top of page

Lesson 2: Vowels

Definition: 

Vowels are sounds produced with an open vocal tract. The articulation is determined by the lips and the tongue.

Key Concepts

  • Position (rounding) of the lips

  • Position of the tongue

  • Height of the tongue

  • Vowel length

UNIT 1: The vowel chart

68c843_d4da90d94f064acaa4b5e08411194a6e~mv2.webp

 

When determining the vowels, the important factors are: the position (rounding) of the lips, the position (front and back) of the tongue and the height of the tongue.

​

The vowel chart shows how a vowel is pronounced.

 

On the left you can see where the highest point of the tongue is. 

The higher the highest point of the tongue, the more closed a vowel is. If a vowel is further down in the chart (i.e. open), this means that the tongue is also further down.

→ the designations are "close, close-mid, open-mid, open".

Example:

The vowel [i] is closed, while [a] is open.

The further to the left a vowel is in the vowel chart, the further forward the vowel is articulated. The further to the right, the articulation of the vowel moves further back. 

→ This is why we use the terms “front, central, back”.

Example:

The [i] is a front vowel and the [u] is a back vowel.

Position (rounding) of the lips:

When symbols in the vowel chart are shown in pairs, it means that the vowel on the left is unrounded and the vowel on the right is rounded. For example, [i] is unrounded and [y] is rounded. This is easy to understand if you look in the mirror while producing different vowel sounds, or when looking at someone producing a vowel.

Bildschirmfoto 2023-12-06 um 20.47.36.png

Find vowels which are different in English, Italian and German.

Click here to hear the different vowels.

Solutions

UNIT 2: Tongue position and vowel length

Tongue position

Now we move from the vowel chart to the physical production of the vowels. As you can see, the tongue position varies when producing different vowels.

​

Tongue position can be front (as in [i]), central (as in [a]) or back (as in [u]).

​​

You see that the tongue is positioned:

  • high and front for [i]

  • low and central for [a]

  • high and back for [u]

Tongue position.png

Image: position of the tongue in [i], [a] and [u].

Short and long vowels:

Vowels can also be of different lengths. If a vowel is long, it is given this sign: "ː".

Many languages distinguish between long and short vowels.

For example, Māori has a neat distinction between short and long vowels: For example, in Maori: [kiː] means "to say" and [ki] means "in".​

​

But while Maori is a pertinent example for difference in vowel length, it is not the only language where short and long vowels are distinguished. In English, short and long vowels can also influence the meaning of a word. A good example for this are the two words ferry and fairy. Ferry is pronounced as  /feɹi/, with a short e, fairy as /feːɹi/, with a long e. The difference in pronunciation between the two words is thus only produced by a difference in vowel length.​

​

To gain a better understanding of the whole vowel chart, watch the video below: 

Answer the following questions, using the concepts learned in this lesson:

​

  • What is the difference between [i] and [y] (German ü)?

  • What is the difference between [e] and [a]?

  • What is the difference between [u] and [ɔ]?

  • What is the difference between [e] and [o]

​

​

​

​

​

Did you finish the exercise? What is the difference between [i] and [y] (German ü)? → Position (rounding) of the lips What is the difference between [e] and [a]? → Height of the tongue What is the difference between [u] and [ɔ]? → Height of the tongue What is the difference between [e] and [o]? → Position (front/back) of the tongue

Bildschirmfoto 2023-12-06 um 20.47.51.png

Final thought for this lesson

In this lesson, you learnt how vowels are characterised. You know that tongue position is important and that positions can differ in height and in position. Tongue position and height is represented graphically by the vowel chart. Another vowel characterisation is the rounding of the lips. Vowel length can also influence the meaning of words in certain languages such as German or English.

​

Sources used:

bottom of page