phoneme /ǝ/ (phonemic
transcription actually reflects this)
◦ long vowels can appear in any position in a word, except for the
diphthong /ʊǝ/, which does not occur in initial position (a consequence
of the fact that /ʊ/ does not occur in initial position either)
6. Part of the tongue that moves  Vowels can be

◦ front (the blade/front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the

hard palate): /i:/, /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/
◦ back (the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the soft
palate): /ɑ:/, /ɒ/, /ɔ:/, /ʊ/, /u:/
◦ central (the central part of the tongue is raised): /ʌ/, /ɜ:/, /ǝ/
7. Height of the raised part of the  Vowels can be1
tongue
◦ close (or “high”): /i:/, /u:/
◦ half-close (or “mid-high”): /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ɜ:/
◦ half-open (or “mid-low”): /e/, /ɒ/, /ɔ:/, /ǝ/
◦ open (or “low”): /æ/, /ɑ:/, /ʌ/

Note: in present-day English, the quality (or the set of qualitative features) of any vowel is
represented by the combination of the last two types of features (i.e. the part of the tongue that moves
and the height of the raised part of the tongue). For example, “hit” /hɪt/ and “heat” /hi:t/ are a minimal
pair because of the distinctive opposition between /ɪ/ and /i:/, which differ in quality, not only in
quantity (duration): the first of these is front-centralised (regarding the part of the tongue that moves
in its articulation) and almost half-close (regarding the height of the raised part of the tongue), while
the second (according to the same criteria) is fully front and almost close. Length is a non-distinctive
feature in English, while other characteristics enumerated above (e.g., position of the lips, muscular
effort, distribution, etc.) are secondary ones, always accompanying the qualitative features. For a
clearer picture of the differences between the English monophthongs, examine their placement on the
vowel diagram included further on in this unit.

3. The system (diagram) of cardinal vowels

In order to compare the qualitative features of vowels (in different languages or the same language),
phoneticians have designed a system, based on reference points, with the help of which such features
can be pinpointed with some precision. The system proposed by the English phonetician Daniel Jones
has been accepted as the standard in this respect.
The shape and relative proportions of the diagram are based on an abstract image of the mouth cavity,
where the tongue (the active articulator) is located, and where it performs two types of movement (in
fact, always a combination of them): vertical and horizontal. The four corners of the diagram represent
absolute and ideal vowel positions (counter-clockwise: highest and most front, lowest and most front,
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The inclusion of monophthongs into these categories is approximate at this point and done only for the sake of
realtively brute classification. Most of these vowels actually occupy intermediate positions (e.g., /i:/, /u:/ are almost
close, /e/ is between half-close and half-open, /æ/ is between half-open and open, etc. For a precise illustration of their
articulatory characteristics see the diagram included further on in this unit.

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lowest and most back, highest and most back) – without creating a point of contact, or a point of
articulation, in which case, the resulting sound, due to the impediment in the way of the air-stream,
would be a consonant. These “extreme” positions are represented by cardinal vowels 1, 4, 5 and 8.
Equidistant from them, four other cardinal vowel positions are placed, according to the height of the
raised part of the tongue (front and half-close, front and half-open, back and half-open, back and half-
closed). These intermediate vowel positions are occupied by cardinal vowels 2, 3, 6 and 7.

Example of interpretation:
 with cardinal vowel no. 1 (i), the tongue moves in the vertical plane, reaching the highest
possible point in the mouth cavity (without creating an obstacle in the way of the air-stream)
and in the horizontal plane, reaching the most front point (again, without creating an obstacle
in the way of the air-stream)
 with cardinal vowel no. 5 (ɑ), the tongue moves in the vertical plane, reaching the lowest
possible point in the mouth cavity (without creating an obstacle in the way of the air-stream)
and in the horizontal plane, reaching the most back point (again, without creating an obstacle
in the way of the air-stream)

Task: describe the vowel features embodied in the other cardinal vowel positions.
Applications:
As mentioned above, the qualitative features of any vowel, from any language, can be illustrated by
placing it on this diagram, relative to these reference points represented by the cardinal vowels. Thus,
the system serves, primarily, a descriptive and taxonomical purpose, but it can also be used for other
purposes:
 making comparisons regarding the unique features of vowel phonemes of the same language

 teaching the articulatory differences between similar vowels of different languages

 illustrating the allophonic realisations of vowels relative to the standard phonemes, etc..

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4. Phonetic, phonological and orthographic characteristics of the English
monophthongs

front back
central close
i u
[u:]

[i:] half-close [ʊ]

e o
[ɪ]

half-open
[e] ɛ ɔ [ɔ:]

open
a
[æ] ɑ [ɒ]
[ɜ:]
[ʌ] [ǝ] [ɑ:]

Study the above diagram, then answer the following questions regarding the qualitative features of
English monophthongs:

1. What is the only qualitative difference between /e/ and /æ/?

2. What are the qualitative differences between /ɪ / and /æ/?
3. What are the qualitative differences between /ʊ/ and /u:/?
4. What are the non-distinctive differences between /ʊ/ and /u:/?

