PHONOLOGY

VOWELS

SUPORTING LECTURER:

Yani Lubis, S.Ag, M.Hum

ARRANGED BY GROUP 2:

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA

2019

Preface

Thank to Almighty Allah Swt and not forget to Shalawat and Salam to our big Prophet
Muhammad SAW who has given His bless to the writer for finishing the English paper
assignment entitled “VOWELS”.
The writer also wish to express his deep and sincere gratitude for those who have guided in
completing this paper. This English paper is contains the explanation about Phrases and
Structure.

We realized this assignment is not perfect. But we hope it can be useful for us. Critics and
suggestion is needed here to make this assignment be better.

BAB I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background

English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the study of that
system. Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages. Like
many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect
to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar (though not
identical) phonological system.

Our phonological knowledge is not something we can necessarily access and talk about in detail:
we often have intuitions about language without knowing where they come from, or exactly
how to express them. But the knowledge is certainly there. However, English speakers are not
consciously aware of those rules, and are highly unlikely to tell a linguist asking about those
words that the absence of *fnil reflects the unacceptability of word-initial consonant sequences,
or clusters, with [fn-] in English: the more likely answer is that snil ‘sounds all right’ (and if you’re
lucky, your informant will produce similar words like sniff or snip to back up her argument), but
that *fnil ‘just sounds wrong’. It is the job of the phonologist to express generalisations of this
sort in precise terms: after all, just because knowledge is not conscious, this does not mean it is
unreal, unimportant or not worth understanding.

B. Problem Formulation

1. What is the definition of vowel?

2. What are kinds of vowel?

3. What is Monophthong ?

4. What is Dipthongs ?

5. What is Triphthongs ?
 BAB II
DISCUSSION

A. Definition of Vowels

Vowel is a speech sound in which the mouth is open and the tongue is not touching the
top of the mouth, the teeth, a letter that represents a vowel sound, in English the vowels are a,
e, i, o, and u – compare consonant. Each language has a different vowel system.

A vowel is a letter of the alphabet (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) that represents a speech sound
created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity. Letters that
are not vowels are consonants. Th word “vowel” is come from Latin, means voice.When
sounding vowels, your breath flows freely through the mouth. In all vowels, the mouth passage

is unobstructed. If it is obstructed at any time during the production of a speech-sound, the

resulting sound will be a consonant.

When sounding vowels, your breath flows freely through the mouth. In all vowels, the mouth
passage is unobstructed. If it is obstructed at any time during the production of a speech-sound,
the resulting sound will be a consonant.

"How many different vowels does English have? Well, it depends on your dialect. Standard
American English makes fewer vowel distinctions than Standard Southern British English. For
instance, many Southern British English speakers make a three-way distinction between merry,
marry, and Mary, whereas for most Americans these all sound the same. Likewise, I pronounce
cot and caught, and coral and choral, differently, but for most Americans these word pairs are
spoken identically. In my accent of English, each of the following words is spoken with a different
vowel: pit, pet, pat, putt, put, pot, peat, pa, bought, boot, pate, bite, quoit, pout. That's fourteen
different vowels. Some English accents use fewer than this, and a few dialects use even more.
English, of whatever dialect, is rather extravagant in the vowels it uses. Keeping them all
separate is helped considerably by using different features of the possibilities afforded."
Vowels are described based on the following criteria :
(i) The height of the tongue.
(ii) The part of the tongue that raised or lowered.
(iii) The position of the Lips.

A vowel may be short or long , Long vowels take two dots in front of them. E.g :
/i:/ , /a:/ while short vowel do not /i/ , /a/ .

B. Kinds of Vowels

Five of the 26 alphabet letters are vowels: A, E, I, O, and U. The letter Y is sometimes considered
a sixth vowel because it can sound like other vowels. Unlike consonants, each of the vowel letters
has more than one type of sound or can even be silent with no sound at all. When a vowel sounds
like its name, this is called a long sound. A vowel letter can also have short sounds. Whether a
vowel has a long sound, a short sound, or remains silent, depends on its position in a word and the
letters around it. The letter Y is sometimes considered a vowel because it can sound like the
vowel letters A, E, or I depending on the letters around it or whether the letter Y is at the middle
or end of a word. For example : symbol, cry, myth, etc. Because of that thing, the letter Y is called
by a half a vowel.

Vowel Rules :

1) When there is only one vowel in a word, and it is anywhere except at the end of a word, it
usually has a short sound : net, ant, sun, pins etc.

2) Where there is only one vowel and it comes at the end of a word, it usually has a long sound
: go, she, he, no, etc.

3) When there are two or more vowels, and the word ends with the vowel ‘E’, two things
happen, (1) The ending vowel ‘E’ is silent, and (2) The vowel that comes before it has a long
sound : gate, make, lake, hole, wade, etc.

