6 Vowels, Part III
Epsilon: [ɛ]
This can be heard here:
| ɛ Epsilon |
The vowel [ɛ] is heard in the word “fellow”, and is used in the lexical set dress; its symbol is called “epsilon” (not to be confused with [ʊ]—upsilon). It is a fairly simple sound to replicate, though sometimes people confuse this symbol with its opposite [ɜ] Remember: the one that looks like a “3” sounds like “third”, while the one that looks like a script letter E (as in “ E ”) is a “better letter”. |
| While drawing a “3” is second nature, its mirror image takes some attention. Draw the Epsilon carefully, making the two curves one on top of the other—it’s somewhat like writing a smaller c above a bigger C. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: dress
Alternates: Can be used as the nucleus of face, square (with or without offglides), and in a very open pronunciation of kit or happy |
|
| Spellings: | any, hemorrhage, said, says, bet, dead, heifer, leopard, friend, bury, guess |
Diphthong Epsilon + Schwa [ɛɚ]
This can be heard here:
| ɛɚ Diphthong Epsilon + Schwa |
The diphthong sound [ɛɚ] is heard in the word “their”, and in the lexical set square. In a rhotic accents, the diphthong’s symbol begins with an Epsilon and ends with an R-coloured (or “flying”) schwa. Like all the R-coloured diphthongs, this sound can be said without R-colouring [ɛə], as it might be spoken in non-rhotic accents in some parts of the UK. More and more, though, that pronunciation is smoothing out to merely a long [ɛ]. |
| Draw the Epsilon first, and then the R-coloured schwa as you did earlier. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: square
Alternates: It’s a bit of a stretch, but it is possible that the lexical set face could be pronounced as [ɛə]. |
|
| Spellings: | dare, chair, where, pair, their, Mary |
Vowel Exercise 11a
Vowel Exercise 11b
Vowel Exercise 11c
Audio Quiz 13
Read and Write from IPA 13
Transcription into IPA 14
Fill in the Blanks 3
Diphthong Lowercase E + Small Cap I: [eɪ]
This can be heard here:
| eɪ Diphthong Lower Case E + Small Cap I |
The diphthong [eɪ], features a symbol and sound we haven’t yet met, because that sound appears alone only in foreign words (we’ll look at it next, briefly), or in monophthong versions of this lexical set, face. The symbol is, of course, the “Lowercase E”, followed by the “Small Cap I”. This diphthong is heard in the word “Spain’s” and represents the sound of the first letter in our Roman Alphabet, “A”. Perhaps a word like “eight” might help you to remember the symbols required to write it, though you’d have to switch the “i” to an [ɪ]. Some phoneticians argue that in some instances, when the diphthong is very short, perhaps in a word like “bait”, that the shift to the second element is negligible and so you should write the word as [bet]. I happen to disagree with this theory, and suggest that you use the full diphthong every time you write this sound—unless you’re working with an accent, like some forms of an Irish accent, in which case, the face set becomes pure [e]. |
| Draw the Lowercase E as you normally would (though you should make the transition from the central horizontal to the curving “C”-like line sharply pointed, rather than rounded). Follow that with the Small Cap I as we have drawn it before, taking care not to allow it to go higher than the midline. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: face
Alternates: I have heard people argue for an [eɪ] pronunciation for the mouth lexical set among very high status Received Pronunciation speakers in the UK, though I’m inclined to think this is a stereotype or parody of the accent. |
|
| Spellings: | bait, chaos, gauge, stay, precis, great, weight, convey |
Vowel Exercise 12
Lowercase E: [e]
This can be heard here:
| e Lowercase E |
The vowel [e], is not usually heard in isolation in standard pronunciations of English, however, since we have just used the symbol in the diphthong [eɪ], we should learn this symbol/sound. This sound is the mid-close front unrounded vowel, and it is common in Romance languages, such as French, Italian and Spanish, where it is represented by this symbol in its spelling (though in French they use an accent to represent this sound—“é” ). This sound might appear in some speakers who know the foreign words they are using, though older loan words, that have been in the vocabulary for a long time, tend not to be spoken in this way. This is very common in Canada, where French is the dominant second language in the Anglophone community. In many dialects, such as some variants of Australian and Irish, this sound is used in the dress lexical set where North Americans would typically use [ɛ], as in “get”. Also, many dictionaries that don’t use the ipa use the /e/ symbol to represent the dress set. |
| Draw the Lowercase E as you normally would, though you might choose to make a sharp corner from the horizontal to the rounded “C” like part of the symbol. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: could be applied to face or dress, or as the nucleus of square. | |
| Spellings (face): | café, penne, excelente, etc. Note that these are all foreign language words, spoken in their native accent.