1. [i:] front, almost close, long, tense, the lips are spread, there are no restrictions in its distribution;
2. [ɪ] front-retracted, almost half-close, short, lax, the lips are neutral, there are no restrictions in its
distribution;
3. [e] front, between half-open and half-close, short, lax, the lips are neutral, its distribution is
restricted to initial and medial position;
4. [æ] front, almost open, short, lax, the lips are neutral, its distribution is restricted to initial and
medial position;
5. [ɑ:] back-advanced, open, long, tense, the lips are neutral, there are no restrictions in its
distribution;
6. [ɒ] (almost) back, almost open, short, lax, the lips are slightly rounded, its distribution is restricted
to initial and medial position;
7. [ɔ:] (almost) back, between half-open and half-close, long, tense, the lips are more rounded than in
the preceding case, there are no restrictions in its distribution;

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8. [ʊ] back-advanced, almost half-close, short, lax, the lips are more rounded than in the preceding
case, its distribution is restricted to medial position;
9. [u:] back-advanced (but less advanced than the previous vowel), almost close, long, tense, the lips
are more rounded than in the preceding case, there are no restrictions in its distribution;
10. [ʌ] almost central, almost half-open, short, lax, the lips are neutral, its distribution is restricted
to initial and medial position;
11. [ɜ:] central, almost half-close, long, tense, the lips are spread, its distribution is normally
restricted to accentuated (stressed) syllables;
12. [ǝ] central, between half-open and half-close, short, lax, the lips are neutral. It is called the
schwa (Hebrew: “schwa” = weak). In an unstressed context all the English monophthongs and
diphthongs are usually reduced to this vowel (in some forms of RP, triphthongs may be reduced to
the schwa too). It appears in unaccented (unstressed) syllables.

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Tongue position Duration Muscular effort Shape of lips Distribution Special remarks

[i:] front, almost close long tense spread all basic positions More close than the Romanian /i/
/ˈi:zi/, /ti:m/, /ti:/

[ɪ] front-retracted short lax neutral all basic positions, but in More centralised than the Romanian /i/; attention
(“front- final position only in required in its articulation;
centralised”), almost unstressed syllables In final position it may sound more open, relatively
half close /ɪn/, /sɪt/, /ˈlɪlɪ/ similar to /e/, e.g., /sɪtɛ/, /prɪtɛ/

[e] front, between half- short lax neutral only in initial and medial Attention required in its articulation: foreign
close and half-open positions speakers should ensure there is a qualitative
difference between /e/ and /æ/
/ˈevrɪ/, /let/

[æ] front, between half- short lax neutral only in initial and medial 1. Attention required in its articulation: foreign
open and open positions speakers should ensure there is a qualitative
/ˈæpl/, /mæn/ difference between /e/ and /æ/;
2. In “ask words” it is in free variation with /ɑ:/

[ɑ:] back-advanced long tense very slightly all basic positions 1. Attention required in its articulation: while in
(“back-centralised”), rounded /ɑ:m/, /hɑ:d/, /stɑ:/ Romanian the /a/ vowel is central, in English it is
open back-advanced (almost back);
2. In “ask words” it is in free variation with /æ/

[ɒ] back-advanced short lax slightly only in initial and medial In American English, it is realised as a longer
(“back-centralised”) rounded positions allophone
(less advanced than /ɒn/, /hɒt/
[ɑ:], almost open

[ɔ:] back-advanced, long tense rounded all basic positions With some speakers, may be in free variation with
between half-open (more /ˈɔ:ʧǝd/, /spɔ:t/, /bɪˈfɔ:/ the diphthong /ʊǝ/:
and half-close rounded than “sure” /ʃʊǝ/ or /ʃɔ:/;
for [ɒ]) “poor” /pʊǝ/ or /pɔ:/

[ʊ] back-advanced short lax rounded only in medial position If heard in final position, it should be regarded as a
(more advanced than (more /pʊt/ more rounded allophone of /ǝ/
[ɔ:]), almost half- rounded than
close for [ɔ:])

[u:] back-advanced (less long tense (more all basic positions In some words, it is in free variation with /ʊ/ (when
advanced than [ʊ], rounded than /u:z/, /ru:t/, /Ɵru:/ preceded by /r/):
almost close for [ʊ]) “broom” /bru:m/ or /brʊm/
“groom” /gru:m/ or /grʊm/

