Vowels: Articulation and Transcription
Introduction to General Linguistics Hubert Truckenbrodt
Phonology 2: Vowels: Articulation and transcription
1 German vowels
The German vowel system is fairly complex, but relatively systematic. The vowels are distinguished along a variety of dimensions: (a) tongue position in the mouth, (b) lip rounding (or its absence), (d) a tense/lax contrast, and (d) length. In this section, you will learn about the German vowels, with lessons that build up in a number of steps, from simple to complex. Once you have understood the German vowel system, it will be easy for you to understand any other vowel system in the future.
1.1 Tongue position: front/back, and high/mid/low
The main articulatory distinctions for tongue position are front/back, and high/mid/low. These are names for the highest position of the tongue in the mouth. The top surface of the tongue has a roundish shape when a vowel is pronounced. The articulatory dimension front/back and high/mid/low refer to the highest point of this roundish shape. With a front vowel, for example, the highest point of the tongue is relatively far front in the mouth, with a back vowel relatively further back. Similarly, with high/mid/low vowels, the highest point of the tongue is, relatively speaking, high in the mouth, at a mid-height in the mouth, and low in the mouth. (1) shows three important corners of the vowel space. The high front vowel [i] is at the upper front corner of this vowel space, and the high back vowel [u] is at the upper back corner. [a] is sometimes described as 'central', as the highest point of the tongue is neither clearly front nor clearly back with [a]. However, we will see in later sections that there is evidence in the phonology of German that [a] is a back vowel, once the vowels are divided into two classes 'front' and 'back'. This is reflected in the way [a] is drawn in (1).
(1) front back [i] hier [u] Huhn high here chicken [a] Hahn low rooster
You can get a feeling for the tongue position of a vowel in your mouth if you use a straw (or a flat lollipop), carefully position this on the front part of your tongue, and then say two vowels alternatingly. For example, you can compare [i] and [u] in this way. Saying [uuu iii uuu iii uuu ...] you will notice how the straw is pushed out of your mouth as you go from [uuu] to [iii]. If it sticks to your tongue enough (here a lollipop may be better), it will also be pulled into the mouth as the tongue retracts from [iii] to [uuu]. You can similarly compare [i] and [a] for height, and [a] and [u]. You should be able to notice that [a] is lower than both [i] and [u]. There are languages that have only the three vowels [i, u, a]. Such a language is Warlpiri, spoken by native people in central Australia. To these three extremes in the vowel space, we can add the mid vowels [e] and [o], as in (2). [e] is front, like [i], but not as high as [i]. [o] is back like [u], but not as high as [u]. Both [e] and [o] are higher than [a].
p. 1, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription (2) front back [i] hier [u] Huhn high here chicken [e] Heer [o] Hohn mid army scorn [a] Hahn low rooster
Spanish has the five vowels distinguished in (2) and no additional vowels (apart from a long/short distinction).
1.2 Rounding and backness
Of the five vowels in (2), [u] and [o] are rounded, which means that they have crucial lip rounding, while [i], [e], and [a] are not rounded. In a vowel-system like this, such as the Spanish one, it is not a coincidence that only the back vowels [u] and [o] are rounded while the front vowels are unrounded. This has to do with the acoustics of these sounds:1 There is a sense in which rounding and backness 'sound similar' (and look similar, in an acoustic computer analysis of the sound). In a sense, rounding increases the way back vowels sound like back vowels. If rounding were added to a front vowel, this front vowel would also sound a bit like a back vowel in this respect. Therefore, if the back vowels are rounded and the front vowels are unrounded as in Spanish, front and back vowels are particularly easy to distinguish in the way they sound: back vowels sound particularly 'back', and front vowels do not at all sound 'back'. Even languages with more complicated vowel systems (such as English, that we will briefly look at below) have the front vowels unrounded, and rounding reserved for back vowels. However, rounding and backness, though they sound similar, do not sound identically, and there are also many languages that show additional combinations of rounding and backness. German is one of these languages, in that it has front rounded vowels. These are orthographic 'ü' and 'ö', transcribed as [y] and [ø] (as well as their 'lax' counterparts that we will see below).
(3) high front rounded: [y], orthographically 'ü', as in: Hügel, [hyl], 'hill' mid front rounded: [ø], orthographically 'ö', as in: Höhle, [høl], 'cave'
The following table integrates these vowels, and integrates the distinction of rounding.
