Crash Course Linguistics: Vowels and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Overview

• Continued exploration of phonetics, focusing on vowels.
• Importance of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in representing vowel sounds.

Vowels in Phonetics

• Vowels are sounds made without closing the vocal tract.
• English has more vowel sounds than the five vowel letters suggest.
• Different varieties of English have between 12 to 21 vowel sounds.

Mapping Vowel Sounds

• Vowel Space: Involves parts of the mouth used to make vowel sounds.
• Vowels differ in how open the mouth is and tongue position (high vs low, front vs back).
  • Examples:
    • "Eee" is a high, closed vowel.
    • "Ah" is a low, open vowel.
  • "Oo" is a high, back, and rounded vowel.
  • "Oe" (common in French, German) is front and rounded.

Vowel Features

• Tongue Position: High vs Low, Front vs Back.
• Lip Rounding: Rounded vs Unrounded.
• Examples:
  • "A" is mid-front-unrounded.
  • "O" is mid-back-rounded.
  • "Uh" (schwa): Common and neutral vowel sound in English, found in unstressed syllables.

Diphthongs

• Vowel sounds that change position (e.g., "oi", "ai", "au").
• Represented by combining two vowel symbols.

Vowel Space Diagram

• Vowels are organized in a trapezoid representing the vowel space.
• Described by closedness, frontness, and rounding.

Vowel Inventories Across Languages

• English has a large vowel inventory, varying by dialect.
• Other languages with large inventories: Germanic languages, languages in Southeast Asia and Africa.
• Common languages with fewer vowels: Spanish (5 vowels), Arabic.
• Smaller vowel inventories often correlate with complex consonant systems.

IPA and Vowel Distinctions

• Length: Duration of vowel sound (e.g., "ee" vs "eeee").
• Nasalization: Air flows through the nose and mouth (e.g., French "beau" vs "bon").
• Tone: Pitch changes creating different meanings (e.g., Mandarin "ma" for "mother" vs "horse").

Phonetics Branches

• Articulatory Phonetics: How sounds are made.
• Acoustic Phonetics: Recording and analyzing sounds.
• Perceptual Phonetics: Processing of heard sounds.

Next Steps

• Transition to phonology: Study of sound interaction in context.

Additional Resources

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