[ʌ] almost central, short lax neutral only in initial and medial If heard in final position, it should be regarded as a
almost half-open positions more open allophone of /ǝ/
/ˈʌvn/, /ˈmʌnɪ/

[ɜ:] central, almost half- long tense spread all basic positions Appears in accentuated (stressed) positions (full
close /ɜ:n/, /hɜ:d/, /prɪ'fɜ:/ stress or secondary stress)

[ǝ] central, between long lax neutral all basic positions but 1. Appears only in unaccented (unstressed)
half-open and half- only in unstressed positions;
close syllables 2. Has three acoustically distinguishable
/'ǝˍfekt/, /'leˍmǝn/, allophones:
- in initial and medial positions, it resembles /ɜ:/;
/'beˍtǝ/
- in some words, in final position it may sound
more open (almost identical to /ʌ/); e.g., “better”,
“never”
- before the velar consonants /k/ and /g/, or
sometimes in final position, it may sound more
rounded, similar to /ʊ/: “to go”, “to come”

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 Orthographic peculiarities of English monophthongs
Vovel Most common graphical Other representations Unusual spellings
representation
(based on the “graphical rules”)
[i:] “e” in an open syllable: “me”, “be”,  “ee”: “tree”, “see”, “meet” “quay”,
“fever”  “ee” in suffixes (stressed syllables): “people”
“absentee”, “referee”
 “ea”: “sea”, “read”, “meat”
 “ie”: “piece”, “niece”, “field”
 “ei”/“ey”: “ceiling”, “key”
 “i”: “police”, “ski”, “antique”
 “oe” (words of Greek origin):
“Oedipus”, “oesophagus”
 “ae” (words of Latin origin):
“Caesar”, “paean”
[ɪ] “i” or “y” in a closed syllable: “hit”,  “ui”: “guilt”, “biscuit” “England”,
“myth”, “symbol”  “e” (in final unstressed position in “pigeon”,
words of Greek origin): “minute”,
“synechdoche”, “apostrophe” “character”
 “ee” (in final unstressed position): “sieve”
“coffee”, “yankee” “breeches”
“forehead”
 “ey” (in final unstressed position):
“monkey”, “money”
 “ie” (as a suffix, unstressed
syllable): “Charlie”, “auntie”
 some participles: “dogged”,
“learned”, “wicked”
[e] “e” in a closed syllable: “pen”, “left”  “ea”: “realm”, “steady”,
“endeavour”
 “ai”: “again”, “against”, “said”,
“waistcoat”
 “eo”: “Geoffrey”, “leopard”,
“jeopardy”
 “ei”: “Leicester”, “leisure” (BE)
 “u”: “bury”
 “ue”: “guess”, “guest”
 “ay”: “says”
 “ie”: “friend”
[æ] “a” in a closed syllable “fat”, “cattle”  “a” in an open syllable (rarely): “Balaam”,
“ˈfa-mily”, “ˈca-bin”, “ˈca-mel” “Caedmon”,
 “a” in “ask words”, in American “Aelfred”
English (actually, typical closed
syllables)
[ɑ:] “a” in the VWL+R type of syllable: “far”,  “a” + silent l: “half”, “calf” “are”,
“hard”  “a” in “ask words”, in British “memoir”,
English (exception to the graphical “reservoir”,
rule for closed syllables) “bourgeois”,
 in some loan words: “drama”, “genre”
“garage”, “pyjamas”
 “er” in a few words in British
English: “clerk”, “Derby”,
“sergeant”, “Berkeley” (in
American English the sound in
these words is /ɜ:/)
[ɒ] “o” in a closed syllable: “lot”, “spot”  “o” in a graphically open syllable: “cough”,
“gone”, “shone” “knowledge”,
 “au” in a few words: “sausage”, “yacht”,
“cauliflower”, “laurel”, “because” “encore”,
“rendez-vous”
[ɔ:] “o” in the VWL+R type of syllable: “nor”,  “aw”: “law”, “gnaw”, “saw” “sword”,
“sport”, “form“  “au”: “cause”, “pause” “water”,
 “au” before silent “gh”: “taught”, “broad”,
“o” in the VWL+R+VWL /

