Applied Phonetics & Vowels and the ESL Learner Phonology English has a rather “exotic” vowel system. Some problems often faced by ESL learners: English Vowels • There are up to 12 contrastive vowels in stressed syllables. Most languages have between 5 and 8. • Vowel articulation is far more difficult to physically describe than consonant articulation. Tom Payne, TESOL at Hanyang University, 2007 • Spelling does little to help.
Vowels and the ESL Learner Classification of Vowels
• Pronunciation of vowels varies Vowels can be classified in terms of: dramatically in stressed vs. unstressed • Acoustic properties syllables. • Articulation • English “tense” vowels usually involve an “off glide” that is hard for L2 learners to master. • Much of the dialect variation in Englishes spoken around the world involves vowels.
The Acoustic Classification of The Acoustic Classification of English Vowels: Spectrograms English Vowels: Spectrograms • Spectrograms display the resonating •A Pure Tone is a sound that is composed frequencies (or “formants”) that make up a of vibrations of only one frequency: speech sound. • The spectrogram is a running short-term diagram – it displays a continuously changing pattern of frequencies (a sound “spectrum”).
1 The Acoustic Classification of /ə/– Neutral (schwa) Vowel English Vowels: Spectrograms (LPC Spectrum) •A Complex Tone is a sound that is composed of vibrations of more than one frequency:
F1 F2 F3 F4
• Vowels are complex tones composed of four frequencies, of formants , designated as F1, F2, F3 and F4.
/a/– Formants /i/ - Formants
F1 F2 F3 F4
F1 F2 F3 F4
/u/ Formants
F1 F2 F3 F4
Kent (1997). The Speech Sciences
2 Articulatory Classification of Articulatory Classification of English Vowels English Vowels There are 3 parameters needed to Lip position is another property often uniquely identify all phonemic used to characterized English vowels. vowels of English. However, lip position is always redundant Tongue Height in English: All back vowels are “rounded, ” and none of Tongue Advancement the front or central vowels are rounded. Tongue Tenseness Low vowels are more neutral. High front vowels are more spread.
Articulatory Classification of The Articulatory Classification of English Vowels English Vowels Front Central Back Rounded Neutral iy (hee d) uw (who’’’d) High I (hid) ʊʊʊ (hoo d)
ey (hay ed) ʌʌʌ (Hud) ow (hoed) Mid ɛɛɛ (hea d)
Spread Low æææ (had) ɑɑɑ (hod) ɔɔɔ (haw ed)
Black = “““tense ”””, Gray = “““lax ””” (p. 95 of text)
Tongue Height Tongue Advancement Tongue height has three values: Tongue advancement has three values: High refers to a relative location in the top Front refers to a relative location in the front third of the mouth third of the mouth Mid refers to a relative location in the Central refers to a relative location in the middle third of the mouth middle third of the mouth Low refers to a relative location in the Back refers to a relative location in the back lower third of the mouth third of the mouth
3 The Articulatory Classification of The Relationship Between Articulation English Vowels and Acoustics of Vowels
• Vowels are produced with a relatively [ɑ] [i] [u] open vocal tract. • Vibration of the vocal folds is the sound source for vowel production – Vowel phonemes are always voiced (in English). • The shape of the vocal tract determines the formant spectrum for a particular vowel. © The Exploratorium, www.exploratorium.edu
General Rules of Vowel The English Vowel Inventory Formants Most languages have 5 to 8 vowels. Korean has a Rules: large vowel inventory with 10 vowels F1 associated with Tongue Height The basic inventory of English vowels is 11, although • /i/ & /u/ (high vowels): Low F1 many dialects of English actually have 12 • /æ/ & /a/ (low vowels): High F1 In this section, we will concentrate on understanding F2 associated with Tongue the basics of the English vowel system Advancement We will discuss the implications for second language • /u/ & /a/ (back vowels): Low F2 learners of English in the subsequent section on • /i/ & /æ/ (front vowels): High F2 interlanguage phonology of Korean-English
Kent (1997). The Speech Sciences
Tongue Tenseness Vowel “Coloring” Tongue Tenseness refers to a comparative “Coloring” occurs when a highly sonorant measure of how flexed the muscles in the tongue are during articulation. consonant (/r/, /l/ or a nasal) follows a vowel in the same syllable. Tongue tenseness has two values: Tense vowels are produced with greater stiffness of the tongue – or with an advanced tongue root. Lax vowels are produced with less stiffness of the muscles in the tongue – or with a retracted tongue root.
