Phonological analysis of English vowels

There 20 vowel phonemes in English: i, i:, e, 96, u, u:, v, a:, з, з:, o, o:, iз, uз, ai, oi, зu, eз, ou, au. These phonemes are distinguished from one another by

1. THE STABILITY OF ARTICULATION

Vowel sounds are divided into monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs.

A monophthong consists of only one vowel sound that does not change during its articulation (i, e, 96, u)

A diphthong is a complex vowel sound that consists of two components (ei, ai, oi, au)

A triphthong is a complex vowel sound that consists of three components (our, fire, player)

2. THE TONGUE POSITION

- When the tongue moves forward and backward

front – when the tongue is in the front part of the mouth and the front part of it is raised to the hard palate – i:, e, 96

front-retracted - the tongue is in the front part of the mouth but slightly retracted (втянут) and the part of the tongue nearer to centre than to front is raised – i

central – the front of the tongue is raised towards the back part of the hard palate – v, з:, з

back – the tongue is in the back part of the mouth and the back of it is raised towards the soft palate – a:, o, o:, u:

back-advanced – the tongue is in the back part of the mouth but is slightly advanced - u

- When the tongue moves up and down

close – the front or the back of the tongue is raised high towards the palate – i:, i, u, u:

open – the front or the back of the tongue is as low as possible in the mouth – 96, a:, o. o:

mid – the highest part of the tongue occupies the position intermediate between the close and the open one – e, v, з:, з

3. LIP POSITION

unrounded – i:, i, e, 96, a:, v, з:, з

rounded – o, o:, u, u:

4. CHARACTER OF VOWEL END

checked – if a vowel is followed by a strong voiceless cons-t – ex, better, cart

free – if a vowel is followed by a weak voiced cons-t – before, begger

5. Vowel length

long – i:, a:, o:, u:, з:

short – i, e, o, u, v, з