THE VOWEL/CONSONANT SYSTEM

The quality of a vowel is chiefly determined by the position of the tongue, the lips, the lower jaw, and the resulting size and shape of the mouth and pharynx. Vowel quality is the property that makes one vowel sound different from another. For example, the /i:/ in sheep is different from the /I/ in ship.

In British terminology, vowels are classed as open or closed. In American terminology, they are classed as low or high, according to whether the tongue is held close to the roof of the mouth or low in the mouth. They are classed as front or back in both terminologies, according to whether the body of the tongue is pushed forward or pulled backward. They are classed as rounded or spread, according to the shape of the lips. For example, the /i:/ in sheep is a closed front spread vowel, and the /I/ in ship is a semihigh front unrounded vowel.

Vowel sounds divide into monophthongs (single vowel sounds that may be long or short), diphthongs (double vowel sounds forme

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ined partly in articulatory and partly in auditory terms. Cardinal vowel number one is defined as the highest and farthest from tongue position that can be made without producing a fricative sound. Cardinal vowel number five is defined as the lowest and farthest back vowel. Cardinal vowels numbers two, three, and four constitute a series of front vowels that form auditorily equidistant steps between cardinal vowels one and five. Cardinal vowels six, seven, and eight are a series of back vowels with the same sized auditory steps as in the front vowel sounds. Phoneticians who have been trained in the cardinal vowel system are able to make precise descriptions of the vowels of any language in terms of these reference points. The consonants A consonant is "any speech sound, such as t, g, f, and j, characterized by partial or full blockage of the oral cavity during articulation" (The New Encyclopµdia Britannica, III, p. 97). It is this obstruction of the vocal tract that determines the class of consonants, i.e. the places and manners in which sound is blocked. There are six basic manners of articulation that can be used at the places of articulation, viz. stop, fricative, approximant, trill, tap, and lateral. The stop involves closur
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