Dimensions of vowel description

The three vowels we have just described form three corners of the IPA’s vowel quadrilateral. This represents, schematically, the vowel space: sounds articulated at the edge of or inside the box are vowels. The vowel space uses three dimensions for describing vowels: vowel height, frontness and backness, and lip posture (or rounding). If the tongue is raised any higher than the sounds along the [i]–[u] axis, then friction is generated, and so a fricative (i.e. a consonant sound) is produced. If the tongue is lowered or backed beyond the vowel [ɑ], then friction is also produced. The cardinal vowels take pre-determined positions in the quadrilateral; other vowels are fitted in the spaces in between.

Vowel height is represented on the vertical dimension: from close through close-mid, and open-mid to open, along a continuum. The horizontal dimension of the chart (front – central – back) represents the second aspect of vowel description: vowel frontness/backness. The points between the extremes are chosen because they are useful reference points. In theory there is an infinite number of points between the extremes on each dimension.

The third aspect of vowel description is lip posture. The lips can be held in a large number of postures. Here are a few: spread and close (as if smiling), spread and protruded (as if to make a rectangular box between the lips and teeth), compressed and protruded (as if to make a polite kiss on someone’s cheek), and open and rounded (as if to make a big O-shape). The IPA represents lip posture implicitly in symbols, with diacritics for deviations from what is implied.

There are two sets of cardinal vowels: the eight primary cardinal vowels [i e ε a ɑ ɔ o u] and the secondary cardinal vowels  . The primary cardinal vowels are, as the name suggests, the more important ones, because they represent the commonest types of vowel across the world’s languages. The secondary cardinal vowels are less common. They are the same as the primary cardinal vowels with respect to tongue posture, but they have reversed lip postures: for example, [y] has the same tongue position as [i], but the same lip posture as [u]; [ɯ] has the same tongue position as [u], but the same lip posture as [i].

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

أهالي كربلاء يحيون اليوم السابع لذكرى شهادة الإمام الحسين (عليه السلام)

مشروع أمير القراء الوطني يشهد مشاركة أكثر من 100 طالبٍ في مرحلته الثالثة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يصدر دليلًا يوثّق القصص الفائزة في مسابقة فتوى الدفاع المقدسة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يعلن عن توفير عددٍ من المكتبات الإلكترونية المتخصّصة للمؤسّسات الدينية والمكتبات العامّة

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

نصائح عملية للحد من التعرق المفرط في الصيف

أطباء يحذرون: مكمل غذائي شائع قد يدمر الجهاز العصبي

تحذير طبي من تأثير جانبي "غير متوقع" لحقن التخسيس

حمامات الثلج قد تكون خطيرة وأحيانا مميتة.. ما السبب؟

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

أكبر جدارية شمسية في العالم تدخل موسوعة غينيس.. مشروع ضخم

تسارع دوران الأرض يثير القلق.. وتحذيرات من "كوارث محتملة" ؟

"سوذبيز" تطرح أكبر قطعة من المريخ على الأرض في مزاد علني

أوبن أيه آي تعتزم إطلاق متصفح إنترنت يعمل بالذكاء الاصطناعي

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Phonetic Transcription

Phonetics

Word sharing and dialects: Dialects generally borrow from dialects

Dialects—Where Do You Draw the Line?

The standard

Koinés

Externally motivated change

Chain shifts

Changes to make life easier

Systemic changes

Weakening of intervocalic unvoiced stops

Simplification of consonant clusters