Examples (from Wikipedia) Catalan séc [sek] “fold” Dutch vreemd [vreːmt] “strange” Scouse English square [skweː] French santé [sɑ̃ːt̪e] “health” German Jäger [ˈjeːɡɐ] “hunter” |
Audio Quiz 14
Read and Write from IPA 14
Transcription into IPA 15
Fill in the Blanks 4
Pure O: [o]
This can be heard here:
| o Pure O |
The vowel [o], which I call “Pure O,” is not standard in North American speech, but it is useful in some accents of English, though it is frequently used as the first element of the diphthong [oʊ], and used for the lexical set goat. To make the sound, think of saying a word like “go”, and don’t move (“freeze!”) your mouth after you say the [ɡ]. For some people, they don’t round their [oʊ] diphthong very much, so you now must consciously try to round your mouth like a circle. (We’ll learn the unrounded partner of [o] next.) Now try that very still mouth feel on other words like “boat”, by lengthening the [o] somewhat. Once you get the feel for it, go back to the formal length for the word. |
| That said, [o] is used in the old-fashioned accent known as “Stage Standard” in unstressed syllables (except at the end of words, and most often at the beginning). Examples: opaque, Odets, omittance, Othello, Osaka, oasis, coerce, motet, brocade, Joanne, etc. | |
| Drawing the [o] has got to be one of the simplest symbols there is—draw a circle or oval. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: goat | |
| Spellings (goat): | {Stage Standard} odometer, vocation, au gratin {Scots dialect} oatmeal, choke, poultry, glow
Word Lists (see the unstressed words, marked with a white box ◻︎.) Examples (from Wikipedia) Afrikaans bok [ˈbok] “goat” Danish kone [ˈkʰoːnə] “wife” Dutch kool [koːɫ] “cabbage” French réseau [ʁeso] “network” Romanian acolo [aˈkolo] “there” |
Ram’s Horns: [ɤ]
| ɤ Ram’s Horns |
The vowel [ɤ], the close-mid back unrounded vowel is not really an English vowel, though it can be used in some accents as it is the unrounded equivalent of the close-mid back rounded vowel, [o]. In English, [ɤ] is likely to be used as the nucleus of a diphthong the lexical set goat. You should feel as you speak the words below that the mouth starts unrounded and gets slightly more closed and your lips round more, too. One feels this less on very short words, like “boat.”
The ram’s horns symbol starts with a curved line on the left, then it moves diagonally down and to the right, swooping back on itself to touch the baseline. The swoop continues to circle around to close off what looks like a teardrop sitting on the baseline, then moving up diagonally to the right, mirroring the left side of the symbol. Finally, you curve the far-right end of the symbol with the tip of the ram’s right |
| Note that this symbol looks quite a lot like “baby gamma,” the symbol we’ll learn for the voiced velar fricative, [ɣ]. Beware that the baby gamma’s crossing happens on the baseline, as if the “teardrop” was hanging off it, below the line, so the “horns” of ram’s horns, on top of being rounded at the tips, are shorter than the v of baby gamma. | |
| Baby Gamma ɣ | ɤ Ram’s Horns | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: goat | |
| Spellings (goat): | boat, woe, poet, brooch, shoulder, blow
Word Lists (goat) Examples (from Wikipedia) Aklanon saeamat [saɤamat] “thanks” English (Geordie, Birmingham, Cape Flats, South African) foot [fɤt] — Estonian kõrv [kɤrv] “ear” Korean (Gyeongsang dialect) 거기/geogi [ˈkɤ̘ɡɪ] “there” Thai เธอ/thoe [tʰɤː] “you” |
Diphthong O + Upsilon: [oʊ]
This can be heard here:
| oʊ Diphthong O + Upsilon |
The diphthong [oʊ], is found in the word “only” and is associated with the lexical set goat. Like the diphthong that precedes this one, [eɪ], it features a vowel, the close-mid back rounded vowel, and its symbol, [o], that can be used in isolation in some accents of English and in other languages. You should feel as you speak the words below that the mouth starts rounded, and gets slightly more closed and your lips round more, too. One feels this less on very short words, like “boat.” |
| Draw the lowercase O and follow it with an upsilon.
