ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS In traditional phonology, English vowels, contrary to the consonants that occ py the edges o!

sylla"les, are descri"ed as those seg#ents that ta$e central positions in sylla"les as %a, e, i, and o gh% represented in the !ollowing gro p& beat, bit, bat, bet, and bought '(r ttenden, )**+, O-(onnor, )*./01 In this perspective, vowels are viewed as letters and this #a$es the# li#ited in n #"er1 However, when st died scienti!ically as distinct so nds, vowels o! the 2eceived 3ron nciation '230 are !o nd to "e as #any as twenty '(r ttenden, )**+, Giegerich, )**401 5he distinctive !eat re o! vowel so nds is that they, nli$e consonants, do not #a$e any constriction or "loc$age to the airstrea# as they pass thro gh the oral cavity1 5here!ore, they are prod ced "y allowing the airstrea# to !low !reely '6reidler, )*7*01 English vowels are disting isha"le, accordingly, into two large gro ps& #onophthongs and diphthongs1 8onophthongs are si#ple p re vowel so nds1 5hey are ! rther divided into short and long vowels1 9 diphthong, which is considered a long vowel, is a glide !ro# one vowel to another within one sylla"le1 In English, there are twelve #onophthongs and eight diphthongs1 English vowel so nds share a set o! co##on !eat res and di!!er in another1 9ll vowels are sylla"ic 'can carry stress or pitch0, contin ant 'prod ced witho t any constriction o! the airstrea#0, sonorant 'prod ced with relative lo dness0, and voiced 'entail vi"ration o! vocal cords01 However, they are co#paratively di!!erent in length, : ality, and co#ple;ity '6reidler, )*7*, 2oca, < =ohnson, )***01 In this paper, an investigation into length as a distinctive !eat re in English vowel so nds syste# is atte#pted1 It is worth noted that the phonetic sy#"ols sed all thro gh the paper are to !ollow those sed in 2oach '4>>*01 ?2IE@ DIS(2I35ION O@ VOWELS 32ODU(5ION Vowels are prod ced "y egressive p l#onic airstrea# thro gh the vocal tract1 (avities in the vocal tract are altered "y the place o! the tong e and the lips1 5h s, the two "asic %artic latory #anoe vres in prod cing vario s vocalic so nds are the shape and position o! the tong e, and the shape and degree o! protr sion o! the lips% '(lar$, Aallop, < @letcher, 4>>.01 @ig re ) represents the possi"le positioning o! the tong e1 Vowels analysis is not witho t di!!ic lty, tho gh1 6reidler ')*7*0 asserts that d e to the rich dialectical variations o! English and vario s approaches adopted "y descriptivists, approaches to vowels analysis are di!!erent1 Disc ssion o! vowel so nds in this paper is presented in a se: ence "ased on their length relationships1

@ig1 )1 5ong e positions 'Lewis, )*B*0 Di!!erence a#ong vowels can "e descri"ed thro gh a vertical description o! that distance "etween the s r!ace o! the tong e and the palate, and a horiContal one, i1e1 the !ront part o! the tong e to the "ac$ '2oach, 4>>*01 9ccordingly, vowels are descri"ed as High when the highest point o! the tong e is close to the roo! and descri"ed as Low when the tong e is not rising a"ove the !loor o! the #o th, vowels in the inter#ediate position "etween these two e;tre#es is said to "e Mid1 On the other hand, vowels can "e Front, Central, or Back depending on the place o! the highest point o! the tong e1 8oreover, lip position a!!ects the : ality o! the vowel so nd1 5here are two possi"le positions ass #ed "y phoneticians, na#ely, lips are either Rounded or Unrounded1 Short and long vowels can, th s, "e shown in the !ollowing !ig res 'adopted !ro# 2oach, 4>>*01

@ig1 4 Short vowels long vowels Giegerich contrastively descri"es English vowel so nds in the !ollowing !ig re1 @ront High ?ac$
DiDEDD DDED D