(4) front back unrounded rounded unrounded rounded [i] hier [y] Hügel [u] Huhn high here hill chicken [e] Heer [ø] Höhle [o] Hohn mid army cave scorn [a] Hahn low rooster
The table shows that [y] ('ü') is similar to [i] in tongue position (high and front), but distinct from it in lip rounding, and that [ø] is similar to [e] in tongue position (mid and front), but distinct from it in lip rounding. It may help you remember how [y] and [ø] are pronounced if you consider the orthography (writing): Going from 'u' to 'ü' and going from 'o' to 'ö' in both cases means 'becoming front, but
1 The script of last year speaks of Japanese here. This is not correct. Japanese has no high back rounded vowel. The Japanese high back vowel is the unrounded , which is found in Polish,Russian, and many other languages.
p. 2, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription leaving everything else the same'. Thus, 'ü' is like 'u' in that it is high and round, but 'ü' is front, unlike the back vowel [u]. Also, 'ö' is like 'o' in that it is mid and round, but 'ö' is front, unlike the back vowel 'o'. Thus, you can think of the 'umlaut' dots (written on top of 'o' and 'u' in 'ü' and 'ö') as turning a vowel into a corresponding front vowel.
1.3 Tense and lax vowels
The next important distinction is more subtle. This is the distinction between tense and lax vowels. With the exception of [a], all vowels in (4) are tense, and have a lax counterpart. In German, the distinction between tense and lax vowels is to some extent connected to the distinction between long and short vowels (more on this below). (5) shows examples of minimal contrasts between tense (long) vowels with lax (short) vowels.
(5) tense lax [i] - [] ihn - in him, in [e] - [] Heer - Herr army, mister [u] - [] Mus - muss mush, must [o] - [] wohne - Wonne live (1.sg), bliss [y] - [] Hüte - Hütte hats, cottage [ø] - [œ] Höhle - Hölle cave, hell
In addition to the length distinction, there is, in all these pairs, a distinction in how 'strong' the articulation is executed. The tense vowels have their articulation more strongly executed, while the lax vowels have it less strongly executed (as though the tongue was more relaxed). [i] and [] for example, are both high front vowels. However, lax [] is not quite as high up and not quite as far front as tense [i]. Similarly, lax [] is not as high up as the mid [e], and not quite as far front. The distinction also applies to the amount of lip rounding: Lax [], for example, is not only lower than tense [o] in tongue position, but the lips are also less rounded with [] than with [o]. This is a difference in degree: both [] and [o] are rounded vowels nevertheless. The German vowel [a] is usually classified as lax, and as having no tense counterpart. The table in (6) adds the lax vowels to the table in (4), as well as the distinction between tense and lax.
(6) front back unrounded rounded unrounded rounded tense [i] hier [y] Hügel [u] Huhn high here hill chicken lax [] Hilfe [] Hülse [] Hund help husk dog tense [e] Heer [ø] Höhle [o] Hohn mid army cave scorn lax [] Hemd [œ] Hölle [] Holz shirt hell wood (lax) [a] Hahn low rooster
Notice also that lax vowels are often followed by double consonants in the orthography, as in many of the examples in (5). Importantly, the double consonant of the orthography is not pronounced longer than the single consonant of the orthography. Thus, the single and double consonants in Mus and muss, in wohne and Wonne etc. are both pronounced short. The double consonant of the
p. 3, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription orthography is only a 'sign' that the preceding vowel is pronounced lax. Altogether, the pronunciation is: Mus [mus], muss [ms], wohne [von], and Wonne [vn]. Notice also, that there is not always such an orthographic sign for a lax vowel. Thus, the vowels of in, Bär, Hals, Holz and many other words are lax, with no following double consonant serving as a sign for this.
1.4 Short and long vowels
German vowels can be long or short. In some cases, this distinction can differentiate words, as shown in (7).
(7) Short vs. long lax versions of the vowels [] and [a] []näht [] nett sews (3.sg), nice [a] Saat [a] satt seeds, full
As mentioned, the distinction between long and short is often closely connected to the tense/lax distinction. One effect of this is that that the lax vowels [] and [a], as shown in (7), have long and short versions, but that all other lax vowels are short in German.
(8) The lax vowels [, , œ, , ] are always short in German.
The tense vowels, on the other hand, all have a long and a short version. Long versions of tense vowels were seen in (5) above, contrasting with short lax vowels. (5) is repeated as (9a) here. (9b) in addition shows vowels that are short and tense. These are less frequent than the vowels illustrated in (9a), but they do occur.
