4 Vowels, Part I
Lowercase I: [i]
This can be heard here:
| i Lowercase I Close Front Unrounded Vowel |
The vowel [i] is heard in the word “Read,” and in the lexical set fleece; it is a free vowel. Its symbol is the “lowercase I”. To connect the sound to the symbol, think of words like: automobile, debris, fatigue, machine, magazine, prestige, regime, routine, ski, vaccine. Of course, it appears in many other spellings and is often represented by “ee”. This symbol is used in most Romance languages (e.g. Italian & French) to represent this sound, for instance “pizza, ici”.
In phonemic transcription systems, where Free Vowels are always marked as long, the fleece lexical set is denoted by this lowercase <i> and the length diacritic, /iː/. |
| Draw a short line, starting at the baseline, with a dot over it.
View an MRI of the [i] vowel. (from Seeing Speech [1]) |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: fleece
[i] is also an option for kit, especially for accents based on languages that lack the [ɪ] vowel. Alternates: Some accents have an onglide into fleece such as [əi]. [i] can appear as the nucleus in near, an onɡlide in gooseⒷ (aka “cue”), as an offglide for the Falling Diphthongs face, price, choice, and more rarely as an offglide in unrounded variations of mouth and goat. |
|
| Spellings: | Aegis, quay, cedar, beam, cheese, ceiling, key, fatigue, believe, fleur-de-lis, amoeba, Portuguese. It is also used in some prefixes and initial unstressed syllables, as an alternative to schwa (e.g. because, emotion, enamel, enough, remember). |
ADD PDF WORKSHEET FOR i HERE
Notice how the vowel [i], when followed by a voiceless consonant (as in # 13 – 20) is shorter than when it is final or followed by a voiced consonant (as in #1 – 12). Also, notice how words that are more than one syllable are marked: a primary stress mark [ ˈ ] is placed above and before the syllable that is most stressed in the word (e.g. #12 [ˈɹi.dʒɪs]), and period is used to mark the syllable break. Note that marking unstressed syllables is not always required—in most cases, [ˈɹidʒɪs] would be just fine.
Mid-Centralized I: [i̽]
This can be heard here:
| i̽ Mid-Centralized I Mid-Centralized Close Front Unrounded Vowel |
The sound [i̽] is heard in the unstressed syllable at the end of the word “quickly” – and in the lexical set happy; it is a reduced vowel. Its symbol is the “lowercase I” with the mid-centralized diacritic, a small x, above it. “Mid-centralized” means that the sound is made in a place that is a little closer to the middle/centre of the mouth, so that the [i] sound moves a little towards schwa. Depending on fonts, the diacritic can replace the “dot” of the “i” (technically called a “tittle”!) or hover above it. The sound appears in unstressed syllables only, and is a reduced, weak or pulled back version of its strong neighbor [i]. Most often it appears at the end of words in “y” endings, but it can very rarely appear in the middle of some words with reduced vowel qualities in unstressed syllables, such as funnier, reptilian, Derbyshire. (In previous versions of this text, we used the barred-i [ɨ], which is less commonly used.) |
| Draw a short line with an x over it, instead of a dot. Note that this symbol is used rarely by dictionaries and phonologists, who usually choose to use either [i] or [ɪ] to represent this sound, though neither is precise enough for our purposes. For this reason, you are not very likely to encounter this symbol in other texts. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: happy
Alternates: as an onglide in gooseⒷ (aka “cue”), as an offglide for the Falling Diphthongs face, price, choice, and more rarely as an offglide in unrounded variations of mouth and goat. |
|
| Spellings: | algae, gimme, Raleigh, alley, khaki, boogie, tidied, ratatouille, Albuquerque, Betty (used almost exclusively in “y” endings). |
Transcription into IPA 1
Correct the IPA Transcription 1
Small Cap I: [ɪ]
This can be heard here:
| ɪ Small Cap I Near-Close Near-Front Unrounded Vowel |
The sound [ɪ] is heard in the word “this”, and in the lexical set kit; it is a Checked vowel. Its symbol is the “Small Cap I”, a “Capital I” which is only the height of a lowercase letter. To connect the symbol to the sound, think of the spelling of words like: arisen, biblical, bid, cinema, citizen, city, consideration, disease, fit, fixed, give, hideous, injury, is, it, liberal, liberty, lineal, liver, living, sit, vineyard, wit It appears in many other spellings as well. Some speakers struggle to use this sound before [ŋ]as in “singing”—there seems to be a tendency toward [i̽], which we want to avoid (at least in many other accents you might be trying to learn!) |
| Draw a short line with a bar on top and a bar at the bottom. Make sure that it is only as tall as the other lowercase letters—all ipa symbols are in lowercase only, and you never capitalize a word in ipa at the beginning of a sentence or to indicate a proper noun.
