Page 69 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 5: Classification of Speech Sounds: Vowels, Consonants-General Introduction

FRONT CENTRAL BACK Notes
ia
ua

ea e

(THE CENTRING DIPHTHONGS IN ENGLISH)
Figure 5.3
The centring diphthongs in English are:
/i /as in/pi /(pear)
e
e
/e /as in/pe /(pair)
e
e
/u /as in/pu /(poor)
e
5.3.1 Description of Diphthongs
Diphthongs are described by indicating the position of the tongue and the lips in the beginning
and at the end of the glide. For example, /ai/ in the English word buy can be described as a glide
or movement from front, open, unrounded to front, half-close, unrounded. The descriptions of the
diphthongs of R.P. are given below:
/ou/as in boat : closing diphthong, beginning at a central position below half-close and
moving in the direction of /u/. The lips are neutral in the beginning and
rounded towards the end.
/ei/as in pay : closing diphthong, beginning at a slightly below half-close position and
moving towards R.P. /i/. The lips are spread.
/ai/as in buy : closing diphthong glides from the front open position towards /i/. The lips
change from a neutral to a loosely spread position.
/ ] i/as in boy : closing diphthong, the glide begins near the back half-open position and
moves in the direction of /i/. The lips are open-rounded at the beginning
and neutral at the end.
/au/as in how : closing diphthong, glides from /a/ towards /u/. The lips are neutral in the
beginning and weakly rounded in the end.
/i/as in peer : centring diphthong, the glide begins at /i/ and moves towards / /. The lips
are neutral.
e
/e / as in air : centring diphthong, the glide begins between half-close and half-open position
and moves towards / /. The lips are neutral.
e
e
/u / as in poor : the centring diphthong, the glide begins at /u/ and moves to /e/. The lips
are weakly rounded at the beginning and neutral at the end.
e
To summarise the description of vowel sound should include information about the position of
the soft palate, the position of the lips, the part of the tongue raised and the degree of raising. It is
difficult to judge the exact tongue position for a vowel.
A system of eight primary cardinal vowels enables us to describe any vowel sound in relation to
them. These cardinal vowels are represented by the symbols [i, e, ε , a , æ , , o, u,]. Some
languages have nasalized vowels also. Some vowels are relatively ‘pure’; others have glides and
are called diphthongs. Vowels are classified according to the part of the tongue raised into front,
central, and back vowels. Vowels are classified into close, half close, half-open vowels according
to the height of the tongue.
5.4 Phonetic Transcription

Phonetic transcription is a device in which we use several symbols in such a way that one symbol
always represents one sound. It is also known as phonetic notation, it is an ‘attempt on paper, a

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 63