4) When two vowel letters are together, the first vowel letter has a long sound, and the second
vowel letter is silent : rain, pain, real, cheat, seal, tied, etc.

5) When a word has a vowel followed by two same consonants in a row (called a double
consonant), a short sound is used for the vowel : pull, dull, dinner, simmer, summer, etc.

6) When a word has two of the same vowels in a row (called a double vowel), pronounce them
as one vowel using the long sound. This rule is doesn’t apply when ‘O’ is the double vowel :
peek, seek, vacuum, greet, meet, etc.

7) When ‘O’ is a double vowel, it makes different sound : book, pool, fool, tool, door, etc.

Sound has 20 symbols vowel sound which is divided into two forms, including Monophthong
Sound (Single Sound) or one voice .

3. Vowel in English.

There are 20 vowels in English. The five letters a,e,i,o,u are the The five vowel letters and we
get 23 vowel sounds from these 5 vowel letters. 23 vowels are further divided in three parts :
1. Monophthongs (12).
2. Diphthongs (8).
3. Tripthongs (3)
12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs and 3 tripthongs are 23 vowel sounds.

C. Monophthong
Monpthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is
relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The
monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, where the vowel quality changes within the
same syllable, and hiatus, where two vowels are next to each other in different syllables.

Most of the monophthongs in English are commonly known as “short vowels,” which are usually
produced when a vowel is followed by one or more consonants in a syllable. Most vowel letters
have a specific short-vowel sound, though U can create two types of short-vowel sounds. The
semi-vowel Y can also create a short vowel sound, but it is the same as the letter I.

C. Short vowel.
Short vowels are vowel sounds that are pronounced in a short form. In RP English the short
vowel sounds are those in 'pet', 'pot', 'put', 'putt', 'pat' and 'pit', and the schwa sound. They can
be compared with long vowel sounds.

The vowel / / is categorized as a short vowel because it behaves like other short vowels do. The
phonetic length of / / may be due to the fact that during its production the lower jaw and the tongue are in
their most open position, a gesture which might take long enough to cause a perceivable length difference.

/ ə / about /əbaʊt/,ago/əgəʊ/,letter/letə/
/ i / pit /pit/,sit /sit/,kit /kit/
/ ʌ / mud /mʌd/,bus /bʌs/,cup /kʌp/,shut /ʃʌt/
/ ɒ / lot /lɒt /,cot /kɒt/,dot /dɒt/ ,pot /pɒt/
/ e / bed /bed/,head /hed/,red /red/,get /get/
/ʊ / foot /fʊt/,good /gʊd/,cook /kʊk/,look /lʊk/
/æ / bad /bæd/,cat /kæt/,mat /mæt/,rat /ræt/

Vowel Letter IPA Symbol

Aa /æ/

Ee /ɛ/

Ii /ɪ/

Oo /ɑ/

Uu /ʌ/
Uu /ʊ/

Yy /ɪ/

D. Long vowel Monophthongs

Most of the traditional “long vowels” (vowel sounds that approximate the name of their
corresponding vowel letters) are diphthongs, so we’ll look at those further on. One traditional
long vowel that is a monophthong, though, is “long E,” represented in IPA by /i/. This sound is
usually produced by the letter E, but it can also be formed by the letter Y, as well as a number
of vowel digraphs.
The alphabet sounds (when the vowel “says its name”) are called “long vowels.”We call
them ‘long’ because we hold them longer than the short sounds. However, they are completely
different sounds-- not a longer version of the same sound. The vowel length of monophthongal – or
pure – vowels is indicated with a colon. However, one of the so-called short monophthongs, the vowel / / is
just as long in actual pronunciation as any of the long monophthongs or diphthongs and it even undergoes
the very same shortening process as long vowels do .

/a:/ Palm/pa:m/,Calm/ka:m/,Cart/ka:t/

/u:/ Cool/ku:l/,Fool/fu:l/,Food/fu:d/

/ɔː/ Cause/kɔːz/,Call/kɔːl/,all/ɔːl/

/i:/ Read/ri:d/,Seat/si:t/,Wheat/wi:t/

/ɜː/ Earn/ɜːn/,Learn/lɜːn/,Turn/tɜːn/

The two dots with these symbols denote longer pronunciation.These sounds are pronounced in
longer way that is why they are called Long vowels.

Silent ‘E’ Rule: When a vowel and consonant are followed by an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is almost always
silent, but it causes the preceding vowel to be long. (Examples: ate, plane, Pete, bite, nine, rope,
note, cube, flute.)

Other Long Vowels: A vowel at the end of a syllable is almost always long. Examples: I, we, he,
she, go, try, potato and tomato. (Some English speakers use a short ‘a’ in the 2nd syllable, while
others use a long ‘a,’ but both ‘o’s are long for everyone.)