View an MRI of [ɪ] (from Seeing Speech[2]) |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: kit
Alternates: as the nucleus in near, as an onglide for fleece and the “Liquid U” as part of goose Ⓑ and cureⒶ2 and Ⓒ2 , and as an offglide for the Falling Diphthongs face, price, choice. [ɪ] is also a hypercorrection for fleece, especially for accents based on languages that lack the [ɪ] vowel. Not knowing were to use one or the other, speakers may guess at when to use the two sounds, as the spelling is of no help. |
|
| Spellings: | this, will, think, plastic, pretty, women, myth, busy, built, foreign. It is also used in some prefixes and initial unstressed syllables, as an alternative to schwa (e.g. because, emotion, enamel, enough). |
Transcription into IPA 2
Read and Write from IPA 1
Schwa: [ə]
This can be heard here:
| ə Schwa Mid Central Vowel |
The sound [ə] is the most common vowel in English and is heard at the beginning of the word “about,” and is connected with the Lexical Set comma; it is a reduced vowel. It is a very relaxed sound made in the middle/centre of the mouth. Its symbol is the “Schwa”, a Lowercase E that has been rotated upside-down. It is used in unstressed syllables only in words like: above, balloon, avalanche, arena, bachelor, changeable, surgeon, gorgeous, fuchsia, patient, mansion, auspicious, automobile, tortoise, famous, chorus. It is often confused with the sound [ʌ/ɐ], which in English is used primarily in the Lexical Set strut, which appears in stressed syllables, which we will explore next. This happens, in part, because in dictionary form, we elevate the stress of all syllables to their strong form, and the strong form of schwa in the strut vowel. In final unstressed syllables, where the vowel is not followed by a consonant, as in the word sofa, the sound is often spoken more like [ʌ/ɐ], especially at the end of a phrase, where final syllables are naturally lengthened. You may note this difference in “the red sofa” vs. “the soda was red”. Note that accents that don’t have the Weak Vowel Merger use unstressed [ɪ] in some places where schwa is used in other accents, so that words like abbot/rabbit don’t rhyme. See Lexical Sets for Actors for the full range of Pronunciation possibilities and many other Alternate Pronunciations.
It is worth noting that, in rhotic accents, i.e. those with r-colouring, schwa is also used for many unstressed /r/ syllables, such as better, actor, colour, etc. These words are addressed in the [ɚ] section, and are connected to the letter lexical set. |
| Draw a circle clockwise, three-quarters of the way around, starting at 10 o’clock and ending at 7 o’clock. Then, make a sharp corner and go right across in a flat line.
View an MRI of [ə] (from Seeing Speech[3]) |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: comma.
Alternates: as the nucleus of goat, price, mouth, as an on-glide for fleece and goose, and the off-glide for thought and Centring Diphthongs near, square, start, north, force, cure. Note that some accents use unstressed [ɪ] in places where schwa is used in other accents. See kit for more information on the Weak Vowel Merger. |
|
| Spellings: | arena, alphabet, villain, brutal, instant, restaurant*, henchman, academy, changeable, pigeon, gorgeous, fuchsia, social, patient, notion, precious, atom, tortoise, famous, chorus. |
Read and Write from IPA 2
Transcription into IPA 3
Correct the IPA Transcription 2
ADD PDF WORKSHEET LINKS HERE
Turned V (“Hut”): [ʌ] or Turned Type A: [ɐ]
This can be heard here:
| ʌ/ɐ Turned V or “Hut” / Turned Type A Open-Mid Back Unrounded Vowel/ Open-Mid Central Vowel |
The sound in the word “luck” and in the lexical set strut tends to be made near the center of the mouth in North American English, and is represented by the symbol [ɐ], Turned Type A. Regardless of which symbol is used. the phoneme is a checked vowel. For some people, the sound sits further back, which makes the sound more resonant. There is a broad range of articulations for this vowel, from very far back, to just in front of the centre of the mouth. Many people confuse this phoneme with schwa [ə], which is a more reduced sound, heard in unstressed syllables, while the “Turned V” [ʌ] or Turned Type A [ɐ] sounds are not reduced and usually appear in stressed syllables. In parts of the North of England, many speakers merge this group, strut, with the foot lexical set, so that luck and look sound the same. See Lexical Sets for Actors for other Pronunciations and Alternate Pronunciations. |
| I call the Turned V symbol “hut”, because to me the turned V looks much like the roof of a hut, and “hut” has the sound [ʌ] in it. Draw an upside-down V, imagining a hut as you do it. Nearly all dictionaries use the /ʌ/ symbol to represent the strut lexical set, and so it is the default symbol used in this book.
