Phonetic Terminology

The Englishmonophthongsare vowels the articulation of which is almost unchanging. The quality of such vowels is relatively pure. The Russian vowels are monophthongs. The English monophthongs are: [ɪ, e, æ, ɑ:, ɔ, ɔ:, ʊ, ʌ, ɜ:, ə].

In the pronunciation of diphthongs the organs of speech glide from one vowel position to another within one syllable. The starting point, the nucleus, is strong and distinct. The glide which shows the direction of the quality change is very weak. In fact diphthongs consist of two clearly perceptible vowel elements: the nucleus and the glide. There are no diphthongs in Russian. The English diphthongsare: [eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, aʊ, ɜʊ, ɪə, ɛə, ʊə].

In the pronunciation of diphthongoids the articulation is slightly changing but the difference between the starting point and the end is not so distinct as it is in the case of diphthongs. There are two diphthongoids in English: [i:, u:].

2. Tongue position. The changes in the position of the tongue determine largely the shape of the mouth and pharyngal cavities. The tongue may move forward and backward, up and down, thus changing the quality of vowel sounds.

When the tongue moves forward and backward various parts of it may be raised in the direction of the palate.

When the tongue is in the front part of the mouth and the front part of it is raised to the hard palate a front vowel is pronounced. This is the position for the English vowels [i:, e, æ] and the Russian vowels [и] and [э].

When the tongue is in the front part of the mouth but slightly retracted, and the part of the tongue nearer to the centre than to front is raised, a front-retracted vowel is pronounced. Such is the position for the English vowel [ɪ]. There are no front-retracted vowels in Russian.

When the front of the tongue is raised towards the back part of the hard palate the vowel is called central. This is the position for the English vowels [ʌ], [ɜ:], [ə] and the Russian vowels [а] and [ы].

When the tongue is in the back part of the mouth and the back of it is raised towards the soft palate a back vowel is pronounced. This is the position for the English vowels [ɑ:, ɔ, ɔ:, u] and the Russian vowels [о, у].

When the tongue is in the back part of the mouth but is slightly advanced and the central part of it is raised towards the front part of the soft palate a back-advanced vowel is pronounced. This is the position for the English vowel [ʊ].

Moving up and down in the mouth various parts of the tongue may be raised to different height towards the roof of the mouth.

When the front or the back of the tongue is raised high towards the palate the vowel is called close.This is the way the English vowels [i:, ɪ, ʊ, u:] and the Russian vowels [и, ы, у] are pronounced.

When the front or back of the tongue is as low as possible in the mouth open vowels are pronounced. This is the way top pronounce the English vowels [æ, ɑ:, ɔ, ɔ:] and the Russian vowel [а].

When the highest part of the tongue occupies the position intermediate between the close and the open one mid vowels are pronounced. This is the position for the English vowels [e, ʌ, ɜ:, ə] and the Russian vowels [э, о].

To make the classification more precise it is necessary to distinguish broad and narrow variants of close, mid and open vowels.

The classification of English and Russian vowels according to the vertical movement of the tongue looks like this:

3. Lip position.The shape of the mouth cavity is also largely dependent on the position of the lips. When the lips are neutral or spread the vowels are termed unrounded. The English unrounded vowels are: [i:, ɪ, е, æ, ɑ:, ʌ, ɜ:, ə]. The Russian unrounded vowels are : [и, э, ы, а].

When the lips are drawn together so that the opening between them is more or less round the vowel is called rounded. This is position for the English vowels [ɔ, ɔ:, ʊ, u:]. The Russian rounded vowels are [о, у]. When the Russian rounded vowels are pronounced the lips are somewhat protruded.

4. Character of Vowel End.The quality of all English monophthongs in the stressed position is strongly affected by the following consonant of the same syllable.If a stressed vowel is followed by a strong voiceless consonant it is cut off by it. In this case the end of the vowel is strong and the vowel is called checked. Such vowels are heard in stressed closed syllables ending in a strong voiceless consonant, e. g. better, cart.

If a vowel is followed by a week voiced consonant or by no consonant at all the end of it is very weak. In this case the vowel is called free. Such vowels are heard in closed syllables ending in a voiced consonant or in an open syllable, e. g. before, money, bead.

Vowel lenth. Vowels are capable of being continued during a longer or a shorter period. All English vowels (with the exception of diphthongs) are generally divided into long and short.

Long vowels are: [і:, ɑ:, ɔ:, u:, ɜ:].

Short vowels are: [ɪ, e, ɔ, ʊ, ʌ, ə].

In the similarity accented position all English vowels are fully long when they are final, e. g. see, bar, fur.

They are almost as long as that when a weak voiced consonant follows them in the closed syllable, e. g. seed, arm, song.

They considerably shorter before strong voiceless consonants in closed syllable, e. g. seat, set, first.

Diphthongs vary in length affect mainly the nucleus, not the glide, e. g. play [ple: ɪ] – plays [ple˙ ɪz] – plate [pleɪt].

It should be noted that in similar phonetic contexts traditionally long vowels are always longer than traditionally short vowels: cord – cod, see – sin, calm – come.