Another variation is for the unrounded equivalent of this diphthong, which tends, overall, to be more open as well. The diphthong [ʌɤ] starts with a symbol we know, hut, the open-mid back unrounded vowel, and the new one [ɤ] that we just learned, “ram’s horns,” which represents the close-mid back unrounded vowel. Overall, this is a more open articulation. For a more close, unrounded version of [oʊ], you could use [ɤɯ]. |
|
| ʌɤ Diphthong Hut + Ram’s Horns |
Draw the hut and then follow it with ram’s horns. |
| Lexical Set Keyword: goat
Alternates: — |
|
| Spellings (goat): | boat, woe, poet, brooch, shoulder, blow
Word Lists (goat) |
Diphthong Exercise 13
Diphthong Exercise 14
Audio Quiz 15
Read and Write from IPA 15
Transcription into IPA 16
Fill in the Blanks 5
Turned Script A or “Pot”: [ɒ]
This can be heard here:
| ɒ Turned Script A or “Pot” |
The checked vowel [ɒ] is heard, at least in parts of North America, in the word “not,” and is used in the lexical set lot in English. The sound is made with a slightly rounded and fairly open mouth (particularly at the back of the mouth). It is always short, which may help you to distinguish it. Many North American actors struggle with this sound, pronouncing all the words that could use it with [ɑ]. Inland Northern cities (Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo) replace this sound with [a]. |
| You probably recognize this symbol as an upside-down script A [ɑ]. However, don’t think of this symbol as an “A”, as it is more commonly represented in spellings as an “o” —it is probably easier to think of it as an O with a handle!
Also, you don’t want to have to turn your paper upside down to write the symbol, so think of it like this: the image of a “pot” is helpful in that the symbol shape seems to resemble the handle of a pot sticking up to the left, while the body of the pot sticks out to the right. (OK, it’s not as clear an image as the “hut”…) Here’s a trick to learn the new shape—think of the lowercase letter ‘b’, with a very short ascender/stem. It helps to start the short stem from the left a bit more, then go straight down to the baseline. From there go straight back up, looping around to the right, and then coming back down to close the circle. |
|
| Lexical Set Keyword: lot/cloth | |
| Note that lot and cloth are two lexical sets that are merged for many Canadian speakers—though many speakers of so-called General American differentiate the pronunciation of lot and cloth.
Alternates: This vowel can be used as an open variant of thought, a rounded variant of palm, or as the nucleus of north, a very open choice or goat, a rounded option for mouth, price, or start. It’s used as the weak vowel (letter) in colour [ˈkɒlɒ] in multi-cultural London English. |
|
| Spellings (lot): | want, yacht, rendezvous, allot, golf, cough, acknowledge
Word List (lot): |
Vowel Exercise 15
Audio Quiz 16
Read and Write from IPA 16
Transcription into IPA 17
Fill in the Blanks 6
Open O or “Claw”: [ɔ]
This can be heard here:
| ɔ Open O or “Claw” |
The vowel [ɔ] can be challenging for many North American speakers, who tend to use [ɑ] in its place in the thought lexical set. It is the open-mid back rounded vowel. This sound is more rounded, so that it is approaching the sound of [o] rather than staying relaxed like [ɑ]. That’s why it’s called the “Open O” rather than the “turned C”. An image I use to remember the mouth shape of the sound is to image the symbol representing a mouth, with the lips very rounded to the left which creates a hollow cheek kind of feeling. This is also helpful for learning the diacritic symbol for lip rounding which represents more lip rounding with a small symbol that points left and less lip rounding with one that points right. (e.g. [ɔ̹ɫ] — more rounding, or [tu̜n] — less). I often call the symbol “claw” [klɔ] and pronounce it using the sound associated with it.
