Introduction:

This assignment will discuss the account of vowel in spoken English and describe them

according to the height of tongue, frontness and backness of tongue, lip rounding, and

tenseness of the articulators.

In English, there is no one-to-one relation between the system of writing and the system

of pronunciation. The alphabet which we use to write English has 26 letters but in

(Standard British) English there are approximately 44 speech sounds. The number of

speech sounds in English varies from dialect to dialect, and any actual tally depends

greatly on the interpretation of the researcher doing the counting. To represent the basic

sound of spoken languages linguists use a set of phonetic symbols called the International

Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The chart below contains all of the IPA (vowels only) symbols

used to represent the sounds of the English language. This is the standard set of phonemic

symbols for English (RP and similar accents).

   

The colon / : / represents longer duration in pronunciation and is found in long vowels

such as / i: /, / a: /, / u: /, etc.

  

VOWEL: Vowel is a sound made by opening the mouth and letting air come out

centrally through the vocal tracts without any obstruction in the oral cavity. All vowels

are voiced by definition

Dictionaries say that there are 20 vowel sounds in English. Phonetically there are three

distinct kind of vowel sounds used in English: short vowel, long vowel, and diphthongs.

English VowelsQuality

Monophthongs (Pure Vowels)The organs of speech remain approximately

stationary

Diphthongs & Trip thongsThe organs of speechperform perceptible

movement

Short VowelsLax

Requires less muscular tension/ Less articulatory energy

Long VowelsTense

Requires greater muscular tension/ Greater articulatory energy

Classifying the vowels sounds of English:

The classification of vowels is based on four major aspects:

1. Tongue height - according to the vertical position of the tongue (high vowels,

also referred to as close; low vowels, also referred to as open; intermediate -

close-mid and open-mid)

2. Frontness and backness of the tongue - according to the horizontal position of

the highest part of the tongue.

3. Lip rounding - whether the lips are rounded (O-shape) or spread (no rounding)

when the sound is being made.

4. Tenseness of the articulators - refers to the amount of muscular tension around

the mouth when creating vowel sounds. Tense and lax are used to describe

muscular tension.

  

Front vowels

(tongue body is

pushed forward)

Central

vowels

(tongue body

is neutral)

Back vowels

(tongue body

is pulled

back)

High/close

vowels

(tongue body

is raised)

/ / see

/ / sit  

/ / boot

/ / book

Mid vowels

(tongue body

is

intermediate)

/e/ bait*

/ / bet

/ / sofa**, /

/ bird

/o/ boat*

/ /

bought***

Low/open

vowels

(tongue body

is lowered)

/ / bat / / under**/ / father, /

/ sock(BrE)

*In some American accents (especially Californian English), vowel sounds in words

such as bait, gate, pane and boat, coat, note are not consider diphthongs. American

philologists often class them as tense. monophthongs (/e/ and /o/).

**/ / is used in unstressed syllables, while / / is in stressed syllables. The vowel / /

used to be a back vowel, and the symbol was chosen for this reason. This is no longer a

back vowel, but a central one.

***A considerable amount of Americans don't have the deep / / in their vocabulary,

they pronounce bought, ball, law with the deep / / sound.

According to the position of the lips:

English front and central vowels are always unrounded.

English back vowels / /, / /, /o/, / / are rounded (/ / vowel is unrounded).

Vowel Tenseness:

Tense vowels (produced with a great amount of muscular tension): / /, / /,

/ /, / /, / /. Tense vowels are variable in length, and often longer than lax

vowels.

Lax vowels (produced with very little muscular tension): / /, / /, / /, / /, / /,

/ /, / /. Lax vowels are always short.

Description of simple vowels:

1. /i:/ as in ‘ beat’, ‘mean’, ‘peace’ :

Description:

Tongue Height: nearly high

Tongue position: front

Lip rounding: spread

Tenseness: tense

/i: /: high, front, unrounded, tense.

2. / I / as in ‘bit’ ‘fin’ ‘fish’:

Description:

Tongue Height: intermediate between high and mid-high.

