English Vowel

Triangle
Fall 2012
How many vowel sounds
do you think are in
standard American
English?
 How many vowel sounds
do you think are in
standard American English?

22 !
English Pure Vowels - Guess
English Pure Vowels

i u
I Ʊ
e o
Ɛ Ɔ
æ
ɑ
Joan Wall, International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers (1989), p. 15
 Joan Wall, International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers (1989), p. 15

Its approximate present form came from Daniel Jones of

University College. London. and is known as the Vowel
Diagram. It was developed by superimposing X-ray
images of the position of the tongue when articulating
various vowels. The Vowel Diagram indicates the
position of the high point of the tongue during the
articulation of each vowel.
⚫ Forward vowels: [i] beet
[ɪ] bit
[e] chaotic
[ɛ] bet
[æ] bat
[a] bright ah (mostly used in diphthongs)
Back vowels: [u] boot
[ʊ] book
[o] obey (pure [o] seldom
used) [ɔ] saw
[ɑ] father
Central vowels: [ʌ] up (stressed 'uh')
[ə] about (unstressed 'uh,' schwa)
[ɝ] herd (stressed, r-colored vowel)
[ɜ] herd (NOT r-colored)
[ɚ] butter (unstressed, r-colored vowel)
Diphthongs: [eɪ] bait
[difθɔŋ] [oʊ] boat
[aɪ] bite
[aʊ] ouch
[ɔɪ] boy
[ju] use
We begin with vowels because they are harder to
comprehend and execute than consonants!

Remember: a pure vowel = one sound

But in English we have diphthongs too!!

A pure vowel sound consists of only one distinct vowel

sound; a diphthong is a distinct vowel until made up of
two pure vowel sounds.
Joan Wall, International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers (1989), p. 14
Description of Vowels
⚫ They are unrestricted
The teeth, tongue, and lips
do not prevent airflow
⚫ They are normally voiced
It has ‘pitch’ – and can
be whispered.
⚫ They can be sustained
As long as you have breath,
you can sustain a vowel
sound
⚫ They have shape or form
And they are the core of
the syllable
Four Factors that
Affect Shaping and
Coupling of
Resonators
1. Jaw position – opening of mouth and
throat
2. Lip position – spreading or rounding
3. Tongue position – arching forward or
backward
4. Raised Soft Palate
 Raised soft palate
1. Resonates: enhances the vibration and
magnifies the sound
2. Resonator of Human voice is oral
cavity, pharynx, throat, and chest
3. (resonator of violin is the box)
⚫ Back pure vowels:
tongue is thickened in
the back while producing
these sounds
⚫ Front pure vowels:
tongue is thickened in the
front while producing
these sounds
English Pure Vowels

i u
I Ʊ
e o
Ɛ Ɔ
æ
ɑ
English Back Pure Vowels

u
Ʊ
o
Ɔ

ɑ
English Back Pure Vowels

u blue
Ʊ Brown
o sugar
Ɔ
opaque
auburn
ɑ aqua
English Front Pure Vowels

i
I
e
Ɛ
æ
 English Front Pure Vowels

green i
indigo I
grey e
red Ɛ

black æ
Things to note from the reading:
Feel/hear the difference in similar words:
pin [pɪn] and pen [pɛn] or marry [mærɪ] and merry [mɛrɪ]

Look to pages 14 and 15 for a discussion on how the vowel triangle

was created. Cool right?

Okay, so I still pronounce alveolar not quite right. Look to page

16 to help me out! [ˌæl ˌviəlɚ]

Also, get = [gɛt] not [gɪt]

Fun practice (from pg 17):

[i] [ɪ] [eɪ] [ɛ] [æ]
beet bit bait bet bat
meet mitt mate met mat
Dean din dane den Dan
 [i] ⚫ Potential Problems
⚫ Diphthongs created by adding a
schwa [ə]: feel, meal, yield
⚫ Spellings:
Feel = [fil] not [fiəl]
1. Quay
Meal = [mil] not [miəl]
2. She
Yield = [jild] not [jiəld]
3. Breathe
(this problem usually
4. Green occurs when
5. Conceive an [i] is followed by an
6. People ⚫ Practice phrases:
“l”)
7. Key ⚫ He shall speak peace unto the heathen
8. believe ⚫ Free to be me, God, I really am free.
⚫ Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me