-Igh and -ight are usually long I (and silent GH): bright, fight, high, light, might, night, right, sigh,
sight, tight.

Often the first letter of the vowel combinations, especially ‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘ea’ (sometimes-- see
Digraphs, below), ‘ee’, & ‘oa,’ will be long & the second will be silent. (An old rhyme for children
says “when 2 vowels go walking, the first does the talking.”) So ’plain’ sounds just like ‘plane,'
‘meat’ and ‘meet’ like ‘mete,’ etc.

me (/it/)
concrete (/ˈkɑnkrit/)

happy (/ˈhæpi/)

friendly (/ˈfrɛndli/)

feel (/fil/)

eat (/it/)

categories (/ˈkætɪˌgɔriz/)

There are also a few other long vowels besides those that sound like the names of vowel letters.
Most of these occur in various vowel digraphs, though some can be produced by single letters,
while others occur when a vowel is combined with the consonant R.

/u/

exclude (/ɪkˈsklud/)

/ɔ/

water (/ˈwɔtər/)

/ɜ/

nerve (/nɜrv/)

D. Dipthongs

Diphthongs may be classified according to several factors. On the one hand, we may distinguish
them according to their second component: if it is a schwa / /, then we talk about centring diphthongs. In
all other diphthongs the second component is more close than the first, and these are thus called closing
diphthongs; those that end in / / are fronting (and closing) while those ending in / / are backing (and
closing). On the other hand, closing diphthongs may be classified according to the articulatory distance
between the two components: the diphthongs / /, / / are narrow (and closing), while the rest, / /, / /, / / are
the so-called low-starting or wide diphthongs. This is summarized in the table below:

Centring Closing

Fronting Backing

Narrow , ,

Wide - ,

There are eight diphthongs in English. Diphthongs are sounds which consist of a
movement of glide from one vowel to another. Perhaps the most important thing to remember
about all the diphthongs is that the first part is much longer and stronger than the second part.
Take /ai/ as an example. Most of this diphthong consists of the [a] vowel, and only in about the
last quarter of the diphthong does the glide to [i] begin. As the glide to [i] happens, the loudness
of the sound decreases. As a result, the [i] part is shorter and quieter. The English diphthongs
can be shown in the following diagram:

DIPHTHONGS

centring closing

ending in ә ending in ɪ ending in ʊ

ɪə eә ʊə eɪ aɪ ɔɪ əʊ aʊ
/ ɪə eә ʊə /

/ ɪə eә ʊə / are called centring diphthongs because they all glide towards the /ә/ (schwa) vowel,
as the symbols indicate. The starting point for / ɪə / is a little closer than /ɪ/ in bit, bin. /eә /
begins with the similar vowel sound as the /e/ of get, men. / ʊə / has a starting point slightly
closer than /ʊ/ in put, pull. /

eɪ aɪ ɔɪ /

/ eɪ aɪ ɔɪ / the three diphthongs that glide towards /ɪ/. /eɪ / begins with the same vowel sound as
the /e/ of get, men. /aɪ / begins with an open vowel which is between front and back; it is quite
similar to the /Λ/ in words like cut, bun. The starting point of /ɔɪ / is a little more open than /ɔ:/
in ought, born. The closing diphthongs have the characteristic that they all end with a glide
towards a closer vowel. Because the second part of the diphthong is weak, they often do not
reach a position that could be called close. The important thing is that a glide from a relatively
more open towards a relatively closer vowel is produced.

/ əʊ aʊ /

/ əʊ aʊ / are the two diphthongs that end with a glide towards / ʊ /. So as the tongue moves
closer to the roof of the mouth there is at the same time a rounding movement of the lips. This
movement is not a large one, again because the second part of the diphthong is weak. The vowel
position for the beginning of / əʊ / is the same as for the "schwa" vowel /ə/. The lips may be
slightly rounded in anticipation of the glide towards / ʊ /, for which there is quite a noticeable
lip-rounding. / aʊ / begins with a vowel similar to / ɑ:/ but a little more front. There is slight lip-
rounding during the glide towards / ʊ /.

E. Triphthongs
Triphthongs are also called vowel sequences. A triphthong is a long sound which is
comprised of three combined vowel sounds in a single syllable. Some speakers break triphthongs into
two syllables, a diphthong and a schwa.

Example of Triphthongs :

A dot signals syllable boundary.

/aʊə/: hour /aʊər/ and also /ˈaʊ.ər/. Compare with power, always /ˈpaʊ.ər/.
/aɪə/: fire /faɪər/ and also /ˈfaɪ.ər/. Compare with liar, always /ˈlaɪ.ər/.
/jʊə/: cure /kjʊər/ and also /ˈkjuː.ər/. Compare with fewer, always /ˈfjuː.ər/.
The following words are almost always heard as disyllables:
/eɪə/: player /ˈpleɪ.ər/ could be pronounced /pleɪər/
/ɔɪə/: royal /ˈrɔɪ.əl/ could be pronounced /rɔɪəl/
/əʊə/: lower /ˈloʊ.ər/ could be pronounced /loʊər/.

