English Linguistics 2: English and Englishes
Summary on Linguistic Concepts
Module 1. Vowels
Introduction and rationale
Phonetics: study of the physical properties of sound, with attention to:
- Articulatory phonetics: how sound is made in the lungs, throat, mouth and nose
(organs of speech).
- Acoustic phonetics: what properties of the sound waves in the air are.
- Auditory phonetics: how the ears register the sound waves, and ultimately the brain
decodes the signal.
Phonology: the linguistic system of speech sound. We do not hear speech sounds as a
continuous stream of varying sounds, but we hear individual separate sounds (English
recognises around 40, depending on the variety. These separate sounds are called phonemes.
There are two possible ways in which English across the world varies:
- Phonemic difference: e.g. in many British varieties of English, the vowels spelled
“a” in BATH and PALM sound the same. However, both are different from the vowel
in TRAP, also spelled ‘a’. In many American varieties, the vowels in BATH and
PALM do not sound the same – the vowel in BATH sounds like a longer version of
the vowel in TRAP. In Australia, both pronunciations are heard for BATH.
o Corresponds to a morphemic difference in morphology, e.g. English
distinguishes between ‘learn’ and ‘teach’, where ‘learn’ only denotes the
perspective of the student who does the learning, whereas in Dutch, the verb
‘leren’ can be used to convey the meanings of both learn and teach
- Allophonic difference: two varieties can share the same phoneme, but the actual
sound of that phoneme can be different. For example, the vowel in DRESS is
pronounced with a somewhat lower tongue position in the mouth in the South of
England, represented by the phonetic symbol [ɛ], while in Australia and South Africa,
this vowel is pronounced with the tongue raised to the middle of the mouth,
represented by the symbol [e], and in New Zealand, the tongue is raised even higher
to [ɪ]. So, the way a New Zealander pronounces the word ‘ten’ is very similar to a
Southern Englander’s pronunciation of ‘tin’.
o Corresponds to allomorphic difference in morphology, e.g. the regular
English plural morpheme has three different, but related forms, spelled <s> or
<es>, but pronounced as [z], [s], or [ɪz], as in ‘dogs’ [dɒɡz], ‘cats’ [kʰæts] or
‘buses’ [bʌsɪz].
,Lexical Sets
Lexical sets: a set of reference words that stand for a much later class of words and that
behave similarly with respect to their vowels. The words FLEECE and GOOSE are used as
the reference words for the two vowels that are usually long and high across varieties of
English, similar to ‘piece’, ‘peace’, ‘beat’ (FLEECE-vowel). ‘Two’, ‘through’, ‘threw’,
‘boot’ are similar to the vowel of GOOSE.
Tense and Lax Vowels
Tense vowels: These are called tense because there is more energy in the production of these
vowels due to loudness and more tense muscles in the mouth. Simultaneously, the tongue
moves further away from its resting position in the middle of the mouth when articulating the
tense vowels, while the movement is less extensive in the case of the lax vowels.
Reference set (RP and GAE) for tense vowels are: FLEECE, GOOSE, THOUGHT, PALM,
BATH.
- BATH vs PALM: always [ɑ], low, back, unrounded in RP and Southern British
varieties, but there is a contrast in GAE – the PALM set is similar in GAE to RP, and
remains a tense, low back vowel (compared to the lax vowel in the LOT set), e.g.
father, mafia, schwa, blah, but the BATH set usually has a front allophone [a], as in
ask, laugh, castle, past.
The following are also long vowels in British English, but have an /r/-like sound attached to
the vowel in American English: START, NORTH, FORCE, NURSE. Many varieties of
English in the UK and Ireland differ from RP, and many varieties in North America differ
from GAE.
Typical pronunciation of these vowels:
Lexical set RP description GAE description
FLEECE [i:] high front unrounded [i] high front unrounded
GOOSE [u:] high back rounded [u] high back rounded
THOUGH [ɔ:] mid (mid-low) back [ɑ]/ low back unrounded OR mid (mid-
T rounded [ɔ] low) back rounded1
PALM [ɑ:] low back unrounded [ɑ ] low back unrounded
BATH [ɑ:] low back unrounded [æ] low front unrounded
START [ɑ:] low back unrounded [ar] low back unrounded, rhotacized
NORTH [ɔ:] mid (mid-low) back [ɔr] mid (mid-low) back rounded,
rounded rhotacized
FORCE [ɔ:] mid (mid-low) back [or] mid (mid-high) back rounded,
rounded rhotacized
NURSE [ɜ:] mid (mid-low) central [ɜr] mid (mid-low) central rounded,
rounded rhotacized
1
, In British English, the tense vowels are usually pronounced with length, which isn’t the case
in American English.
Lax vowels: Lax vowels are shorter than tense vowels of the same height. The muscles of the
vocal apparatus are relatively loose when articulating a lax vowel.
Reference set (RP and GAE) for lax vowels are: KIT, DRESS, TRAP, LOT, CLOTH,
STRUT, FOOT.
- LOT vs CLOTH: always [ɒ], low, back, rounded in RP and Southern British varieties,
but a possible contrast in GAE – unrounded [ɑ] in the LOT set, e.g. dog, possible,
stop, but potentially rounded and even raised to [ɔ] in the CLOTH set, e.g. Boston,
cough, long
Typical pronunciation of these vowels:
Lexical set RP description GAE description
KIT [ɪ] high front unrounded [ɪ] high front unrounded
DRESS [e] mid-high front [ɛ] mid (mid-low) front unrounded
unrounded
TRAP [æ] low front unrounded [æ] low front unrounded
LOT [ɒ] low back rounded [ɑ ] low back unrounded
CLOTH [ɒ] low back rounded [ɔ] mid-low back rounded
STRUT [ʌ] mid-low back unrounded [ʌ] mid-low back unrounded
FOOT [ʊ] high back rounded [ʊ ] high back rounded
The [i] vowel in FLEECE is tense, while the [ɪ] vowel in KIT is lax. This signals that there is
more tension in the tongue when pronouncing [i] than [ɪ]. It also means that the tongue is
extended further into the target direction (high front) with a tense vowel, and not so
extensively with a lax vowel – based on the assumption that the neutral or resting position of
the tongue is in the middle of the mouth.
The [i] vowel can be described as high and front, while the [ɪ] vowel can then be described as
near-high and near-front. Such an interim category of near-high still distinguishes the [ɪ] from
the mid-high vowel [e], and near-front still distinguishes the unrounded [ɪ] from the
unrounded central high vowel [ɨ], which typically does not occur in varieties of English.
Unstressed Vowel (‘Schwa’)
English uses the ‘schwa’ in many unstressed syllable. The schwa [ə]: articulated with the
tongue in its resting position in the middle of the mouth. The vowel is neither high nor low,
thus a mid-vowel, and is neither front nor back, thus a central vowel. The vowel occurs in a
syllable that doesn’t carry stress, e.g. the second syllable of capable, better, enemy, credible,
doctor, focus or vinyl, or the first syllable of about, oppose, suppose.
