Main vowel symbols of GA and WCE

Front Central Back* Height [i] ‘beat’ [u] ‘boot’ higher high English vowels [I] ‘bit’ [U] ‘book’ lower high [e] ‘bait’ [o] ‘boat’ higher mid [E] ‘bet’ [´] ‘sofa’ [ç] ‘ bought, GA’ lower mid Narrow transcription [! ] ‘but’ [Å] ‘Bob, bought WCE’ higher low [Q] ‘bat’ [A] ‘Bob, GA’ lower low •Back vowels except [A] are rounded; the rest are unrounded • [Å] is described as lower low in your text and IPA. I’ll take either. It is ROUNDED • [e] and [o] are the first part (nucleus) of the diphthongs [ej] and [ow]

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Basic vowel description Tense and Lax

• The basic descriptors for vowels are HAR • English phonology traditionally makes the – Height distinction between tense and lax vowels – Advancement – This is not phonetically well-defined as a single – Rounding characteristic • It is useful to subdivide each height class into a – You just need to learn which vowels are classed as tense and lax ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ subdivision – You should learn all the heights in the next chart • This distinction based mainly on phonotactics – Phonotactics is the description of which sounds can occur together in a legal word or syllable of a language

2 4 Duration patterns tense and lax Occurrence of TENSE Vs vowels • Vowels called ‘tense’ occur freely at the ends of • Tense vowels are longer than lax vowels of the one syllable words same general height class i, ej, u, ow, Å ( A and ç in GA) /i/ longer than /I/ /u/ longer than /U/ • Also tense : aj, aw, çj /ej/ longer than /E/ • Examples : • The tense back vowels /ow/ and /Å/ (both /A/ and – ‘bee’, ‘bay’, ‘too’, ‘tow’ , ‘law’ ( ‘spa’ and ‘law’ in GA) /ç/ in GA) are longer than the lax central /! / • An exception to the ‘lax vowels shorter than tense’ is /Q/ – It is often as long as any other vowel

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Length of tense v. lax vowels: All Occurrence of LAX Vs other things being equal • Vowels called ‘lax’ can mostly occur in one syllable words • Vowel length in English is affected by only if they end in a consonant I, E, U, ! , Q, many factors • Also lax : weak vowels like ´ • All other things being equal, a tense vowel • Examples : ‘bit’, ‘bet’, ‘put’, ‘but’ , ‘bat’ – No easy examples of these vowels at ends of 1-syllable English is longer than a lax vowel of a similar words height • Try to think of some – (Exception /Q/ is not shorter than low tense vowels (e.g., /Å/ )

6 8 Transcribing vowel length for Moderately narrow transcription tense vs lax vowels of length • In a narrow transcription we can indicate relative • Ordinarily, we will not transcribe vowel length even in length of vowels by diacritics narrow transcriptions – [A>] Slightly longer than ‘baseline’ • On special occasions when attention is focused on length – [A˘] Substantially longer than ‘baseline’ you should know a three way ranking for 1-syllable words • Rogers suggests – Tense vowels with two symbols don’t ever need extra marks (natural to assume [ej] longer than [e]) – Tense vowels with one symbol could be written with single raised dot [A>]

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Allophonic vowel length: pre Length transcription conventions voiceless obstruents 1 syllable words • Vowel length in English is affected by many • From longest to shortest: Three degrees of length for one- factors symbol vowels • All other things being equal, a vowel is shorter • 1) Lax vowel before voiceless consonant: ‘bit’, when it is before a voiceless consonant in the [bIt] same syllable • 2) Lax vowel before voiced consonant or tense vowel before voiceless consonant (these are about the SAME – E.g. length) • /Q/ in ‘bat’ is shorter than in ‘bad’ or ‘ban’ ‘bid’ [bI>d] ; ‘beat’ [bi>t] • /E/ in ‘bet’ is shorter than in ‘bed’ or ‘bell’ • 3) Tense vowel elsewhere (before voiced consonant or at • /i/ in ‘beat’ is shorter than in ‘bead’ or ‘bees’ or ‘bee’ end of word) ‘be’ [bi:] , ‘bead’ [bi:d]

10 12 This is a little different from Other variations length: prosodics, rate Rogers More things we won’t transcribe • The above is for special exercises only. • Vowel length in English is affected by many factors • Actual facts of vowel duration in English are very complex • Vowels in various positions in longer utterances get • My rules are closer to the truth than Rogers, but it’s shorter or longer depending on position impossible to nail this down simply in a narrow • All other things being equal transcription – Vowels in syllables at ends of phrases get longer : prepausal • Our transcription in special exercises will be only to lengthening illustrate that we know the following reliable facts: – Vowels in two syllable utterances are shorter than those in one syllable utterances. ‘Dog’ in ‘Dog’ than in ‘Bad dog’ – Tense vowels are longer than similar lax vowels – Vowels in a ‘tonic’ syllable (most emphasized syllable) of a phrase – Vowels before voiceless consonants are shorter than the same longer than those not in tonic syllable vowel before voiced consonants (or at end of word) • S1: ‘You’re a good DOG’, S2: ‘You’re a GOOD dog’ • Dog longer is S1 than S2