Tongue position: front

Lip rounding: spread

Tenseness: lax

/ I /: high, front, unrounded, lax

2. /e/ as in ‘bet’ ‘men’ ‘yes’ :

Description:

Tongue Height: between mid-high and mid-low

Tongue position: front

Lip rounding: slightly spread

Tenseness: lax

/e/: mid-low, front, unrounded, lax

4. The / / as in ‘bat’ ‘man’ ‘gas’:

Description:

Tongue Height: intermediate between mid-low and low

Tongue position: front

Lip rounding: slightly spread-neutral

Tenseness: lax

/ /: low, front, unrounded, lax

5 . /a:/ as in ‘card’, ‘half’, ‘pass’

Description:

Tongue Height: low

Tongue position: not fully back

Lip rounding: neutral

Tenseness: tense

/a: /: low, back, unrounded, tense

6. / / as in ‘pot’ ‘gone’ ‘cross’

Description:

Tongue Height: intermediate between mid-low and low.

Tongue position: not fully back

Lip rounding: slightly rounded

Tenseness: lax

/ /: low, back, rounded, lax

7. / / as in ‘board’, ‘torn’, ‘horse’:

Description:

Tongue Height: closer to mid-high

Tongue position: back

Lip rounding: fully rounded

Tenseness: tense

/ /: mid-high, back, rounded, tense.

8. / / as in ‘put’ ‘pull’ ‘push’:

Description:

Tongue Height: just above mid high

Tongue position: between back and centre

Lip rounding: rounded

Tenseness: lax

/ /: mid-high, back, rounded, lax

9. /U:/ as in ‘food’, ‘soon’, ‘loose’:

Description:

Tongue Height: nearly high

Tongue position: back

Lip rounding: rounded

Tenseness: tense

/U: /: high, back, rounded, tense.

10. The / /as in ‘but’ ‘some’ ‘rush’:

Description:

Tongue Height: lower than mid-low

Tongue position: central

Lip rounding: neutral

Tenseness: lax

/ /: mid-low, back, unrounded, lax

11. / / as in ‘bird’, ‘fern’, ‘purse’:

Description:

Tongue Height: between mid-high and mid-low cardinal vowels, nearer to the latter.

Tongue position: centre

Lip rounding: neutral

Tenseness: tense

/ /: mid-low, back, unrounded, tense.

This vowel is known as the hesitation sound, usually spelt as ‘er’ or ‘ir’.

12. The schwa / / as in ‘about’ ‘oppose’ ‘perhaps’:

Description:

Tongue Height: half away between high and low

Tongue position: central

Lip rounding: neutral

Tenseness: lax

/ /: mid, central, unrounded, lax

Diphthongs: is a contour vowel—that is, a unitary vowel

that changes quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a

smooth movement of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in

the English words eye, boy, and cow. This contrasts with "pure"

vowels, or monophthongs, where the tongue is held still, as in the

English word papa."

English has eight diphthongs : / /, / /, / /, / /, / /, / / , / /,/ /

Description of English diphthongs

your tongue

moves to:

your tongue

moves to:

your tongue

moves to:

Presenting diphthongs - similarities and differences

The English language has twenty vowel sounds. The first 12 of the English vowel sounds

are MONOPHTHONGS. The tongue stays at ONE fixed location in the mouth to produce

each.

Sounds 13 to 20, the next eight English vowel sounds, are DIPHTHONGS. They present

greater difficulty to people learning English because the tongue travels between two fixed

locations. It is important to know exactly what to do with the speech organs (i.e. the

position of the tongue, lip-shape & tension, size of mouth opening) in each location and

the manner and direction of the movement.

THE FIRST THREE DIPHTHONGS have the vowel sound in

"pit" or "if" as the FINISHING POSITION. To make this sound, tongue has to be

high and towards the front of your mouth and your lips kept relaxed.

13) as in day, pay, say, lay. The starting position is

with tongue in mid position at front of mouth as in "egg", "bed" or "Ted". Therefore you

move the tongue up to make the diphthong.

14) as in sky, buy, cry, tie. The starting position is ,

the same sound as in "car" or the noise "ah" which you make when you open your mouth

at the dentist's. To make the diphthong you need a big jaw movement, less opening as

you move the tongue up and front.

15) as in boy, toy, coy or the first syllable of soya. The starting

position is , the sound in "door" or "or". Your tongue needs to be

low, but you need to pull it back and make your mouth round. To make the diphthong,

you relax the lip rounding and move your tongue forward and up.

THE NEXT THREE DIPHTHONGS have the neutral "schwa" vowel sound

, which occurs in grunting noises and the weak forms of "the" and "a", as the FINISHING POSITION. To make the neutral vowel sound keep your tongue fixed in the centre of your mouth, lips fairly relaxed and just grunt!

