Middle vowels

The defining characteristic of a middle vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel. The only mid vowel with a dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the mid central vowel [ə], a symbol which is also used for the vowel schwa.

/e/: middle, front, simple, spread, unlengthened

Egg, left, said,head, red, instead, any, leopard

/ə/: middle, central, neutral, simple, unlengthened

About, paper, banana, nation, the

Close Vowels

Close vowels:  The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.

This term is prescribed by the International Phonetic Association. Close vowels are often referred to as high vowels, as in the Americanist phonetic tradition, because the tongue is positioned high in the mouth during the articulation of a close vowel.

Some close vowels are:

/i:/: high, front, spread, complex, lengthened

Beat, speech, people, key, police, scene, quay

/I/:  high, front, neutral, simple, unlengthened

Bit, sausage,, biggest, rhythm, mountain

/ʊ/: high, back, rounded, simple, unlengthened

Book, good,woman, push, pull, soap

/u/: high, back, rounded, complex, lengthened

Food, rude, true,  who, fruit, soup

Vowel

A vowel is a sound where air coming from the lungs is not blocked by the mouth or throat
All normal English words contain at least one vowel.

You can to describe a vowel according to this:

QUALITY:    Simple         /æ/

                    Complex      /iy/

TONGUE POSITION:        






High

                                

 Middle/central

     Low

AREA:                     Open                   Centre                  Back

                       

Lip shape:   

Spread        

Neutral                          












Rounded                                    

Vowel length:       

lengthened              I……………………..I     "THESE"

Unlengthened          I………….I                 "THIS"

 

Here are some examples of the description of the vowels:

/iy/: complex, high, open, spread, lengthened

/I/: simple, high, open, neutral, unlengthened

/Ə/: simple, middle, centre, neutral, unlengthened

/ e/: simple, middle, open, spread, unlengthened

Consonant Sounds Chart

VOICING

vd = voiced  "which the vocal cords vibrate"
vl = voiceless " which they do not"


MANNER: It is how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound and it could be: plosive-stops, fricatives, affricative, nasal, lateral, approximants


POINT: It is where you pronounce the sound, it could be: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal. velar and glottal

If you want to listen the pronunciation of voiced consonant sound, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyKR7cBDpZE

Tongue Twisters

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Denise sees the fleece,
Denise sees the fleas.
At least Denise could sneeze
and feed and freeze the fleas.

If you understand, say "understand".
If you don't understand, say "don't understand".
But if you understand and say "don't understand".
How do I understand that you understand? Understand!

if you want more tongue twisters, click here

http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm

consonant sounds

Consonant Sounds

  

This was the first class of the element 2 and we started with the consonant sounds. In this class we learned about the correct pronunciation of some consonants and the teacher gave us a list of consonants and their pronunciation in the initial, medial and final position. Until now I have some little mistakes, but I think that my pronunciation will improve doing more exercises. In addition here are some consonant sounds: