Introduction to the vowels of English. part 1

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INTRODUCTION TO THE VOWELS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE


A vowel is one of the two principal classes of speech sound, the other being a consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (length). They are usually voiced, and are closely involved in prosodic variation such as tone, intonation and stress. Vowel sounds are produced with an open vocal tract. The word vowel comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning "vocal" (i.e. relating to the voice). Vowels are also called vociods.

Phonetically, vowels are defined as speech segments which are produced with no obstruction in any part of the vocal tract; there is free flow of air from the lungs when vowel sounds are produced. On the other hand, phonemically, vowels are describe in terms of syllables (units of speech sound that can be produced within a single breath effort), that is, the sound that form the peak of the syllables.

There are 20 vowel sounds in the English sound system. These sounds are classified into 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs. The table is an illustration of the English vowel system.

Friday Abiona Stephen is a researcher, educator, writer, linguist, web designer, proofreader and editor with keen interest in child language development, computer language processing, web designing, and proofreading. He is a graduate of Lagos State University, Ojo, with a second class upper degree in English Education.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 3, 2023 at 3:04 PM

    So educative in all aspects

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 26, 2023 at 3:00 AM

    It’s really helpful. Thanks 🙏🏻

    ReplyDelete

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