English Pure Front Vowels

 [I]

⚫ Spellings: ⚫ Potential Problems

1. indigo ⚫ Substitution of [i]:
2. Busy been, beautiful, pretty,
eternal
3. behol
d ⚫ Vowel reduction:
When this sound is
unstressed, sometimes
⚫ Practice American singers turn it
into a schwa [Ə]
phrases:
⚫ Before “ng” “m” or “n”, an
⚫ Because I
“i” is almost always
have
pronounced [I], as in bring,
been
simple, and thin.
given
Sometimes the [I] becomes
much, I
over nasalized.
too must
give
⚫ That her
iniquity is
 [e]
[e] rarely appears in English by ⚫ Potential Problems
itself. It is almost always part
of the diphthong [eɪ] ⚫ Creating triphthongs where
you only want diphthongs
⚫ Examples for [e]: wait = [weɪ t] not
chaotic, vacation, fatality

⚫ Examples for [eɪ]: [wɛeɪ t] sail = [seɪl] not

1. aim
2. Came [seɪəl]
3. bay male = [meɪl] not
4. made
5. ate [meɪəl]
6. Ale
7. sail

English Pure Front Vowels ⚫ Practice phrases:

⚫ Embraceable You
⚫ Il
‟ l Build a Stairway to Paradise
⚫ Who Cares?
 [ɛ] ⚫ Potential Problems
⚫ Substitution of [ɪ] for [ɛ]
⚫ Substitution of [ɝ] for
⚫ Examples:
[ɛ] (as in ‟Amuhrica‟)
1. red ⚫ Insertion of [ə] between [ɛ] and [l]
2. death (as in [wɛəl] for ‟well)
‟
3. twenty ⚫ Substitution of [eɪ] for [ɛ]
4. head (as in [heɪd] for head,
or [leɪg] for leg)
5. get
6. treasure
7. guess
⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ Let‟s Kiss and Make Up
⚫ The Best of Everything
⚫ Heaven on Earth [hɛvən ɑn ɝθ]

English Pure Front Vowels

 [æ] ⚫ Potential Problems
⚫ The insertion of a schwa [ə]
after [æ] before a final
⚫ Examples: consonant. As in [hæət] for
1. add „hat‟
2. lamb ⚫ Nasalizing [æ] when it
proceeds m, n, or ng. (This
3. sang is my main problem!)
4. Pan
5. plaid
6. black ⚫ Practice phrases:
7. Sad ⚫ Sam and Delilah
⚫ Little Jazz Bird
⚫ Fascinating
Rhythm

English Pure Front Vowels

Reminder of Vowel chart:

i u
I Ʊ
e o
Ɛ Ɔ
æ
ɑ
 [u]

⚫ Spellings: ⚫ Potential Problems

1. grew ⚫ (see p. 56 in book)
2. you ⚫ Nasal
3. too ⚫ Insufficient lip rounding
4. to ⚫ Insertion [kul] vs. [kuəl]
5. two
6. blue

⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
⚫ I love you, truly.
⚫ In a sentimental mood.

English Pure Back Vowels

 [ʊ]
⚫ Spellings: ⚫ Potential Problems
1. sugar ⚫ Substitution (diphthong)
2. took [ə, u]
3. could

⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ The crooked straight.
⚫ My faith looks up to Thee.
⚫ Man is made for the woman and the woman for
the man.
English Pure Back Vowels
 [o]
⚫ Spellings: ⚫ Potential Problems
1. Violet ⚫ Substitution (diphthong)
2. Opaque
⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
⚫ Come, every soul by sin oppressed.
⚫ Memory, hither come and tune your merry
notes.

In American English, the sound [o] is only used

in unstressed, rhythmically short syllables.
⚫ “Soul” and “notes” do not contain the [o] sound
because they
only have one syllable, and therefore, are stressed.
English Pure Back Vowels
Joan Wall, International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers (1989), p. 65
 [Ɔ]

⚫ Spellings: ⚫ Potential Problems

1. Auburn ⚫ Insertion of diphthong
2. Moss ⚫ Inadequate mouth opening
3. Fall
4. Awkward

⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness
⚫ I saw the cross of Jesus
⚫ Autumn leaves are now falling

English Pure Back Vowels

 [ɑ]
⚫ Potential Problems
⚫ Insufficient lowering of jaw
⚫ Spellings:
⚫ Spreading lips, as in a grin
1. aqua
⚫ Retracting the body of tongue
2. got
⚫ Substitution of briɡht [a] for back [ɑ]

⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ Sing alleluia to the Lord
⚫ Stir thy church, O God, our Father
⚫ Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la . . . . .