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 Orthographic peculiarities of English monophthongs
Vovel Most common graphical Other representations Unusual spellings
representation
(based on the “graphical rules”)
VWL+VWL+R type of syllable: “shore”, “caught” “drawers”,
“be'fore”, “four”, “door”, “roar”  “ou” before silent “gh”: “brought”, “George”,
“fought“ “Sean”
 “a” before “l + cons.”: “all”,
“small”, “talk”, “scald”, “falcon”
[ʊ] “u” in a closed syllable: “put”, “push”  “oo” + k: “book”, “look”, “nook”, “bosom”,
“brook” “woman”,
 “oo” + cons.“: “foot”, “wolf”,
“neighbourhood” “could”, “should”, “would”
[u:] “u” in an open syllable: “mute”, “tune”  “oo” when not followed by “k”: “two”,
“cool”, “loose” “beauty”,
 “ou”: “wound”, “through” “shoe”
 “ew”: “new”, “dew”, “jewel”,
“view”
 “eu”: “neutral”, “feud”
 “ui”: “fruit”, “suit”, “juice”
[ʌ] “u” in a closed syllable: “hut”, “funny”  “o”: “none”, “money”, “mother”, “blood”, “flood”,
“brother”, “onion”, “oven” “does”
 “ou”: “country”, “couple”, “rough”,
“trouble”
[ɜ:] “e” in the VWL+R type of syllable:  “ear” +cons.: “heard”, “earn”, “colonel”,
“herd”, “preˈfer” “earth” “attorney”,
 “our”: “journey”, “scourge” “were”
“i”/“y” in the VWL+R type of syllable:
“firm”, “sir”, “'myrtle“  “eur” (words of French origin):
“amateur”, “provocateur”,
“u” in the VWL+R type of syllable: “chauffeur”
“turn”, “urn”, “fur”
[ǝ] theoretically, any vowel letter in an
unstressed syllable; more commonly,
however, “e” or “o” in an unstressed
syllable: “afˈfect”, “proˈfessor”,
“ˈhappiness”

Tasks:

1. Write the phonemic transcription of the words given as examples in the above table.
2. For each orthographic representation, add two more examples of your own. Write the phonemic transcription of
your examples. Note that in some cases it is not possible to provide further examples.

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Special notes on the English schwa /ǝ/:

1. Due to its phonetic peculiarities (it is the weakest vowel of the language), in present-day
English, the schwa /ǝ/ has a special status:

 it is an independent phoneme, restricted in use to unstressed syllables. As a result, it is

impossible to find it in distinctive opposition with /ɜ:/, which is restricted to stressed syllables.
However, it can enter distinctive a opposition with other vowels (theoretically, any vowel, in
practice, however, almost exclusively, /ɪ/):
“affect” /ǝˈfekt/ – “effect” /ɪˈfekt/
“proceed” /prǝˈsi:d/ - “precede” /prɪˈsi:d/, etc.

 it is an allophone of another vowel phoneme, in some examples of free variation:

“kindness” /ˈkaindnɪs/ or /ˈkaindnǝs/
“forward” /ˈfɔ:ˌwɜ:d/ or /ˈfɔ:wǝd/
“mandatory” /ˈmændǝt(ǝ)rɪ/ (BE) or /ˈmændǝˌto:rɪ/ (AE)
 it is a substitute for another vowel as a result of vowel reduction, a phonetic phenomenon
occurring in unstressed syllables, such as when an independent morpheme becomes a bound
one (in derivatives and compounds), whereby a vowel loses its quality and is replaced by the
schwa:
“man” /ˈmæn/ but “postman” /ˈpǝʊstˍmǝn/
“photo” /ˈfǝʊˍtǝʊ/ but “photographer” /fǝˍˈtɒˍgrǝˍfǝ/
“politics” /ˈpɒˍlɪˍtɪks/ but “political” /pǝˍˈlɪˍtɪˍkǝl/
“berry” /ˈberɪ/ but “strawberry” /ˈstrɔ:ˍbǝˍrɪ/
“board” /ˈbɔ:d/ but “cupboard” /ˈkʌˍbǝd/

2. It has to be noted that despite the widespread occurrence of reduced vowels in unstressed
positions, there are cases when vowel reduction is not possible, and a full quality vowel is used:
“phoneme” /ˈfǝʊˍni:m/, “aspect” /ˈæsˍpekt/, “syntax” /ˈsɪnˍtæks/,
“climax” /ˈklaɪˍmæks/, “extract” /ˈekˍstrækt/, “diphthong” /ˈdifˍɵɒɳ/,
“triphthong” /ˈtrɪfˍɵɒɳ/, “robot” /ˈrǝʊˍbɒt/, “bygones” /ˈbaɪˍgɒnz/,
“cannot” /ˈkæˍnɒt/, “dialogue” /ˈdaiǝˍlɒg/, “chaos” /ˈkeɪˍɒs/,
“blackboard” /ˈblækˍbɔ:d/, “someone” /ˈsʌmˍwʌn/ (it can be argued that in
these cases, the syllables in question have a secondary stress, which prevents
vowel reduction from taking place)