Draw the Open O by starting at 10 o’clock and moving clockwise around the circle to 7. |
| Lexical Set Keyword: thought
Alternates: Many speakers of so-called General American and other dialects merge thought with cloth, while others, including most Canadians, may merge it with lot, cloth and palm! The Open-O is the nucleus in the diphthongs choice and force. |
|
| Spellings: | always, Arkansas, cause, dawn, awe, Sean, broad
Word Lists (thought) |
Vowel Exercise 16a
Vowel Exercise 16b
Audio Quiz 17
Read and Write from IPA 17
Transcription into IPA 18
Fill in the Blanks 7
Diphthong Open O + Small Cap I: [ɔɪ]
This can be heard here:
| ɔɪ Diphthong Open O + Small Cap I |
The diphthong [ɔɪ] is heard in the word “boy,” and the lexical set choice. Some people struggle with this diphthong because they believe they say something closer to [oi]. And some in fact do say a more closed sound, but often not as closed as they imagine. The “open O” at the beginning of this symbol certainly suggests that you should make this sound with your mouth more open than the normal [o]. |
| Draw the symbol by beginning with the “Open O,” starting at 10 o’clock and circling around to 7. Then draw the small cap I. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: choice
Alternates: There is the choice-nurse merger (aka “voice-verse”) merger in Historical NYC accents. |
|
| Spellings: | freud, oil, joy, buoy |
Diphthong Exercise 17
Read and Write from IPA 18
Transcription into IPA 19
Fill in the Blanks 8
Diphthong Open O + Schwa: [ɔɚ]
This can be heard here:
| ɔɚ Diphthong Open O + Schwa |
The diphthong [ɔɚ] is heard in the word “ignored” and is used for the lexical sets force (and often north, as the two sets are frequently merged together). Unlike the previous diphthong, North Americans are more likely to accept this symbol/sound combination, though there are frequently folks who say this as [oɚ]. The lips are rounded with a hollow cheek feeling for the first half of the diphthong and the tongue pulls back to make the R-coloured schwa. In regions where folks have non-rhotic accents, the diphthong may be [ɔə], but more often than not it’s smoothed out to be a single monophthong, [ɔ]. In which case, it is usually merged with the lexical set thought, as one finds in much of the UK, Australia and New Zealand. |
| Draw the open O as you have previously done it. Then draw an R-coloured schwa. | |
| Lexical Set Keyword: north/force | |
| Note that north and force are two sets that are merged for most North American accents. | |
| Spellings (north/force): | reward, George, orb, bore, hoard, floor, court |
Vowel Exercise 18
Audio Quiz 18
Read and Write from IPA 19
Transcription into IPA 20
Fill in the Blanks 9
Syllable Stress Practice
IPA Vowel Chart, Take 3
Finally, we’re able to look at all the vowel symbols we’ve learned in Parts 1, 2, and 3, arranged on the chart. Those we explored in the previous chapters are in grey, and the new ones we’ve just learned are in black:
[e] close-mid front unrounded vowel
[ɤ] close-mid back unrounded vowel
[o] close-mid back rounded vowel
[ɛ] open-mid front unrounded vowel
[ɔ] open-mid back rounded vowel
[ɒ] open back rounded vowel
You can see how the vowels [e, ɤ, o] are all on a horizontal line at the close-mid height, and that the difference between [ɤ] and [o] is merely one of rounding. Similarly, [ɛ] and [ɔ] are at the same height, and you can see how [ʌ] and [ɔ] differ only in rounding, too. From [u] in the close back rounded position, we can move vertically downward through [o, ɔ, ɒ] and you merely have open the vowel space a bit more for each step down the chart.
Charting Diphthongs
Up till now, we haven’t looked at how the diphthongs compare to one another.
Using the diphthong variations for the Falling diphthongs, [eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ] as heard in face, price, choice, that close to [ɪ], and [oʊ, aʊ] for goat, and mouth, that close to [ʊ]. If we map them out, we get this chart:
Comparing the Centring Diphthongs that move towards schwa (flying or not), from the lexical sets near, square, start, north/force, cure.
Remembering the Vowels
The following mnemonic phrase, created by my teacher, David Smukler, may help you remember the vowels’ relationships one to another:
“Read quickly this play fellow actors; command
words about better luck and
drama, not drawing only good moods and music”.
That sequence is:
Front Vowels
“Read [i] quickly [i̽] this [ɪ] play [eɪ] fellow [ɛ] actors [æ]; command [a]
Mid Vowels
words [ɝ] about [ə] better [ɚ] luck [ɐ/ʌ] and [ə]
Back Vowels
drama [ɑ] , not [ɒ] drawing [ɔ] only [oʊ/ʌɤ] good [ʊ] moods [u] and music [ju]”.
To remember the falling diphthongs, the mnemonic sentence is:
“Spain’s fine boys roam around” or “April’s light voice only shouts”.
“Spain’s [eɪ] fine [aɪ] boys [ɔɪ] roam [oʊ/ʌɤ] around [aʊ]”
“April’s [eɪ] light [aɪ] voice [ɔɪ] only [oʊ/ʌɤ] shouts [aʊ]”
The R-coloured, centring diphthongs are:
“Here’s their poor ignored car”.
“Here’s [ɪɚ] their [ɛɚ] poor [ʊɚ] ignored [ɔɚ] car [ɑɚ]”.
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Front open-mid unrounded vowel (cardinal 3). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 August 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=603 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Front close-mid unrounded vowel (cardinal 2). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 August 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=101 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Back close-mid rounded vowel (cardinal 7). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 August 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=111 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Back close-mid unrounded vowel (cardinal 15). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 August 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=612 ↵
- MRI 2. Janet Beck. Back open rounded vowel (cardinal 13). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 August 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=594 ↵
- Janet Beck. Back open-mid rounded vowel (cardinal 6). Seeing Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2018. Web. 21 August 2024. https://seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipa-charts/?chart=4&datatype=4&speaker=1#location=596 ↵