that do not change are called monophthong. Day and Eye are two examples of diphthong. A diphthong may be described and identified in terms of its beginning
and ending points. Thus, the diphthong in the word noise starts a half-open back rounded position.
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are sounds made by gliding from one vowel position to another. Diphthongs are represented phonetically by sequence of two letters. It
can be simply said that diphthongs occur when there are two vowels exist together. The first vowel shows the starting point and the second one indicates the
direction of movement. For example, diphthong ei in the word day, e is the starting vowel, and it glides to i. According to RP Received Pronunciation, there
are eight diphthongs. They are divided into closing diphthongs, centering diphthongs, and rising diphthongs.
Diphthong is not the same thing as a sequence of two monophthongs. For example, in the soil, there is a diphthong, while in the word sawing, there is a
sequence of monophthongs.
3.2. The general inventory of English vowels
The differences between one vowel to another may depend on several factors. The most important one is the quality – determined by the position of the
tongue, the lips, and the soft palate. In this chapter, I will introduce a general inventory of vowels. They are
ɪ, u,
Λ
, ε, æ, ɒ , ii, ou, ɔ , ai, ɑ , ei, uu, au, oi, ir,
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ur, er, or, зr, ar, ɔ r, air, aur. They are designated in twenty-four key words made
by Charles W. Kreidler. The twenty - four key words are devided into checked vowels, free vowels, and R-vowels.
Six key words that the vowels refer to checked vowels: Vowels:
Keywords:
ɪ
STICK
u
BOOT Λ
NUT
ε
STEP
æ
LACK
ɒ
LOCK
Key words for the free vowels are: Vowels:
Keywords:
ii
FREE
uu
TRUE
ei
DAY
ou
TOE
ɔ
LAW
ɑ
SPA
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ai
PIE
au
NOW
oi
TOY
And the key words for the R-vowels are:
ir
EAR
ur
TOUR
er
CHAIR
or
DOOR
зr
FUR
ar
STAR
ɔr
WAR
air
FIRE
aur
SOUR
3.3. The Cardinal Vowels by Daniel Jones The great English phonetician Daniel Jones proposed a series of Cardinal
vowels, in which vowels can be produced in the most extreme positions – the
highest and lowest possible positions and the farthest forward and farthest back. The Cardinal vowels are
i, e, ɛ
,
a,
ɑ, ɔ , o, u
. Cardinal vowels [i], is produced
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with the lips stretched and the front of the tongue in the highest and most possible forward position. If the tongue is any higher, there will be friction resulting from
the flow air between tongue and palate. Cardinal vowel [a], is produced with the lips stretched and the tongue front in the lowest and most forward position
possible. Cardinal vowel [
ɑ ], is produced with the tongue flat, the lowest, farthest back position the tongue can have in the mouth. Cardinal vowel [u], is made with
lips rounded and the dorsum in the highest and the farthest back position possible. Vowels i, e,
ɛ , and a are unrounded lips stretched to some extent , ɑ
is unrounded but lips are not stretched, and
ɔ , o, and u are rounded. The cardinal vowel [u] is not really as high as [i]; the shape of the mouth prohibits our raising
the tongue as high as in back as in front; consequently, the distance between ɑ, ɔ ,
o
,
and u is not as great as the distance between i, e, ɛ
, and a. It can not be equated the cardinal vowels with vowels in English words
because there are differences between speakers of English including different dialect.
Examples of words to recognize the eight cardinal vowels: [
i
] : tree, freak treat [
e
] : the first vowel of date, make, day [
ɛ
] : step
[
a
] : the first part of the vowel in pie, tide [
ɑ
] : father, spa.
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[
ɔ
] : law, caught keep short [
o
] : the first vowel of go [
u
] : true keep short
3.4. Vowels of RP Received Pronunciation