3. Another fact to remember is that the schwa may be omitted, mainly in suffixes, but also in
other syllables in word final position (or between two occurrences of /r/, in medial position):
“nation” /ˈneɪˍʃǝn/ or /ˈneɪˍʃn/, “temporary” /ˈtemˍprǝˍrɪ/ or /ˈtemˍprˍrɪ/,
“administration” /ædˍmɪˍnɪˍˈstreɪˍʃǝn/ or /æd ˍmɪˍnɪˍˈstreɪˍʃn/
“political” /pǝˍˈlɪˍtɪˍkǝl/ or /pǝˍˈlɪtɪˍkl/, “essential” /ɪˍˈsenˍʃǝl/ or /ɪˍˈsenˍʃl/

12
Note that the latter phonetic variants will make use of a syllabic consonant for
the nucleus of the syllable, once the schwa has been omitted (the consonant in
question will be a syllabic allophone of /n/, /l/, /ɳ/, /m/ or /r/ – see above the
criterion of syllabicity, discussed in the context of examining the means of
differentiating vowels from consonants).

There are two phonetic contexts which prevent the omission of the schwa:

i. when the schwa occurs between two nasal consonants:

“lemon” /ˈleˍmǝn/ not /ˈleˍmn/, “cannon” /ˈkæˍnǝn/ not /ˈkæˍnn/

ii. when it occurs in the “nasal _ plosive + nasal” environment:

“London” /ˈlʌnˍdǝn/ not /ˈlʌnˍdn/, “Brandon” /ˈbrænˍdǝn/ not /ˈbrænˍdn/

13
5. Phonetic, phonological and orthographic characteristics of the English
diphthongs and triphthongs
As mentioned in a previous section of this unit, diphthongs and triphthongs are gliding sounds,
combining two or three (perceivably) distinct vocalic articulations (two / three sets of articulatory
features, respectively, two / three different articulatory moments) into a single acoustic segment,
located within the boundaries of the same syllable, and functioning as a single phonological unit (a
compound vocalic phoneme). These are prerequisites for any sound to be considered a diphthong or
triphthong in English. Thus, the following sequences are not to be considered diphthongs or
triphthongs in English, since their combination does not fulfil the above enumerated preconditions:

 “few” /fju:/, “once” /wʌns/ – in both cases, the combination consists of a semivowel (/j/
or /w/) and a vowel, not two full quality vowels; in other languages, including Romanian, a
diphthong is interpreted as a combination of a vowel and semivowel within the same syllable,
functioning as one single phoneme (e.g., the Romanian /ai/, whose second component is
commonly described as a “semivowel”, though in terms of articulatory characteristics, it is
purely a vocalic sound, like the English /i/, since in its articulation there is no clear obstruction
in the way of the air-stream, as is the case, by contrast, of /w/ or /j/ – the latter being actually
included by some phoneticians in the category of fricative consonants);

 “dual” /ˈdju:ˍǝl/, “cruel” /ˈkru:ˍǝl/, “fewer” /ˈfju:ˍǝ/, “higher” /ˈhaiˍǝ/ – the first three examples
are sequences of two independent monophthongs, located in different syllables, while in the
last case, there is a combination of a diphthong and a monophthong, not a triphthong (the
words are formed with suffixes, which represent distinct syllabic units). The vowel sequences
in these and such examples are diphonemic;

 “shield” /ʃi:ǝld/, “realm” /reǝlm/ – in these examples, there is no phonetically distinct second
vowel, the apparent schwa resulting from the phonetic environment (the velar, or “back”
quality of /l/, whose articulation is anticipated by the vowels /i:/ or /e/; in other words, these
are slightly diphthongised allophones of /i:/ or /e/, not diphthongs).

Classification of diphthongs:

Phoneticians have suggested different taxonomies for the compound vocalic sounds, based on the
articulatory characteristics of the component parts and the duration of the gliding movement. For
descriptive purposes, the vocalic part characterised by greater loudness (and stronger articulatory
force) has been called nucleus, while the weaker one, glide. All the diphthongs and triphthongs of
present-day English have in common the placement of the stronger (tense) component before the
weaker (lax) one; in other words, they are vocalic units of the type nucleus + glide (the diphthongs) or
nucleus + glide + coda/trail (the triphthongs; it should be noted that the glide of the English
triphthongs is the weakest element of the sequence).

