Page 220 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes l [i] lit [li] “bed”
2 [e] les [le] “the (pl.)”
3 [ ε ] lait [l ε ] “milk”
4 [a] la [la] “the (f. sg)”
5 [] Y lache  α  “loose”
l ∫

6 [ ] ] loque [ ]l k ] “rag”
7 [o] lot [lo] “lot, share”
8 [u] loup [lu] “wolf”

• Two “anchor points” - the highest, frontest possible vowel (Cardinal Vowel 1) and
the lowest, backest possible vowel Cardinal Vowel 5). The 6 remaining Cardinal Vowels
are distributed at equal auditory intervals - 3 along the front limit of the notional
vowel space (CV’s 2-4) and 3 along the back (CV’s 6-8).
• In practice there is an implicit third anchor vowel - the highest, backest, most rounded
vowel possible; also the three back CV’s above CV 5 have increasing degrees of
rounding.
• A set of Secondary Cardinal Vowels with the same tongue positions but opposite
values of lip rounding are also proposed, so that front rounded and back unrounded
vowels can be referenced. Note that there are no Central CV’s.

Using the Cardinal Vowel System
• The primary and secondary cardinal vowel categories provide a suitable framework for
comparison for many languages (e.g. a vowel close to CV 1; a vowel a little lower and more
retracted than CV 2, a vowel halfway between CV 8 and CV 9, etc.).
• Note that the Cardinal Vowels are not the vowels of any language but reference points for the
comparison of the vowel qualities of particular languages.
• But vowels belonging to the broad categories of which the CV’s are prototypes are found in
many languages.
Additional Vowel Symbols?
• The cardinal vowel system does not include any central vowel prototypes - additional symbols
(and auditory types) are required for these.
• Separate phonetic symbols are also useful for some frequently encountered or ‘politically
important’ vowel sounds that are different from cardinal qualities.
• Each symbol represents vowels produced in a particular area of the ‘vowel space’.
Vowel symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet
The canonical height/backness value for each symbol is shown by the position of a dot on the chart;
the symbol to the left of the dot represents an unrounded vowel at that position, the symbol on the
right a rounded vowel of the same height and backness. Note the omission a symbol for a low central
vowel. The 8 dots on the front and back lines of the chart are the CV positions.

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