The Turned Type A symbol takes the Type A [a] and rotates it by 180°. To write it, start as if you’re making a lowercase <u> and stop when you get to the bottom. Then put a rounded loop starting at the midpoint f the first line. The other way to form it is to write a rounded <e> symbol and then add a little hook off the upper left-hand corner. As this symbol is much rarer in reference books and dictionaries, we’ll default to /ʌ/ for the strut lexical set, but if Turned Type A is the right one for you, be sure to use it! View an MRI of [ʌ] (from Seeing Speech[4]) View an MRI of [ɐ] (from [5]) |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: strut
Alternates: in comma, as the nucleus of goat, price, mouth, start |
|
| Spellings: | above, does, flood, bud, undone, enough.
*Depending on accent, the following, usually before “rr”, are pronounced with either [ʌ] or [ɝ]: curry, currant=current, currier, currency, furrier, furrow, hurry, hurricane, Murray, nourish, occurrence, Surrey, turret, worry. |
Vowel Exercise 2a
Vowel Exercise 2b
Audio Quiz 6
Read and Write from IPA 3
Transcription into IPA 4
Correct the IPA Transcription 3
Practice Speaking & Hearing: Nonsense Words 5
This group of 24 nonsense words mixes the kinds of consonants or consonant clusters that begin and end words. Try speaking them aloud. These words use either [i], [ɪ], [i̽], [ə] or [ɐ].
They can be heard here:
| flimf | nəts | swɪdθs | fɐt̚ɫ | bɪʃi̽ | θidθ |
| ʃtɐŋθ | idθsi̽ | bədθs | swidθs | səs | tɹip |
| wɪkɫ̩z | fləmf | jɪθ | pɐnts | ʃtitʃt | wiɾi̽ |
| hɐti̽ | pɐdʒd | θədn | klɪŋə | plɐŋks | hɪn |
ADD IN PDF LINKED WORKSHEETS HERE
R-Coloured Schwa: [ɚ]
This can be heard here:
| ɚ R-coloured Schwa Flying Schwa Rhotic Mid Central Vowel |
The sound [ɚ] is heard in the word “better”, and in the lexical set letter; it is a reduced vowel. Like the regular schwa, it is a very relaxed sound made in the middle/centre of the mouth. The r-colouring (called “rhoticization” by linguists) is made in either of two ways, with the tongue tip pointing up (and in some cases curling back, called “retroflexion”), or with the tongue tip down, and the back of the tongue arching up and back. Its symbol is the R-coloured Schwa, a Lowercase E that has been turned upside-down, with a hook tail added to indicate the R-colouring. Because the hook tail looks somewhat like a little angel’s wing, I call it Flying Schwa. It is used in unstressed syllables in words like: exaggerate, exasperate, exuberant, misery, tolerate, advertise, delivered, fisherman, awkward, anger, error, auburn, theatre. |
| (Please note that, in a non-rhotic accent, these words may use a regular schwa, followed by a consonant /r/ [ə.ɹ] when the syllable that follows it begins with an /r/. In the preceding list, all the words down to and including tolerate may use a regular schwa followed by a consonant /r/ , [ə.ɹ]; from advertise onward, they would merely be schwa [ə] .)Flying Schwa is often confused with the symbol we will meet next, [ɝ], which appears in stressed syllables, but sounds almost identical otherwise. It also appears as the final element in R-coloured diphthongs and triphthongs: [ɪɚ, ɛɚ, ʊɚ, ɔɚ, ɑɚ, aɪɚ, aʊɚ].Of course, in non-rhotic accents, all these diphthongs and triphthongs would use schwa instead of the flying schwa [ɪə, ɛə, ʊə, ɔə, ɑə, aɪə, aʊə].