In the table below, you can find some of the common criteria taken into account by specialists when
distinguishing between diphthongs:

14
Criterion Typology

1. Articulatory characteristics of a. Closing diphthongs: the tongue is in a higher position

the component vowels: with the second component of the diphthong:

/ǝʊ/, /aʊ/, /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/

b. Opening diphthongs: the tongue is in a lower position

position with the second component of the diphthong:

e.g., Rou.: /ia/ “ea”, /iu/ “fiu”

In present-day English, there are no opening diphthongs.

c. Centring diphthongs: the second component is a central

vowel (in English, it is the schwa)
/iǝ/, /eǝ/, /ʊǝ/
Note that the second component of these English diphthongs
is /ǝ/, which is a lower vowel than /ɪ/, /e/ or /ʊ/, so they
could be considered opening diphthongs too. However, as
they share certain characteristics that opening diphthongs (in
other languages) do not, it is more convenient to treat them
as a separate class (more on this, later).
2. Duration of the gliding a. Narrow diphthongs: the gliding movement is relatively
movement / the articulatory short
distance between the component
e.g., /eɪ/, /ǝʊ/
vowels
b. Wide diphthongs: the gliding movement is relatively
long
e.g., /aɪ/, /ɔi/
3. Arrangement of nucleus and a. Falling diphthongs: nucleus (tense) + glide (lax)
glide All English diphthongs are of this type.
b. Rising diphthongs: glide (lax) + nucleus (tense)
e.g., Rou.: /ia/, “ea”, /io/ “Ion” (a number of diphthongs in
Romanian are of this type).

15
Notes:
1. Given their gliding character, their representation on the diagram of vowels is made by using
the symbols corresponding to the component elements, linked by an arrow that indicates the
direction of the gliding movement (see the diagram included further on). With some English
diphthongs the articulation of the glide may differ from that of the independent monophthong (due
to the fact that the glide is a weaker vowel). In such cases, it is said that the glide is not fully
“reached” along the gliding movement (e.g., /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /aʊ/).

2. As they are compound vocalic sounds, consisting of several articulatory moments, from a
durational point of view, diphthongs and triphthongs are to be treated as long sounds. However, as
is the case of all English vowels, length is not a phonemic (distinctive, or qualitative)
characteristic of them. In fact, similar to the case of the monophthongs, the length of a diphthong
or triphthong is variable, being dependent on the phonetic environment: they are the longest in
final position, relatively shorter before a voiced consonant and the shortest before a voiceless one.

3. Consequent on their longer duration, English diphthongs and triphthongs display the same
peculiarity in terms of distribution as the long monophthongs: there is no restriction regarding
their occurrence in different positions in a word. The exception is /ʊǝ/, which, given the restriction
affecting /ʊ/ (as we know, it does not occur in word initial or word final positions), cannot, in its
turn, occur at the beginning of an English word.

4. The sequence /ɔǝ/ has lost its independent phonological status in contemporary English.
Though it may be heard with some speakers, it should be interpreted as an allophone of the
monophthong /ɔ:/, as in the following examples:

“door” /dɔǝ/, for the standard pronunciation /dɔ:/

“shore” /ʃɔǝ/, for the standard pronunciation /ʃɔ:/, etc.

Such phonetic variants are more common with the older generation of speakers of British English
or in the case of some regional accents. For example, with many American speakers, the
monophthong /o:/ is diphthongised to /o:ǝ/ in such words, the articulation of /ɔ:/ anticipating the
post-alveolar (more front) and retroflex quality of the consonant /ɻ/ (the typical American
realisation of /r/), to the extent that a centralised and more rounded allophone is used, which
exhibits a slight diphthongal characteristic.

5. With some speakers, and in some phonetic environments, some of the English diphthongs as
well as the triphthongs (/aɪǝ/, /aʊǝ/) may be “smoothed”, or replaced by long monophthongs. In
such cases, the resulting vowel sounds should be regarded as allophones of the respective
diphthongs or triphthongs, not as discrete phonemes (and, as usual, the phonemic transcription
should indicate the original phonemes, not these unique allophonic realisations)

“say” /sɛ:/ or /sɛ:i/ (phonetic / “narrow” or allophonic transcription);

/seɪ/ (phonemic transcription)

16
 “time” /tɑ:m/ or /tɑ:im/ (phonetic / “narrow” or allophonic transcription);
/taɪm/ (phonemic transcription)
“soil” /sɔǝl/ (phonetic / “narrow” or allophonic transcription);
/sɔɪl/ (phonemic transcription)
“fire” /fɑ:ǝ/ or /fɑ:ǝ/ (phonetic / “narrow” or allophonic transcription);
/faɪǝ/ (phonemic transcription)
“our” /ɑ:ǝ/ or /ɑ:ǝ/ (phonetic / “narrow” or allophonic transcription);
/ɑʊǝ/ (phonemic transcription) etc.