4 Vowel “Coloring” L-Coloring R-coloring occurs as the vowel anticipates the A similar process occurs for the liquid /l/, although glide towards the central “r” position. the effect is less obvious than with /r/ or the Plain: R-colored: nasals: ‘pot’ [p ɑ t] ‘part’ [p ɑ t] /pɑrt/ Plain: l-colored: ‘seed’ [siyd] ‘seal’ [siy ] /siyl/ ‘coat’ [k owt] ‘court’ [k o t] /kɔrt/ ‘Mick’ [mɪk] ‘milk’ [mɪ k] /mɪlk/ ‘tie’ [t ay] tire’ [t ay ] /tayr/ ‘ ‘may’ [mey] ‘mail’ [mey ] /meyl/ ‘ow’ [aw] ‘our’ [aw ] /awr/ ‘pet’ [p t] ‘pelt’ [p t] /pɛlt/ ‘bead’ [biyd] ‘beard’ [bɪ d] /bɪrd/ ‘tack’ [t æk] ‘talc’ [t æ k] /tælk/ (see p. 105 of text) (see p. 106 of text for more examples)
Nasal-Coloring Vowel Length Vowels become nasalized before nasal consonants: Vowel length refers to the duration of a vowel sound. There is a regular tendency for vowels to Plain: l-colored: be lengthened in syllables closed by voiced ‘see’ [siy] ‘seem’ [si ym] /siym/ consonants: ɪ ɪ ɪʔ ɪ ‘lit’ [l t] ‘lint’ [l nt]~[l ] /l nt/ ‘heat’ [hiyt] ‘heed’ [hiy:t] /hiyt/ ‘say’ [sey] ‘same’ [se ym] /seym/ ‘hit’ [hɪt] ‘hid ’ [hɪ:d] /hɪd/ ‘pet’ [p t] ‘pelt’ [p nt] /pɛnt / ‘tack’ [t æk] ‘tank’ [t æ nk] /tænk / ‘hat’ [hæt] ‘had ’ [hæ:d] /hæd/ (see p. 107 of text for more examples) ‘hoot ’ [huwt] ‘who ’d’ [hu:wd] /huwd/ (see p. 103, ff.)
Vowel Length Vowel Reduction
Tense vowels and diphthongs are also lengthened In English, vowels are reduced in unstressed in open syllables (syllables without codas) at the syllables. ends of words (remember, lax vowels do not occur This means they are pronounced less at the ends of words): distinctly, often becoming simply a schwa ‘heat’ [hiyt] ‘he’ [hiy:] /hiy/ ([ə]). ‘hate’ [heyt] ‘hay ’ [he:y] /hey/ ‘rote’ [rowt] ‘row ’ [ro:w] /row/ ‘hoot ’ [huwt] ‘who ’ [hu:w] /huw/ (see p. 103, ff.)
5 Vowel Reduction Variation and the ESL Student
There are actually three levels of stress in Dialect variation is interesting and adds a certain English words: richness to our language. It also creates many difficulties for students who are trying to learn Primary stress: ‘bánal’́ [béynәl] ́ English as a second language and who are trying Secondary stress: ‘bànálity’ [bènǽlәɾi] to master its pronunciation. ́ ́ No stress: ‘banál’ [bәnɑl] While pronunciation continues to be an important We will discuss the English stress rule in more measure of English proficiency, it is probably detail next week. unreasonable to expect any second-language speaker of English to ever achieve “native speaker” pronunciation proficiency. The important skills are to understand and to be understood.
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