@ig1 /

8id

DeDEDeD

DDEDFD

Low

DGD

DDEDD DD

!ig1 + 3airs o! English Vowel 3hone#es) 'Giegerich, )*B*1 p1 +*0 VOWEL LENG5H Vowels can di!!er in length, which is realiCed as the d ration o! a vowel so nd1 5his length can "e scienti!ically #eas red in centiseconds E h ndredths o! a second1 9ltho gh, practically, any vowel can possi"ly "e %stretched or clipped short% depending on the signi!icance o! words in tterances or according to the spea$er-s speech ha"its, phoneticians are interested in deter#ining other disting ishing !eat res that #a$e vowels characteristically long or short '6reidler, )*7*01 5he vowels in bean and bin are si#ilar in : ality " t the !irst is originally longer than the second1 Vowel length is said to "e relative in that they can have di!!erent lengths depending on #any !actors, especially the : ality o! the vowel or the adHacent consonants '(lar$, et al, 4>>.01 8oreover, when all !actors are the sa#e, %certain vowels tend to "e longer than others I low vowels tend to "e intrinsically longer than high vowels, "eca se o! the greater overall artic latory #ove#ent and the "io#echanical e!!ort re: ired to prod ce the lower vowels% '(lar$, et al, 4>>.1 p& /4E//01 @ollowing a string o! arg #ents, Giegerich concl des that 23 vowel inventory can "e str ct red into pairs ')0 and tr e diphthongs '40 'adopted !ro# Giegerich, )**4, pp1 J>E)0& '90 )1 bee, beat bay, bait Shah, psalm Shoe, pool Show, boat 41 bite, buy Bout, brow Coin, boy D i D D e D D D '?0 E D D bit E D e D bet E D D pull E D D cot, cough

D D E D G D Sam D F D E D D butt D a D D a D D D

Shaw, Caught D D

5he !irst gro p o! vowels, on the le!t, constit tes the long vowels set and the gro p on the right represents the short set1 5his distri" tion o! vowel phone#es is signi!icant on "oth phonological and phonetic gro nds1 5his pairing, !or e;a#ple, shows a phonetic relationship "etween short and long vowels which is tho ght to constit te a nat ral class '(lar$, et al, 4>>., Giegerich,
)

So#e o! the vowel sy#"ols sed "y Giegerich are #odi!ied to "e consistent with those in appendi; )1

)**401 In the light o! this distinction, partic lar !eat res related to length are disc ssed hereina!ter1 VOWELS LENG5H WI5HIN SALL9?LES 5he distinction o! vowels into short and long is signi!icant in the conte;t o! sylla"le str ct re1 9 pro#inent !eat re o! English is that its sylla"les are realiCed as strong and wea$1 5he distinction o! vowels into long and short vowels, a#ong other !actors, plays an i#portant role in deciding on which sylla"le is wea$ and which is strong '(lar$, et al, 4>>.01 Giegerich arg es that the %seg#ental !eat re% o! vowel length is "etter dealt with as a property to sylla"le str ct re 'Giegerich, )**4, p1)+)01 In co#paring wea$ and strong sylla"les, it is clear that the short vowels, o! lower intensity and di!!erent in : ality, occ r in wea$ sylla"les and long vowels occ r in strong sylla"les1 In the a"ove#entioned distri" tion o! vowels, the vowels that can occ r in open #onosylla"le words& Shaw, "ee, "ay, shoe, etc1, are always long vowels1 One class o! vowels that cannot occ r in this position, in 23, is the short vowels1 5hey are ill strated "elow in closed #onosylla"les1 It is to "e noted that there are no corresponding open #onosylla"les containing these vowels, e1g1 no D"ID alongside D"ItD and D"InD& Pet, pen, peck Bat ban lack Foot book look But bun luck Pot lock lot '(lar$, et al, 4>>.0 Within the str ct re o! wea$ sylla"les, it is help! l to #a$e a distinction "etween those that contain a strong vowel and those that contain a wea$ one1 9 stressed sylla"le sho ld have a strong vowel 'possi"ly any vowel or diphthong e;cept F, i, 0 '2oach, 4>>*01 Words s ch as the !ollowing, regardless o! "eing stressed or nstressed, incl de a strong vowel& bed "ed and penthouse penthas1 On the contrary, the vowels F, i, are always wea$1 Wea$ sylla"les containing these phone#es are !o nd in these words& attest Ftest and happy hGpi1 9D=9(EN5 (ONSON9N5S 9ND VOWEL LENG5H Inside sylla"les, vowel length is a!!ected "y neigh"o ring consonants1 9ltho gh the vowels in bean and bin, !or e;a#ple, are realiCed as a contrast "etween a short and a long vowelE DD and DiD respectively, those in bean and beat have the sa#e vowel : ality that is DiD1 Aet, there is a percepti"le di!!erence in length "etween the two instances o! the sa#e phone#e1 5he vowel phone#e in bean is a little longer than that in beat1 5his di!!erence in length is realiCed as a +