(9) a. b. tense lax tense long short short [i] - [] ihn - in [i] vital vital [e] - [] Heer - Herr [e] mechanisch mechanical [u] - [] Mus - muss [u] kulant accomodating [o] - [] wohne - wonne [o] Moral moral [y] - [] Hüte - Hütte [y] düpieren to dupe [ø] - [œ] Höhle - Hölle [ø] möblieren to furnish
Notice that all vowels in (9b) occur in an unstressed position. This has to do with a regularity about the length-distinction with tense vowels: In German, if a vowel is tense and stressed, it is long. Therefore, the rare short occurrences of tense vowels are all in unstressed positions, like in (9b).
Some remarks on orthography, tense/lax, and long/short
Orthography is generally not of primary interest in phonology, and the relation of orthographic spelling to pronunciation is less than regular. Nevertheless, in this introductory discussion, it may be helpful to see some 'typical' connections between writing and pronunciation, even if these cannot always be applied. Please read them and use them if they are helpful. However, these connections to the orthography will not be part of the final exam. Tense [i] and lax [] are both spelled 'i' in the orthography. However, we often find indicators of length with tense [i], such as the 'ie' in Biene [bin] and the 'ih' in ihn [in]. Now, tense [i] can be long, but lax [] is never long (see (8) above). Therefore long "i-sounds" are necessarily tense, as in Biene [bin] and ihn [in]. However, there is not always such an indication of length in the
p. 4, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription orthography, even with long tense vowels. For example, there is none in Maxime [maksi m]. Therefore, an orthographic sign of length with an "i-sound" usually points to a tense vowel. However, when there is no sign of length, a vowel may be either tense or lax. Similarly with the tense and lax variants of the vowels corresponding to orthographic 'u', 'o', 'ü', and 'ö'. The lax versions of these vowels cannot be long by (8). Therefore, when these vowels show '_h' as an indication of length in the orthography, they are normally tense: Huhn [hu n], Mohn, [mo n], führen [fy rn], Möhre [mø r]. Similarly with orthographic double vowel as in Moos [mo s]. However, there is not always such an indication of length: Buch [bu x], Ton [to n], Hügel [hy l], löten [lø tn]. Again, then, an orthographic indication of length with these vowels is an indication for the tense version of the vowel; however, no orthographic indication of length is no clear indication for anything. The "e-sounds" [e] and [] are different from the preceding vowels both in the pronunciation and in the orthography. In the pronunciation, lax [] can be long as well as short, as was seen in (7). In the orthographic spelling, lax [] is spelled either 'e' or 'ä'. Often, 'ä' is pronounced long, with or without a following orthographic 'h'. Thus spät and (er) späht are both pronounced [p t]. Mädchen is pronounced [m dn]. However, 'ä' can also stand for a short [], as in Klänge [kl]. Short [] is spelled as orthographic 'e' in other words like Hemd [hmt] and lenken [lkn]. Tense [e] is orthographically spelled 'e' in the normal case, often with signs of length, as in Meere [me r] or Kehle [ke l], and sometimes without, as in Venus [ve ns]. The "e-sounds" also show considerable variation among speakers (and dialects). There are many speakers who do not distinguish between [e] and []. In all this mess, one regularity that seems to have only one exception is this: When a vowel is spelled 'ä', it is pronounced [ ] or []. (The exception is the diphthong (see below) 'äu', for example in Häuser.) With this, let us return to our divide for memorizing pronunciation: 'Dots on 'ü' and 'ö' "make a back vowel into a front vowel."' Does this carry over to 'a' and 'ä'? The answer is: almost, but not exactly. Going from 'a' to 'ä', we make the back vowel 'a' [a], into the front vowel 'ä' []. However, 'ä' [] is not the exact front counterpart of 'a' [a]. The exact front counterpart of [a] would be a low front vowel (which does not exist in German). Instead, the vowel corresponding to written 'ä' is a mid front vowel. Nevertheless, all three of 'a', 'o', and 'u' are pronounced as back vowels, and all three of 'ä', 'ö', and 'ü' are pronounced as front vowels. They have dots on top, like the front vowel 'i', [i/], which also has a dot on top. (Careful, however: the vowel [e] is also a front vowel, but does not have a dot. Thus, orthographic dots indicate front vowels, but not all front vowels have orthographic dots, 'e' being the exception).
1.5 Schwa []
There is a further vowel in German, called schwa, and transcribed []. It occurs in Wege [ve ], Belag [bla k] and many other words of German. Schwa is never stressed in German, while all other vowels, also lax vowels, can be stressed. There are many words in which schwa occurs in careful pronunciation, but not in more casual pronunciation. For example, it occurs in the careful pronunciation of legen and Laden, [le n] and [la dn], but not in the more casual pronunciation of these words, [le ] and [la dn]. Schwa can be thought about as a vowel with no properties: The tongue seems to lie in the mouth in a relaxed position. Schwa is neither front nor back; the tongue is in a mid position between front or back instead. Schwa is also not high or low, but also mid in that dimension. It also lacks rounding.