6. As has been stated previously, it is important to interpret vowel sequences adequately, either as
compound phonemes (diphthongs / triphthongs) or as sequences of discrete monophthongs (or of a
diphthong + a monophthong). The main criterion in distinguishing between these cases is the
syllabic one: if the vowels in question are in the same syllable, they form a compound vocalic
phoneme (diphthong / triphthong); otherwise, a diphonemic interpretation is applicable. Special
attention should be paid to the sequences of the type VWL + /ǝ/ and VWL + VWL + /ǝ/, which
are not always centring diphthongs, respectively triphthongs, but combinations of separate
independent phonemic units. An orthographic indication of the occurrence of a single compound
vocalic phoneme is the presence of the letter “r”, in the type of syllable VWL + R + VWL / VWL
+ VWL + R. If the sequence in question is not of this type, the vowel succession is diphonemic
(sometimes, also dimorphemic, as it appears at the boundary of two distinct morphemes, in
separate syllables). Consider the following examples:

Monophonemic sequences Diphonemic (sometimes, also

dimorphemic) sequences

“sure” /ʃʊǝ/ (VWL + R + VWL) “du-el” /ˈdju:ˍǝl/, ac-tu-al /ˈækˍtʃuˍǝl/

“sheer” /ʃɪǝ/ (VWL + VWL + R) “an-gri-er” /ˈæɳˍgrɪˍǝ/

“a-spire” /ǝsˍˈpaɪǝ/ (VWL + R + VWL) “li-er” /ˈlaɪˍǝ/

“flour” /flaʊǝ/ (VWL + VWL + R) “pow-er” /ˈpaʊˍǝ/

Study questions:

1. Which of the above diphonemic sequences are also dimorphemic?

2. What types of syllables are involved with these diphonemic positions?

17
3. By examining the placement of the English diphthongs on the diagram below, describe them in
accordance with the taxonomic approaches enumerated at the beginning of this subsection.

front back
central close
i u

/ɪǝ/ half-close
e o
/ei/ /ʊǝ/
/ ǝʊ /

/aʊ/
half-open
ɛ /aɪǝ/ /ɔɪ/ ɔ
/aɪ/
/aʊǝ/
open
a ɑ

Legend:

red arrows = closing diphthongs (/eɪ/, /aɪ/, /aʊ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʊ/)

green arrows = centring diphthongs (/ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/)

dashed arrows = triphthongs (/aɪə/, /aʊə/)

18
 Phonetic, phonological and orthographic characteristics of English diphthongs and triphthongs:

Phonetic characteristics Phonological peculiarities Graphical representations

/eɪ/ Closing diphthong, the tongue  Most common: “a” in an open syllable:
performs a gliding movement from “same”, “plate”
the front /e/, towards /ɪ/, without
reaching it.  “ay”: “lay”, “stay”, “pay”
May be monophthongised
 “ai”: “paid”, “laid”, “plain”, “jail” (AE)
(“smoothed”) to /ɛ:/ by some RP
speakers.  “ei”: “neigh”, “weight”

 “ey”: “obey”, “they”

 “ea”: “break”, “steak”

 “é” (words of French origin): “fiancé”,

“attaché”, “resumé”

 “et” (words of French origin): “chalet”,

“balet”, “cabaret”, “gourmet”

 Unusual spellings: “gauge”, “gaol”

/aɪ/ Closing diphthong, the tongue  Most common: “i” or “y” in an open
performs a gliding movement from a syllable: “time”, “mine”, “thyme”, “sky”
front-centralised /a/, towards /ɪ/,
without reaching it.  “i” in a closed syllable, before, “nd” or
May be smoothed to /ɑ:/ by some “ld”: “mind”, “rind”, “blind”, “child”
speakers.
 “i” + silent “gh”: “tight”, “right”, “night”
The nucleus anticipates the
articulation of the glide /ɪ/, becoming

19
 Phonetic characteristics Phonological peculiarities Graphical representations

more centralised than the cardinal  “ei”: “either” (BE), “neither” (BE)
vowel position /a/.
 “ie”: “tie”, “die”, “lie”

 “ye”: “rye”, “dye”

/ɔɪ/ Closing diphthong, the tongue  “oi”: “choice”, “poison”, “ointment”

performs a gliding movement from
the back-centralised /ɔ/, towards /ɪ/,  “oy”: “toy”, “boy”, “soy”
without reaching it.
May be smoothed to /o:ǝ/ by some  Unusual spelling: “buoy”
speakers, before a velarised
allophone of /l/.

/aʊ/ Closing diphthong, the tongue  “ou”: “bound”, “sound”, “thou”,

performs a gliding movement from a “pronounce”
back-centralised /a/, towards /ʊ/,
without reaching it.  “ow”: “how”, “plow” (AE), “flower”

The nucleus anticipates the  Unusual spellings: “plough” (BE),

articulation of the glide /ʊ/, “bough”, “drought” (these are considered
becoming more centralised than the unusual, as “ou” +silent “gh” normally
cardinal vowel position /a/. yields /ɔ:/, e.g., “bought” , “fought”, etc.)

