2. WHAT IS VOWELS?
Vowels are produced by a continuous
airstream and all are voiced. They are
classified according to height of the
tongue, part of the tongue involved and
position of the lips.
3. THE PART OF
TONGUE
The tongue can be
high, mid or law;
and the part of the
tongue used can be
front, central or
back.
4. THE VOWELS QUADRILATERAL
• Tongue Height is a significant
factor in the character of vowel
sounds.
• Tongue Fronting is the second
significant factor in the
production of vowels.
5. TONGUE HEIGHT/ VOWELS HEIGHT
• High vowels: tongue body is raised
[i]
[I]
[u]
[U]
‘beat’
‘bit’ ‘boot’ ‘put’
• Mid vowels: tongue body is intermediate
[eI]
[E]
[oU]
[U ]
‘bait’
‘bet’
‘boat’
‘butt’
[e] [o]
• Low vowels: tongue body is lowered
[ ᴂ]
[a]
‘bat’ ‘bomb’
6. TONGUE FRONTING/ VOWELS FRONTING
• Front vowels: tongue body is pushed forward
[i]
[I]
[e]
[ᴈ]
Beet Bit Chaotic Bet
• Back vowels: tongue body is pulled back
[u]
[U] [o]
[ᴐ]
Pull Book Not
Four
• Central vowels: tongue body is neutral
[ᴐ]
[ ᴧ]
Four Up
7. The four corners of the vowel
quadrilateral represent extreme
tongue positions:
• upper left is the farthest
forward, highest vowel
possible
• upper right is the farthest
back, highest vowel possible
• lower left is the farthest
forward, lowest vowel
possible
• lower right is farthest back,
lowest vowel possible
8. SCHWA
Schwa is the only
unstressed vowel in
the central zone, it is
rather more free to
move than other
vowels.
The sounds are very
like schwa:
[ʌ], [3] and [ə]
9. DIPHTHONGS
Diphthong is a vowel sound in which the tongue starts in
one place in the mouth and moves to another.
Example of diphthongs:
/aʊ/ as in bout and /ɪə/ as in beer
10. TRIPHTHONGS
Other vowels on the list of phonemes that
ought to be describe as triphthong.
Example for triphthong:
/aɪə/ as in tire and /aʊə/ as in tower