Draw a circle three-quarters of the way around (start at 10 o’clock and end at 7 o’clock). Then make a sharp corner and go diagonally up in a line (to about 2 o’clock). Finish the symbol with a hook tail. The symbol should have a natural flow into the hook tail, and not just be a schwa with a hook added. (I am very disappointed that the font I’ve chosen for this text, Fira Sans, does not have a Flying Schwa where the “wing” connects diagonally with the cross bar of the schwa!) |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: letter | |
| Spellings: | accelerate, restaurant, amateur, cedar, cover, anchor, endeavour, anger, pursue, nature, acre
Alternates: nurse, in rhotic centring diphthongs as an offglide near, square, start, north, force, cure. |
INSERT PDF LINKED ACTIVITY HERE
R-Coloured Reversed Epsilon: [ɝ]
This can be heard here:
| ɝ R-coloured Reversed Epsilon Flying Three Rhotic Open-Mid Central Unrounded Vowel |
The sound [ɝ] is heard in the word “word,” and in the lexical set nurse; it is a Free Vowel. Like the r-coloured schwa, its r-colouring is made either with the tongue tip pointing up or with the tongue tip down, and the back of the tongue arching up and back. Its symbol is the “R-coloured Turned Epsilon”, a reversed Epsilon with a hook tail added to indicate the R-colouring, rhoticity. Because the reversed Epsilon looks exactly like a short numeral three (ɜ) and the hook tail looks somewhat like a wing, I call it “Flying Three”. It is used in stressed syllables in words like: err, flourish, herb, Herpes, Irma, hurt, heard, surf, Irving, turn search, urge, curl, inertia, Persia, irk, burger. |
| It is often confused with the sound [ɚ], which appears in unstressed syllables. Notice that in non-rhotic dialects, which have no r-colouring, you would use the plain “Three” (the next sound in this workbook) in these words to transcribe those dialects. Technically, the Flying 3 [ɝ] represents a slightly more open sound than the Flying Schwa [ɚ]. When used in unstressed syllables this is the intent—to indicate a more open articulation.
In phonemic transcription systems, where Free Vowels are always marked as long, the nurse lexical set is denoted by this symbol <ɝ> and the length diacritic, /ɝː/. Draw the number 3 but make it the same height as a lowercase letter e. Finish the symbol with a hook tail. |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: nurse
Alternates: as a more open version of letter, and in the offglide of the Centring diphtongs near, square, start, north, force, cure. |
|
| Spellings: | defer, earn, connoisseur, fir, colonel, attorney, journal, blur, myrrh |
ADD PDF LINKED ACTIVITY HERE
Vowel Exercise 3a
Vowel Exercise 3b
Audio Quiz 7
Practice Speaking & Hearing: Nonsense Words 6
This group of 24 nonsense words mixes the kinds of consonants or consonant clusters that begin and end words. Try speaking them aloud. These words use either [i], [ɪ], [i̽], [ə], [ɐ], [ɚ], or [ɝ]. They can be heard at
This can be heard here:
| ʃtɝdθ | tɪbzɚ | vɹɪntʃ | dʒimpsɚ | tʃɝtʃt | tɐɡɫ |
| ɡlɐmɚ | dʒɝdθs | kitɫ | smɚb | vɪkts | dɝtʔnɚ |
| jiɡ̩ɫ̩z | vɹɐntʃ | θɝbɫ̩d | jɐɡ | snɝptə | swipɫ̩z |
| tɐdɫ̩z | ðikɫ̩z | tɪzbɚ | vɝpts | lɚɡ | ɹɐfi̽ |
Read and Write from IPA 4
Transcription into IPA 5
Correct the Transcription 4
Read and Write from IPA 5
Transcription into IPA 6
Correct the Transcription 5
Reversed Epsilon: [ɜ]
This can be heard here:
| ɜ Reversed Epsilon Three Open-Mid Central Unrounded Vowel |
The sound [ɜ] is heard in the word “word” in dialects that have no r-colouring; it is used with the non-rhotic version of the nurse lexical set. [ɜ] is a Free Vowel. If your dialect has r-colouring, it is unlikely that you use the sound that it represents. Its symbol is the “Reversed Epsilon”, a mirror-image Epsilon. Because the reversed Epsilon looks exactly like a short numeral three (ɜ), I call it “Three”. Remember that its sound appears in the word “third” (if said without R-colouring). It is rarely confused with the sound [ə], when working in a dialect without R-colouring. It is used in exactly the same contexts as the “Flying Three,” which is in stressed syllables in words like err, flourish, herb, Herpes, Irma, hurt, heard, surf, Irving, turn search, urge, curl, inertia, Persia, irk, burger. (I’ve used strike-through on these <r>s to suggest that this is a non-rhotic setting, with no r-colouring. [ɜ] is rarely confused with the unstressed sound [ə], when working in a dialect without R-colouring.