16) as in beer (the drink), pier, hear. The starting position is

as in "if" or "pit" with tongue front and high and lips relaxed.

17) as in bear (the animal), pair and hair. The starting position is

as in "egg" or "bed" with tongue in mid position at front of mouth. To make the diphthong, using a small controlled movement, pull your tongue slightly back from mid front to the mid central position in your mouth.

18) as in "tour", "poor" (talking posh!) or the first syllable of

"tourist". The starting position is with tongue pulled back but small mouth aperture as in "hook", "book" or "look".

To make the diphthong, this time the small controlled tongue movement goes from the back position to the mid central position, losing the lip rounding and relaxing your mouth from the tight starting position.

THE LAST TWO DIPHTHONGS have the back vowel (tongue

pulled back but small tight mouth aperture as in "hook", "book" or "look") as the

FINISHING POSITION.

19) as in "oh", "no", "so" or "phone". The starting position is the

neutral vowel sound, also known as "schwa” , which sounds like a

grunt, as in the weak form of "the" or "a". To start in this way, the tongue should be fixed

in mid central position in your mouth with lips relaxed. To make the diphthong, it is a

short controlled movement in the opposite direction of 5) above: from the centre to the

back moving your relaxed lips into a tighter small round aperture. Your cheeks should

move in a bit!

20) as in all the words of "How now brown cow!". The starting

position is the vowel sound as in "at" "bad" or "rat" with tongue front

but also low (i.e. mouth open). To make the diphthong the journey for your tongue from

front low (mouth very open) to back high (small tight mouth aperture) is a very long

excursion. Your jaw will move a lot too.

What problems do Bangladeshis face while

pronouncing vowels and why?

Each sound of a language has a fixed manner and place of articulation. A native speaker

of any language acquires the habit of pronouncing each sound through constant exercises

of the organs of speech in his or her childhood. Like wise Bengali speakers habituate

Bengali Sounds. So they face some difficulties with pronouncing English sound

especially with vowels.

Simple vowels are classified according to the position of the tongue. The route, the

tongue takes in making a succession of vowel sound can be roughly plotted.

In Bengali there are 7 distinct simple vowel sounds; in English there are 12.

The position of English and Bengali vowels is in relation to each other. An analysis shows

that only in 2 cases, ( and ) do the Bengali and English

sounds coincide, though is so close to the English as, for all

practical purposes, to be accepted as similar.

Very often Bengali speakers equate the three English sounds , , with a

simple Bengali sound a. so they confuse the hearer by doing that.

In Bengali there is no vowel which is long in nature. So it is difficult for

Bangladeshi to differentiate the pronunciation between ‘lip’and’leap’.

Bengali speaker often pronounce only the first part of the diphthongs. they stick at

the first position except in the case of / /, / /, / / as they in Bengali

bornomala. i.e. they say /mek/ instead of /meIk/

Bengali does not use stress to anything like the same extent as English. Bengali

words are not usually stressed in isolation and there is no parallel in Bengali for

the group of monosyllables having weak and strong forms. So it is hard for

Bangladeshi to pronounce words with stress.

A teacher should first know the problem area of the learners. Teacher can first teach

them the sounds with all possible distinction. Then s/he would make them practice the

sounds again and again through:

Providing Worksheets

This will help them to clarify their ideas of sounds

Prepare Materials for repetitions

It will help them to know more about the sounds and by repeating they may

acquire perfection

Making them reading aloud

It may help the teacher if there anything is wrongly pronounced so that s/he

can correct it.

Giving them a sound song/rhyme

So that learners can really train their speech

Recording the sounds

It’s good to record the learner’s sound and play back their voices

Making them aware of place of articulation

Thus they will be able to differentiate the sounds according to the tongue

movement.

Differentiate the meaning with or without stress

So learners will get concern about stressing.

This is how an EFL teacher can make the English vowel system easier to the learners.

But as we know teaching is a creative process where a teacher can be the best guide by

her creativity. Teachers of EFL have a great advantage of using internet for the materials

and they can utilize it. So learners will get the taste of the variety in materials. An EFL

class must be communicative. So that the learners can enjoy learning English sounds and

correct them by practicing.

So at first know the problems of learners, then prepare materials according to the learners

needs, and then make it clear to them. A teacher of EFL should be friendly enough to

stand the mispronunciation of the learners so that the correction won’t hurt their self

esteem.