English Pure Back Vowels

Vowel Reduction
⚫ Vowel reduction: This sound is typically a schwa [ə],
although there are other vowels that can be unstressed or
reduced. A reduced vowel is a vowel that can only
occur in unstressed syllables, like schwa, and an
unstressed vowel is a vowel that can be stressed but is
not. Before “ng”, “I”
{I} is pronounced [I], as in bring, sing, and think
⚫ Typical spellings for vowel reduction of [I] is -ly, -y,
-ies, and –ing.
⚫ Any words with these suffixes have reduced vowels
[ʌ
]
⚫ This sound occurs only in stressed syllables. This includes those
instances where “un” is a prefix emphasizing negation of the root word

⚫ Spellings: above, us, plum, fuzzy, undone, blood, trouble

⚫ Potential problems: substitution of [ɑ] ̤ fuzzy/fozie, was, love, one,

son

⚫ PRACTICE PHRASES
⚫ Unto us a Son is given
⚫ What wondrous love is this
⚫ I wonder as I wander out under the sky

⚫ Above = [Ə.bʌv]
⚫
[Ə
]
⚫ This sound occurs only in unstressed syllables. This includes those instances where “un”
is a prefix emphasizing negation of the root word

⚫ Spellings: magenta, angel, evil, a, of the, cotton, passion, upon

⚫ The sound only occurs in unstressed syllables or words

⚫ Because in singing every syllable must have a vowel sound, [Ə] is used in singing certain
syllables which are spoken without a vowels sound, as in little and people

⚫ The schwa is a variable, weakly-defined sound. Other sounds in unstressed

ɪ
syllables: [ ] happiness, prepare, remember, receive, rejoice

⚫ PRACTICE PHRASES
⚫ Unto us a Son is given
⚫ Hark! The herald angels sing
⚫ When I think upon the maidens
Angel and Evil
⚫ Angel:

⚫ Evil:
 ɛ
ɚ
Ə

ʌ
[3]
⚫ Spellings: bird, purple, ever, counselor, forward, earth,
journey,
timbre, martyr

⚫ Potential problems: Some authorities avoid this

sound, preferring [ʌ] in stressed syllables and [Ə] in
unstressed syllables: Bud-bird; but-Bert

⚫ Bird = [b3d] vs. bud = [bʌd]

⚫ Bert = [b3t] vs. but [bʌt]

⚫ Practice phrases:
⚫ Wonderful Counselor, the everlasting Father
⚫ Let all the world in every corner sing
⚫ I wonder as I wander out under the sky
[3]
⚫ Spellings: bird, purple, earth, journey, service, word,
purse

[bɜrd] [pɜrpl] [ɜrθ] [jɜrni] [sɜrvɪs]

[wɜrd] [pɜrs]

⚫ This sound only appears in stressed syllables!

⚫ This sound is called the “r-less” ur. It is preferred by

many singing teachers, and they substitute the sound often
instead of [ɝ].

⚫ The main difference between an “r-colored” ur [ɝ] and an “r-less” ur

[ɜ] is that the [ɝ] is produced with the tip of the tongue raised and
suspended in the center of the mouth and the [ɜ] is produced with
the tip of the tongue down behind the bottom front teeth.
Bird = [b3d] Herd = [hɜd] Learn = [lɜn] (look to board)
⚫ Southerners sometimes even drop the rs
‟ out of words:
[ɚ
]⚫ Spellings: giver altar
murder
actor summer

[gɪvɚ] [ɔltɚ] [æktɚ] [sʌmɚ]

⚫ This sound only appears
[mɝdɚ]
in unstressed syllables!

⚫ Although the unstressed ur [ɚ] has the same sound as the

stressed ur [ɝ], it is more lax and shorter in duration, and
used only in unstressed syllables. Sometimes it is
called a hooked schwa.

⚫ Some voice teachers will have you transcribe like this

(kenning):
giver altar murder actor summer
[gɪvər] [ɔltər] [mɜrdər] [æktər] [sʌmər]