/ǝʊ/ Closing diphthong, the tongue  Most common: “o” in an open syllable:
performs a gliding movement from a “no”, “hope”, “rope”, “elope”
central, slightly retracted allophone
of /ǝ/, towards /ʊ/, without reaching  “o” before “l”, in a closed syllable:
it. “bold”, “sold”, “roll”, “colt”
The nucleus anticipates the  “ow”: “row”, “bestow”, “flow”
articulation of the glide /ʊ/, acquiring
a more back character than that of

20
 Phonetic characteristics Phonological peculiarities Graphical representations

the monophthong /ǝ/.  “oe”: “foe”, “toe”

 “oa”: “goat”, “roam”, “toad”

 “ou”: “poultry”, “soul”

 “eau” (words of French origin):

“plateau”, “bureau”, “beau”

 Unusual spellings: “don't”, “won't”

(closed syllables), “brooch”, “sew”,
“yeoman”

/ɪǝ/ Centring diphthong, the tongue The sequence /ɪ/ + /ǝ/ is not always  “e” in VWL +R + VWL, or VWL + VWL
performs a gliding movement from monophonemic. If the vowels appear + R: “sphere”, “sheer”, “dear”, “fierce”
the front-centralised /ɪ/, towards /ǝ/, in different syllables / morphemes, the “weird”
fully reaching it. sequence is diphonemic /
dimorphemic. It is monophonemic
only in the syllable VWL + R +
VWL / VWL + VWL + R.

/eǝ/ Centring diphthong, the tongue  “a” (less frequently “e”) in VWL +R +
performs a gliding movement from VWL, or VWL + VWL + R: “care”,
the front /e/ (with some speakers, “share”, “Mary”, “air”, “bear”, “heir”
from a more open variant of it, /ɛ/),
 Unusual spellings: “mayor”, “prayer”
towards /ǝ/, fully reaching it.

/ʊǝ/ Centring diphthong, the tongue The sequence /ʊ/ + /ǝ/ is not always  Most common: “u” in VWL +R + VWL,
performs a gliding movement from monophonemic. If the vowels appear or VWL + VWL + R: “sure”, “allure”,
the back-centralised /ʊ/, towards /ǝ/, in different syllables / morphemes, the “endure”, “jury”
fully reaching it. sequence is diphonemic /
dimorphemic. It is monophonemic  “ur” + VWL (in another syllable): “dur-
only in the syllable VWL + R +

21
 Phonetic characteristics Phonological peculiarities Graphical representations

Restricted to medial and final VWL / VWL + VWL + R. ing”, “cur-i-ous”

positions in a word (the only English
diphthong subject to such a  (less frequently) “o” in VWL +R + VWL,
restriction). or VWL + VWL + R: “poor”, “moor”,
“tour”, “gourd”

/aɪǝ/ Triphthong, the tongue performs a The sequence is not always  Most common: “i” / “y” in VWL +R +
glding movement from a front- monophonemic, but a combination of VWL: “shire”, “dire”, “iron”, “pyre” /
centralised /a/, towards the front- the diphthong /aɪ/ + the “pire”, “tyre” / “tire”, “Byron”
centralised /ɪ/, without reaching it, monophthong /ǝ/. It is monophonemic
then continuing towards /ǝ/.  Unusual spelling: “choir” (unusual, as
only in the syllable VWL + R + VWL.
the “oir” sequence in French borrowings
May be smoothed to /ɑ:/ by some is typically pronounced /wɑ:/, e.g.,
speakers. “memoir”, “reservoir”)

/aʊǝ/ Triphthong, the tongue performs a The sequence is not always  “o” in VWL + VWL + R: “sour”,
gliding movement from a back- monophonemic, but a combination of “flour”, “hour”
centralised /a/, towards the back- the diphthong /aʊ/ + the monophthong
centralised /ʊ/, without reaching it, /ǝ/. It is monophonemic only in the
then continuing towards /ǝ/. syllable VWL + VWL + R.
May be smoothed to /ɑ:/ by some
speakers.

22
Study questions:

1. Write the phonemic transcription of the words given as examples in the above table (in the
“Graphical representations”column).

2. Give 5 examples of vowel reduction in compound words (different from those already
exemplified in the corresponding section of this unit).

3. Give 5 examples of vowel sequences that are diphonemic / diphonemic and dimorphemic
(different from those already given as examples in this unit).

4. Practice the representation of English diphthongs and triphthongs on the diagram of vowels:
draw a blank diagram and place each diphthong and triphthong on it, correctly indicating the
positions of their nuclei and glides and the direction of the gliding movement.

5. For each English vowel phoneme give at least three examples of their most common spelling
forms, based on the “Graphical Rules” (different from those already given as examples in this
unit).

6. Give examples of 10 minimal pairs with which the distinctive opposition is between /e/
and /æ/. Practise their pronunciation, paying attention to the essential qualitative difference
between these two vowel phonemes (i.e. the height of the raised part of the tongue).

23