variation in allophonic vowel length 'allophone is a conte;t al variant o! a phone#e K 2oca, < =ohnson, )***, p1 J/01 5his allophonic variation is a!!ected "y the nat re o! the adHacent phone#e1 5here!ore, the vowel phone#e in bean is perceived as a long allophone o! DiD, as it is !ollowed "y a lenis 'voiced0 consonant phone#e1 On the other hand, the vowel phone#e in beat, !ollowed "y a !ortis 'voiceless0 one& 3, t, $, , t, !, L, and s, is evidently a short variant1 5his pheno#enon is called preE!ortis clipping1 It is noticea"le with long vowels and diphthongs when they are stressed '2oach, 4>>*01 (lipping does not entail any change o! vowel : ality1 5here!ore, the DiD in reach, clipped as it is, is not li$e the DID in rich1 5his %d rational variation% can even vary within di!!erent classes o! voiced consonants, i1e1 %voiced !ricatives%, etc1, 'Giegerich, )**4, pp1 4+/E+01 LI9ISON& LIN6ING 9ND IN52USIVE D2D 23 English is a nonrhotic accent, as postvocalic DrD is not prono nced i! not lin$ed to a !ollowing vowel1 9 lin$ing DrD is sed i! the phone#e in !inalEsylla"le position and the ne;t phone#e are vowels1 @or e;a#ple& idea o! D adFr vD '2oach, 4>>*01 While it is not present in the spelling, another instance o! the phone#e DrDE called intr sive DrDEe;ists1 Long vowels and diphthongs are gro ped in three categories according to the way they are lin$ed to the !ollowing vowel1 @irst& 5he vowels D D and the diphthong D a D have lin$ing DHD E;1 sheEyEand #yEyEa nt D H Fnd #aH nt D Second& long D D and diphthong D a D !or instance, have lin$ing DwD E;1 %yo E Eare nowEwEover % D H w D Dnaw FvFD 5hird& vowels ta$e lin$ing DrD1 5hese vowels are D D D D D D DFD spa, a spaErEin law, lawErEand her, herEolder ( "aErEis Dspr IC D Dlr FndD Dhr FldF D D $H "Fr IC D

'(lar$, et al, 4>>.0 Diphthongs end in DFD 'as in gear and "ear0 have si#ilar "ehavio rs as the last gro p1 (lar$ et al '4>>.0 arg es that this distri" tion !ollows %a nat ral class% especially the gro p that ta$es a lin$ing DrD as they have the "ac$ ro nded D D as well as the central vowels1 (ON(LUSION 5he distinction o! English vowels into long and short is a signi!icant one1 Length as a characteristic !eat re has a signi!icant !eat re on "oth phonetic and phonological "ases1 It is realiCed in di!!erent levels o! analysis1 Distinction within nstressed sylla"les, !or e;a#ple has J

i#plications !or sylla"i!ication1 Vowel length is disc ssed in ter#s o! sylla"le str ct re, adHacent consonants and other lin$ing vowels1 Unli$e #any lang ages, English is rich in vowel so nds1 @or e;a#ple, (lassical 9ra"ic, which is spo$en in the G l! area, has only three vowels %a, i, and % 'O-(onnor, )*./01 In a teaching conte;t, it is very i#portant to have to teach st dents the English vowel syste#1 5he distinction o! vowels into short and long can "e very help! l as a way o! "ridging the gap "etween the two lang ages1 E;tensive practice on the disc ssed distinction sho ld provide a so nd training in phonology that #ay adapt the speech ha"its o! the #other tong e to give way to a new #astery o! English as a !oreign lang age1

2E@E2EN(ES& (lar$, =1, Aallop, (1 < @letcher, =1 '4>>.01 An introduction to phonetics and phonology '/rd ed101 O;!ord& ?lac$well 3 "lishing1 (r ttenden, 91 'Ed10 ')**+01 Gimsons Pronunciation of nglish '+th ed101 London& Edward 9rnold1 Giegerich, H1 =1 ')**401 nglish phonology! (a#"ridge& (a#"ridge University 3ress1 Lewis =1 W1 ')*B*01 A guide to nglish pronunciation for users of nglish as a foreign language1 Oslo, Norway & Universitets @orlaget1 O-(onnor, =1 D1 ')*./01 Phonetics! Har#ondsworth& 3eng in ?oo$s1 2oach, 31 '4>>*01 nglish phonetics and Phonology '+th ed101 (a#"ridge& (a#"ridge University 3ress1 2oca, I1 < =ohnson, W1 ')***01 A course in phonology! 8alden, 89 and O;!ord& ?lac$well1

9ppendi; ) SHO25 DD DD DGD DD DFD DeD DD '2oach, 4>>*0 English Short and Long Vowels EM983LE LONG "pit" pt D i D D D "put" pt "pat" pGt D D potpt D D "about" F"at -pet-puttpet pt D D EM983LE "key" $i "coo" $ car" $

-core- $ "cur- $

9ppendi; 4

DI3H5HONG D e D D F D D a D D D D F D D eF D D F D D a D

EM983LE "bay" "e "go" gF "buy" "a "boy" " "peer" pF "pear" peF -poor- pF -cow- $a

'2oach, 4>>*0