Delahunty and Garvey
Exercise
- Find five words to illustrate each of the vowels we distinguish in
Table 7. Be clear about which symbol most accurately applies to each
vowel. - Provide an articulatory description for each of the following vowels;
that is, indicate its height, position (front or back), tension, and lip con-
figuration.
[I] [e] [u] [U] [E] [V]
Height
Position
Tension
Rounding
Example
word
[A] [] [o] [i] [@] [O]
Height
Position
Tension
Rounding
Example
word
Diphthongs
We have approached vowels as if they were articulated by a specific configu-
ration of the tongue, lips, and oral cavity, which is held constant throughout
their pronunciation. Vowels made like this are called monophthongs; oth-
ers, called diphthongs, involve a change in the configuration of the mouth.
The vowel sounds in the words boy, by, and how involve a change in
the shape of the mouth as the vowel is being produced. The vowel of boy
begins with approximately the mid back vowel [O] and finishes with ap-
proximately the high front lax vowel [I] (or the palatal glide [j]). The vowel
of by begins with approximately the low back vowel [a] (a low back vowel
slightly more forward than [A], but not as forward as []) and also finishes
with approximately [I] (or [j]). The vowel of how begins with approximately
[a] and finishes with approximately the high lax rounded vowel [U] (or the
labio-velar glide [w]). We represent these diphthongs as [OI], [aI], and [aU],
respectively (though many linguists use [Oj], [aj], and [aw]).