Vowels in the Languages of the World We earlier looked at a classification of vowels using parameters based on labels referring to articulation height backness of tongue body and lip position In practice most vowel description is based on auditory evaluation or on acoustic measurement The standard IPA vowel chart provides reference points for a primarily auditory comparison of vowel qualities Many thanks to Ian Maddieson who shared his teaching materials with me These slides are adapted from his with minor changes The reference system for vowels is based on the concept of Cardinal Vowels CV s devised by Daniel Jones 1881 1967 Jones proposed a set of 8 reference vowels Two anchor points the highest frontest possible vowel Cardinal Vowel 1 and the lowest backest possible vowel Cardinal Vowel 5 The 6 remaining Cardinal Vowels are distributed at equal auditory intervals 3 along the front limit of the notional vowel space CV s 2 4 and 3 along the back CV s 6 8 In practice there is an implicit third anchor vowel the highest backest most rounded vowel possible also the three back CV s above CV 5 have increasing degrees of rounding A set of Secondary Cardinal Vowels with the same tongue positions but opposite values of lip rounding are also proposed so that front rounded and back unrounded vowels can be referenced Note that there are no Central CV s Cardinal Vowels recorded by Jones in 1965 when he was 75 Audio clips from http www let uu nl audiufon Frontness Backness Front Central Back u 8 High 1 i o 7 Higher Mid 2 e Height 3 E 4 a O 6 Lower Mid A 5 Low Primary cardinal vowels with rising intonation The Secondary Cardinal Vowels are reference vowels with opposite lip position Front 9 y Central 10 P 11 12 The secondary cardinal vowels Back 16 High 15 Higher Mid 14 Lower Mid 13 Low The choice of 8 vowels in the Primary Cardinal Vowel system was probably strongly influenced by the vowel system of late 19th early 20th century French which included 8 vowels somewhat similar to the them plus three front rounded vowels and four nasalized vowels Jones was a teacher of the phonetics of French and the French phonetician Paul Passy was the President of the International Phonetic Association when the system was adopted by the IPA as its framework for vowel classification 1 i 2 e 3 E 4 a 5 A 6 O 7 o 8 u lit les lait la lache loque lot loup li le lE la lAS lOk lo lu bed the pl milk the f sg loose rag lot share wolf Using the Cardinal Vowel system The primary and secondary cardinal vowel categories provide a suitable framework for comparison for many languages e g a vowel close to CV 1 a vowel a little lower and more retracted than CV 2 a vowel halfway between CV 8 and CV 9 etc Note that the Cardinal Vowels are not the vowels of any language but reference points for the comparison of the vowel qualities of particular languages But vowels belonging to the broad categories of which the CV s are prototypes are found in many languages Additional vowel symbols The cardinal vowel system does not include any central vowel prototypes additional symbols and auditory types are required for these Separate phonetic symbols are also useful for some frequently encountered or politically important vowel sounds that are different from cardinal qualities Each symbol represents vowels produced in a particular area of the vowel space Vowel symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet The canonical height backness value for each symbol is shown by the position of a dot on the chart the symbol to the left of the dot represents an unrounded vowel at that position the symbol on the right a rounded vowel of the same height and backness Note the omission a symbol for a low central vowel The 8 dots on the front and back lines of the chart are the CV positions Low central vowels are the most common in the world s languages Because no specific IPA symbol is provided for their transcription one of those with nearby values must be used to represent them any of a A or may be used The usual practice is to use a for the low central vowel and symbolize a low front unrounded vowel as a using the fronting diacritic if the distinction is needed can also be used for the low front vowel where necessary a a Front vowels i y I Y e P E a High front unrounded High front rounded Lowered high front unrounded Lowered high front rounded Higher mid front unrounded Higher mid front rounded Lower mid front unrounded Lower mid front rounded Raised low front unrounded Low front unrounded IPA value of symbol Low front rounded a a Recommended usage a Low front unrounded a Low central unrounded Front vowels i y I Y e P E a High front unrounded English beat bit High front rounded French su sy knew Lowered high front unrounded English bit bIt Lowered high front rounded German H tten hYtn huts Higher mid front unrounded French ses se his her its pl Higher mid front rounded French peu pP a little Lower mid front unrounded German Bett bEt bed Lower mid front rounded German Goethe g t Raised low front unrounded English flash fl S Low front unrounded Southern US English light la t Low front rounded not reported in any natural language Central vowels High central unrounded High central rounded Higher mid central unrounded Higher mid central rounded Mid central unrounded Lower mid central unrounded Lower mid central rounded Raised low central unrounded Recommended usage a Low central unrounded a a Central vowels Central vowels High central unrounded Amharic m n what High central rounded Norwegian butt b t blunt Higher mid central unrounded can be used for high schwas Higher mid central rounded not known Mid central unrounded unstressed vowel of English sofa Lower mid central unrounded British English heard Lower mid central rounded no known example Raised low central unrounded English hut Recommended usage a Low central unrounded much American English hot Back vowels u U o O A High back rounded High back unrounded Lowered high back rounded Higher high back rounded Higher mid back unrounded Lower mid back rounded Lower mid back unrounded Low back unrounded Low back rounded a a Back vowels u U o O A High back rounded French sou su penny High back unrounded Vietnamese t fourth Lowered high back rounded English push Higher high back rounded French eau o water Higher mid back unrounded Vietnamese t fourth Lower mid back rounded Vietnamese tO large Lower mid back unrounded Vietnamese t fourth Low back unrounded British English barred bAd Low back rounded British