BAB III
CLOSING

A. Conclusion
There are many tools of human articulation and each of them has a different position and
function in generating the sounds of language. However, there is an element that is not
categorized as a human articulation, but has a very important role in generating the sound. The
element is air and is the primary source of energy to produce sound. Vowel or consonant
sounds is the sounds of language by tools of human articulation. All vowels are voiced sounds,
consonants has a voiced sound and voiceless sound. Voiced and voiceless sound is related with
condition of the vocal cords. Condition of the vocal cords (glottis) tightly closed when air out
through it, then it will apply the vibration of the vocal cords and the resulting sound is the voice
sounds. Conversely, if the vocal cords were stretched or open when the air through it, the
vibration of the vocal cords do not apply, the resulting sound is voiceless sounds.

B. Suggestions
The author realizes that the above papers have many errors and are far from perfect. The
author will improve the paper by referring to many sources that can be accounted for.
Therefore the authors expect criticism and suggestions regarding the discussion of the paper in
the conclusions above.

REFERENCES

Critical Issues: The National Reading Panel". Reading Online.

Crystal, David (2005) A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics (Fifth Edition), Maldern,
MA/Oxford: Blackwell,
Findings and Determinations of the National Reading Panel by Topic Areas". NICHD.
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Laver, John (1994) Principles of Phonetics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
Online Etymology dictionary. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
Snider, Vicki E. (1997). "The Relationship between Phonemic Awareness and Later Reading
Achievement". JSTOR. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
Ogden, Richard. 2009.An Introduction to English Phonetics.22 George Square: Edinburgh
University Press McMahon, April. 2002.
An Introduction to English Phonology. 22 George Square: Edinburgh University Press Coleman,
John, 2001, The vocal tract
Robins, R.H. 1990. A Short History of Linguistics. London: Longman.
Fromkin, Victoria & Robert Rodman. 1998. An Introduction to Language (6th Edition). Orlando:
Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Hornby, A.S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (5th edition). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Matthews, Peter. 1997. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Brain and language: A perspective from sign language; Bavelier, Corina and Neville.
Building baby’s brain: Learning Language; web page.
How does the Human Brain process language? : New studies of deaf and signers, hint at an
answer: Hickok, Bellugi, Klima.
Neural System behind word and concept retrieval: H Damasio, Tranel, Grabowski, Adolphs and
A Damasio.
Rethinking the Neurological basis of Brain: Stowe, Haverkort and Zwarts.
The Bilingual Brain; Monika Ekiert
The co evolution of Language and the Brain: A review of the contrastive views; Ken Ramshoj
Christensen.
The Neural correlates of the spatial language in English and American Sign Language: a PET
study with hearing Bilinguals; Emmorey, Grabowski, McCullough, Ponto, Hichwa
and H Damasio.
The Neural Systems underlying language: Insights from sign language research; Karen
Emmorey.
Darwowidjojo, Soejono. (2005). Psycholinguistik. Jakarta : Yayasan Obor Indonesia.
Clark, H Herbert and Clark V Eve. (1977). Psychology and Language. New York : Harcourt Brave
Jovanovich, INC.
Chaer,Abdul.(2009).Psikolinguistik. Jakarta : Rineka Cipta.
Aitchison, Jean (1983), The Articulate Mammal, London: Hutchinson.
Archangeli, Diana and D. Terence Langendoen (eds) (1997), Optimality Theory:
An Overview, Oxford: Blackwell.
Ball, Martin and Joan Rahilly (1999), Phonetics: The Science of Speech, London:
Arnold.
Campbell, Lyle (1998), Historical Linguistics, Edinburgh University Press.
Carr, Philip (1993), Phonology, London: Macmillan.
Carr, Philip (1999), English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction, Oxford:
Blackwell.
Catford, J. C. (1988), A Practical Course in Phonetics, Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Chambers, J. K. and Peter Trudgill (1980), Dialectology, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Chomsky, Noam and Morris Halle (1968), The Sound Pattern of English, New
York: Harper & Row.
Coulmas, Florian (1988), The Writing Systems of the World, Oxford: Blackwell.
Couper-Kuhlen, Elisabeth (1986), An Introduction to English Prosody, London:
Arnold.
Cruttenden, Alan (1986), Intonation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Davenport, Mike and S. J. Hannahs (1998), Introducing Phonetics and Phonology,
London: Arnold.
Durand, Jacques (1990), Generative and Non-Linear Phonology, London: Longman.
Fletcher, P. and B. MacWhinney (1994), The Handbook of Child Language, Oxford:Blackwell.