In phonemic transcription systems, where Free Vowels are always marked as long, the nurse lexical set is denoted by this symbol <ɜ> and the length diacritic, /ɜː/. |
| Draw a regular number three (3), except that it’s the same height as a lowercase “e”, taking care not to make a loop in the middle.
View an MRI of [ɜ] (from [6]) |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: nurse
Alternates: as a more open version of letter, or a more closed version of strut and in the offglide of the Centring diphthongs near, square, start, north, force, cure. |
|
| Spellings: | geɍm, heaɍd, connoisseuɍ, squiɍm, colonel, jouɍney, puɍɍ, myɍɍh. |
| N.B. I have barred through /r/ in these words to remind you that we are working on the non-rhotic sound, without R-colouring. It can be helpful when working on a dialect that lacks R-colouring to strike through the letters in your script, so you are reminded with every word. |
Diphthongs
A diphthong, (from Greek, δίφθογγος, diphthongos, di- two, + phthong, sounds) is a vowel sound that slides (or “offglides”) from its nucleus vowel to a second, weaker vowel. English has three types of diphthongs, five Centring Diphthongs—sometimes called R-coloured Diphthongs—where the nucleus offglides to schwa (rhotic or not), five Falling Diphthongs, where the nucleus offglides to either reduced [ɪ] or [ʊ], and one Rising Diphthong, [ju], heard in words like “music,” where the first element is very brief, and the energy rises to the nucleus. The onglides that were pointed out for the goose and fleece lexical sets can have as [ə̯u] and [ə̯i] are also rising diphthongs.
In transcribing diphthongs, there are two approaches. The one this workbook takes is to merely pair the vowel symbols together, as in [eɪ] or [ɪɚ]. If two vowels bump into one another when they are not in a diphthong, they are typically in two syllables. Usually these are in different syllables, so I just mark the syllable break. For example, the word idea, [aɪˈdiə], looks like it might have a diphthong at the end of the word; to make it clear that this is not the case, simply insert a syllable break in between like this: [aɪˈdi.ə]. The other strategy is to mark the weak element of the diphthong with a diacritic mark. The traditional way to do this is with a “short” diacritic, called a “breve,” which is a little upward-facing cup that sits above the symbol, [ɪɚ̆]. The more contemporary way to do this is with a “non-syllablic” diacritic, a little downward-facing cup that sits below the symbol [eɪ̯]. You’ll see this usage on sites like Wikipedia, and in my other Open Educational Resource, Lexical Sets for Actors.
Diphthong Small Cap I + Schwa: [ɪɚ]
This can be heard here:
| ɪɚ Diphthong Small Cap I + Schwa near-close near-front unrounded vowel + mid central vowel |
The centring diphthong [ɪɚ] is heard in the word “Here”, which is part of the lexical set near. Its symbol is the “Small Cap I + Schwa”. The sound is represented by various spellings, in words like: here, clear, beer, weird, souvenir, cashier. Non-rhotic dialects have no R-colouring, and so would use the plain schwa, as in [ɪə].Many people believe they hear this sound as the diphthong [iɚ] and some do. However there may be something else going on here. Perhaps you might use that sound to exaggerate a word’s pronunciation: “Don’t put that here!” It’s a good example of how folks often have an exaggerated dictionary form of phonemes in their “mind’s ear.” which doesn’t necessarily match what comes out of their mouth. |
| Draw an [ɪ]symbol, followed by a rhotic, flying schwa[ɚ], or a plain schwa [ə] if you have a non-rotic accent. You can either colour each component symbol the colour you used before ( for [ɪ] use pale yellow, for [ɚ] use beige), or choose a different colour for the entire diphthong. Or you might colour them with alternating stripes of the two colours you used separately. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: near
Alternates: one of the rare cases where there aren’t Alternates, though there are words like idea that seem similar, though those are really fleece + comma that have been elided together into a single syllable. J.C. Wells, who created the lexical sets, called words like this near prime, though I think that “leah” would have been a better name! Examples: idea, Korea, Maria, pizzeria, or before /n, m, l/ Ian, Caribbean, museum, Liam, real, ideal. |
|
| Spellings: | beer, career, appear, fear, ear, period, Keira, weird, fierce, sphere, pier |
Vowel Exercise 4
Audio Quiz 8
Practice Speaking & Hearing: Nonsense Words 7
This group of 24 nonsense words mixes the kinds of consonants or consonant clusters that begin and end words. Try speaking them aloud. These words use either [i], [ɪ], [i̽], [ə], [ɐ], [ɚ], [ɝ], or [ɪɚ].