2 A brief comparison of the German and the English vowel system
p. 5, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription In this section, we briefly compare the German and English vowel systems. (10) shows, on the left, a summary of the German vowel system. In each pair, for example [i ], the first member of the pair is tense, the second lax. Lip rounding is indicated by larger circles around the sounds that are rounded. The front rounded vowels are written separately below the 'core' of the chart. On the right, you see a similar table for the American English vowels, with examples of variation, and an example for each vowel. Notice the following similarities and differences: (a) Similarity: English, like German, has the high (tense and lax) vowels [i, , u, ]. So, German Niete [ni t ] and English neat [ni t] are similar, fit [ft] is used in both languages, German nun and English noon are both pronounced [nu n], and the vowel in English put [pt] also occurs in German kaputt [kapt]. (b) Similarity: English, like German, has the mid lax vowels [, ], as well as schwa. Short [] occurs in English neck [] and German necken [nk]. [to be added: comment on long/short distinction of [, ]]. (c) Difference: English does not have the tense mid vowels [e] and [o]. Instead, it has the diphthongs [e] and [o], which German lacks. (These are written in the table for American English in (10) for reasons of comparison; other diphthongs are discussed separately below.) Thus, a word pronounced [be t] must be German (here: Beet) and cannot be English. Inversely, a word pronounced [bet] cannot be German, and must be English (here: bait). Likewise, [bo t] must be German (Boot), and [bot] must be English (boat). (d) Difference: English does not have the front rounded vowels of German ([y, , ø, œ]), corresponding to German orthographic 'ü' and 'ö'. Thus, when you hear [kœln], you know it's German (the town Köln) and not English.
(10) German American English front back front back i u high i u high e [ ] o mid e [ ] o mid a low æ low plus: front examples of variation: "ü" y high Midwest, California: [, ] not distinguished "ö" ø œ mid cot, caught (otherwise [kt], [c t]) British: distinguishes [, , ]: balm, bomb, bought [ ] instead of [o]: boat, close
examples: [i] beat []bit [e] bait []bet [æ] bat, cat, sad, stamp, [u] boot [] put [o] boat [] bought [] hot, not, long, father,
p. 6, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription [ ] butt, umbrella. thorough, (e) Difference: Where German has the single low vowel [a], American English has a front low vowel [æ] as in cat [kæ t], a back low vowel [] as in hot [h t], and a mid-low vowel [ ] as in umbrella [ mbrl ]. Notice in particular that the [] in hot is unrounded in American English, like a German [a] and unlike German []. British English is different and makes an additional distinction between two low back vowels: unrounded [] and rounded []. In many cases, the unrounded [] corresponds to orthographic 'a', as in balm and plant [pl nt], while the rounded [] corresponds to orthographic 'o' as in bomb and hot [ht]. Speakers familiar with different varieties of English will notice that [h t] for hot sounds American, while [ht] for hot sounds British. Another very noticeable distinction between American and British English is that between American [o] and British [ ] in words such as boat, Am. [bot] and Br. [b t]. English-German dictionaries typically reflect the British pronunciation. The additional low vowels of English are often lost on German speakers of English, even long after if they master the pronunciation of []. The low vowel [æ] as in bat, [bæ t], and the mid vowel [] as in bet, [bt] are hard to distinguish for us. Similarly with the distinction between [ ] in umbrella [ mbrl ], [] in plant [pl nt], and German [a], which is not as far back as English [].
Diphthongs (Br.: [df])
Finally, let us take a brief look at diphthongs. Simplifying a bit, you may think of them as a sequence of two vowels, crucially within the same syllable. The simplification in this explanation is that, in the phonological analysis, they are not always analyzed as two separate vowels, but sometimes as a single unit with two different parts. diphthong [G. Diphthong]: a sequence of two vowel qualities in the same syllable; classified as either a single (changing) vowel or as a sequence of two vowels, depending on language and theory.
We have already seen the American English diphthongs [e] and [o] above, and the British English diphthong [ ]. In addition to that, English has three diphthongs, which correspond closely to the three diphthongs that German has. They are shown in (11). Notice that all English and German diphthongs have a high lax vowel ([] or []) as their second member.
(11) diphthongs shared by German and English:
German English [a]bei[ba] bite [bat] [a]Haus[has] house [has] [] Beule [bl ] boy [b]
p. 7, Intro Ling, Phonology 2: Vowels – Articulation and transcription