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Another source of length Nasalization of vowels One more thing we WILL transcribe with variation: Stress diacritic • Vowel length in English is affected by many factors • Vowels in English are noticeably nasalized when they • All other things being equal, a vowels with primary stress occur before nasal cosonants in same syllable is longer than one with secondary stress – ‘ban’ /bQn/ [bQ)n] – Vowel with weak stress is shortest of all – ‘bin’ /pIn/ [bI)n] • This is too much detail to note in transcription • Rogers suggests there is also nasalization after nasal C’s – We run out of diacritics!!! – But this is quite minor compared to nasalization before nasal • But you should still know that mores stressed vowels are consonants and we will ignore it in transcription longer than less stressed vowels in English ‘nab’ vs ‘ban’ – (It’s part of how we know what vowels are stressed)

14 16 Some special caes: Vowels Note also before /®/ before /®/ • Dialects of English do not show a full inventory of • Diphthongs /aj aw çj / also occur before /®/ tense and lax vowels before /®/ – ‘fire’, ‘flour’, ‘coir’ • Following the text, I will use ‘lax vowel’ symbols for most ‘simple’ pre-r vowels, though many • (last word rare = ‘coconut husk fibre’) sound at least as close to the nearby tense one • Some dialects have more vowels before /®/ – Exceptions – ‘cheery’, ‘Mary’, ‘merry’, ‘marry’, ‘Murray’ • Lower mid vowel in ‘bore’ /bçr/ • Low vowel in ‘bar’ /ba®/ or /ba®/ • Some have fewer • Rather than argue, I will accept alternates in next – ‘shore’, ‘lure’,‘sure’, ‘bore’, ‘tour’ chart

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Other curious environments Example WCE vowels before /®/ / N S ( g Z )/ Word Rogers Alternate • Text notes that mainly only lax vowels occur ‘beer’ bI® bi® before N S – Some related restrictions apply to /g/ and /Z / in some ‘bare’ bE® be® dialects • There are some exceptional words, onomatopoea ‘tour’ tU® tu® and borrowings ‘bore’ bç® bo® • Not too important… but we’ll check some facts of local pronunciation ‘bar’ (tense!) bar bA®

18 20 WCE Vowels pre /N / For your edification

• Facts not well documented in WCE--lets’ check /N/ • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frug – ‘ping’ ‘ring’ • The Frug was a dance craze from the 1960s that – ‘(Mr) Peng’ evolved from another dance of the era, The Chicken. – ‘pang’ The Chicken, which featured lateral body – ‘Hong Kong’ (tense vowel !!!) movements, was used primarily as a change of pace – ‘long’ (tense vowel !!!) step while doing The Twist. As young dancers grew – ‘hung’ more tired they would do less work, moving only their • Any other vowels or diphthongs? hips while standing in place. They then started making up arm movements for the dance, which – Hint : old McDonald prompted the birth of The Swim, The Monkey, The Dog, The Watusi, and The Jerk. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frug

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WCE Vowels pre / g / WCE Vowels pre /S Z /

• Facts not well documented in WCE--lets’ check /g/ • Again facts not well documented-- lets’ check – ‘league’ – ‘pig’ • ‘leash’, ‘leige’ (rare before /i/ - but easy) – ‘(the) Hague’ • ‘wish’ – ‘bag’ – ‘bug’ • ‘fresh’ – ‘berg’ – ‘(the) Frug’ • ‘crash’ – ‘sugar’ • ‘slosh’ – ‘dog’ – ‘hog’ • ‘push’ • Any other vowels? • ‘wash’

22 24 Words with tense vowels before / Canadian raising /S Z / • Again facts not well documented-- lets’ check • The diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ in Cdn Eng • ‘leash’, ‘leige’ – The nuclei ( /a/ part) show ‘notorious’ raised • ‘woosh’, ‘swoosh’ ‘douche’ , ‘rouge’, ‘luge’ (higher ! / ! /) as well as shorter allophones before voiceless consonants • ‘wash’ ‘slosh’ ‘Taj (Mahal)’ • ‘ride’ / »®ajd / -> [» ®a> jd] • ‘slosh’ • ‘right’ / »®ajt / -> [» ®! jt] • ‘push’ • ‘loud’ / / -> • ‘wash’ »lawd [» la> wd] • ‘lout’ / lawt / -> [» l! wt]

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Vowels before […] More than Canada

• Vowels before dark l are often ‘retracted’ • Though rarely acknowledged, many other (‘backer’) than usual dialects show ‘half’ of Canadian raising • Sometimes there is a [´] like or [U] component – The vowel /aj/ is raised before voiceless sounds • ‘Trail’ vs ‘trade’ ´ [»tH®e˘ …] vs [»tH®e>jd] in many other dialects • Some dialects show ‘monophthongization’ of some back vowels – Americans and Canadians on TV know often – ‘coal’ [»kHo˘ …] rather than [»kHo>w …] use the phrase ‘out and about’ as a Canadian • Some dialects have lost some vowel distinctions shiboleth rather than ‘right makes might’ before l. – Salt Lake City ‘steel’ and ‘still’ 26 28