They can be heard here:
| ʃɐŋks | ʍɜpɫ̩z | flɐkt | kɪntsi̽ | ʍɐtθ | θɪɚʔ |
| twɜmpt | ʒɝb | bɹɐs | ʃɝn | ðɜtʔn | pwɜpsə |
| bɹɐtɫ̩ | ʃiʒɚ | dɹɪn | tʃins | vik | dwɪpɫz |
| ʍɪɚdɫ̩z | ʒɪps | ʍinz | bwɪmptɚ | ðɐŋz | ɪɚmd |
Read and Write from IPA 6
Transcription into IPA 7
Correct The Transcription 6
IPA Vowel Chart
The International Phonetic Alphabet arranges the vowel symbols in a chart that represents the relationship between each vowel and where in the mouth it is articulated. First designed before in 1900 by the Phonetic Teacher’s Association and solidified by the International Phonetic Association in 1904, it arranges the sounds with those made at the Front of the mouth on left, and ones in the Back on the right side of the page. That spectrum of possibilities is known as Backness. The other axis is known as Height—how far the top surface of the tongue is from the roof of the mouth. Ones near the top are identified as being Close, as in close to the roof of the mouth, while at the bottom, they’re called Open, which may mean the mouth is open because the tongue is pushed down into the bottom of the mouth. Halfway between Front and back we have Central vowels while halfway from Close to Open we have Mid ones.
As you can see from the blank vowel chart above, vertically the vowel space is divided into 4 primary vowel Heights namely Close, Close-mid, Open-mid, and Open. Below, in the vowel chart with a rectangle for each symbol, you’ll note that there is one space right in the middle of the chart, whose location we describe as Mid-Central. You’ll see that each dot on the chart, for the most part has pairs of rectangles, with one on either side of it. There are subdivisions of the vertical space (Height) for Near-Close and Near-Open, and of the horizontal space (Backness) for Near-Front and Near-Back. For example, the vowel [ɪ] in the kit lexical set is Near-close and Near-front.
Rounding: spaces to the left of a dot are said with lips Unrounded (in some cases, even somewhat spread), while those on the right of each dot are shaped with the lips Rounded forward. By advancing the lip corners forward to round the lips, the vowel space is lengthened, which changes the sound of those rounded vowels. So far, we’ve only been looking at unrounded vowels, but the next chapter starts off right away with the most rounded of all the vowels, the close-back rounded vowel [u], which is heard in the lexical set goose.
Put all these terms together and we get the nomenclature/naming convention of the vowels that the International Phonetic Association uses for each vowel: Height, Backness, Rounding. There are a few initialisms for HBR, though I like “hot buttered rum” and “horseback riding.” So, [i] is a close front unrounded vowel and [ɐ] is a front near-open unrounded vowel.
Here are the vowel symbols we’ve learned in Part 1, arranged on the chart:
[i] close front unrounded vowel
[i̽] mid-centralized close front unrounded vowel
[ɪ] near-close near-front unrounded vowel
[ə] mid-central unrounded vowel (aka schwa)
[ɜ] open-mid central unrounded vowel
[ɐ] near-open central unrounded vowel
[ʌ] open-mid back unrounded vowel
You can see that the vowels [i, ɪ̽, ɪ, ə] are all on a diagonal line between the front-close position and the mid-central one. As well, [ə, ɜ, ɐ] are vertically stacked one upon the other. From schwa in the mid-centre, you merely open the vowel space a bit more for [ɜ] and a bit more again for [ɐ]. That’s done by either dropping the jaw or “cupping” the tongue downward away from the tongue’s “equator” position at schwa. Also, it’s worth noting that [ɜ] is at the same height as [ʌ]—can you shift the body of your tongue back and forth between the two vowels while maintaining the same tongue height?
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Front close unrounded vowel (cardinal 1). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 July 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=105 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Front close unrounded float vowel. Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 July 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=618 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Unrounded central float vowel (schwa). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 July 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=601 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Back open-mid unrounded vowel (cardinal 14). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 July 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=652 ↵
- the USC's SPAN group: rtMRI IPA Chart: John Esling https://sail.usc.edu/span/rtmri_ipa/je_2015.html ↵
- the USC's SPAN group: rtMRI IPA Chart: John Esling https://sail.usc.edu/span/rtmri_ipa/je_2015.html ↵