Semantics, Word Meaning – Associative and Denotative Meaning, Seven Types of Meaning, Unit 5 Aspects of English Language, B.A English Literatrue

   University of Madras

Syllabus with effect from 2020-2021

BA English Literature

[2^nd Year, 4^th Semester]

ASPECTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE – II

Unit 5: Semantics

What is Semantics?

        “Semantics is the study of meanings. The term is derived from Greek semanen (to signify or mean). It concerned with the relation between words or other symbols and objects or concepts to which they refer.

        Semantics is that aspect of linguistics which deals with the relations between referents (names) and referends (things)—that is, linguistic levels (words, expressions, phrases) and the objects or concepts or ideas to which they refer—and with the history and changes in the meaning of words.

        Diachronic (historical) semantics studies semantic change, whereas synchronic semantics accounts for semantic relationship, simple or multiple.

 

5.1 Word Meaning – Associative and Denotative Meaning

 

Two Types of Meaning

        Yule (2014) makes a broad distinction between conceptual meaning and associative meaning.

Associative (connotative) meaning.

        However, different people might have different associations or connotations attached to a word like needle. They might associate it with 'pain,' or 'illness,‘. 'blood,' 'drugs,' 'thread,' or 'knitting.

        The connotation of a word can be positive, negative, or neutral. It can also be either cultural or personal. The table below displays the conceptual and associative meanings of  two words:“ blood” and “pig”

        Associative meaning is a result of cognitive association of ideas or things. It combines several types of meaning that are closely related, such as connotative, collocative, social, affective, and reflected meanings.

Denotative (Conceptual / literal/ dictionary)Meaning:

        Denotative meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of a word.

It is the type of meaning that dictionaries are designed to describe. Some of the basic components of a word like needle in English might include 'thin, sharp, steel instrument. Denotation is a word's plain and direct meaning or meanings. It's what the word explicitly means.

   

5.2 Seven Types of Meaning (logical or Conceptual, Connotative, social, affective, reflected, collective and thematic)

Seven Types of Meaning:

        Semantic is the study of meanings. Meaning comprise not one, but some kinds of meaning. Geoffrey Leech in his ‘Semantic- A Study of meaning’ (1974) breaks down meaning into seven types or ingredients giving primacy to conceptual meaning. He divides meaning into seven, they are called seven types of meanings, namely:

1.   conceptual meaning

2.   connotative meaning

3.   social meaning

4.   affective meaning

5.   reflective meaning

6.   collocative meaning

7.   thematic meaning

i) Conceptual Meaning:

        Conceptual meaning is also called denotative or cognitive meaning. Conceptual meaning is the literal meaning of the word indicating the idea or concept to which it refers. The concept is minimal unit of meaning which could be called ‘sememe’.

The two principles by Leech, the principles of contrastiveness and principle of structure.

        The organization of conceptual meaning is based on two structural principles- Contrastiveness and the principle of structure. The conceptual meanings can be studied typically in terms of contrastive features.

For example the word “woman” can be shown as:

        “Woman = + Human, -Male, + Adult”.

        On the contrary, word

        “Boy” can be realized as:-

        “Boy = “+ human, + male, - Adult”.

By the principle of structure, larger units of language are built up out smaller units or smaller units or smaller units are built out larger ones.

The aim of conceptual meaning is to provide an appropriate semantic representation to a sentence or statement. A sentence is made of abstract symbols. Conceptual meaning helps us to distinguish one meaning from the meaning of other sentences. Thus, conceptual meaning is an essential part of language. A language essentially depends on conceptual meaning for communication. The conceptual meaning is the base for all the other types of meaning.

ii) Connotative Meaning:

        Connotative meaning is the communicative value of an expression over and above its purely conceptual content. It is something that goes beyond mere referent of a word and hints at its attributes in the real world. It is something more than the dictionary meaning. Thus purely conceptual content of ‘woman’ is +human + female+ adult but the psychosocial connotations could be ‘gregarious’, ‘having maternal instinct’ or typical (rather than invariable) attributes of womanhood such as ‘babbling’,’ experienced in cookery’, ‘skirt or dress wearing ‘etc. Connotations vary age to age and society to society.

E.g. Old age ‘Woman’ - ‘Non-trouser wearing or sari wearing’ in Indian context must have seemed definite connotation in the past.

        Present ‘Woman’---- Salwar/T-shirt/Jeans wearing.

         Sometimes connotation varies from person to person also. E.g. connotations of the word ‘woman’ for misogynist and a person of feminist vary.

        The boundary between conceptual and connotative seems to be analogous. Connotative meaning is regarded as incidental, comparatively unstable, in determinant, open ended, variable according to age, culture and individual, whereas conceptual meaning is not like that . It can be codified in terms of limited symbols.

 

iii) Social Meaning:

        The meaning conveyed by the piece of language about the social context of its use is called the social meaning. The decoding of a text is dependent on our knowledge of stylistics and other variations of language. We recognize some words or pronunciation as being dialectical i.e. as telling us something about the regional or social origin of the speaker. Social meaning is related to the situation in which an utterance is used.

        It is concerned with the social circumstances of the use of a linguistic expression. For example, some dialectic words inform us about the regional and social background of the speaker. In the same way, some stylistic usages let us know something of the social relationship between the speaker and the hearer.

        E.g. “I ain’t done nothing”

The line tells us about the speaker and that is the speaker is probably a black American, underprivileged and uneducated.

iv) Affective or Emotive Meaning:

        For some linguists it refers to emotive association or effects of words evoked in the reader, listener. It is what is conveyed about the personal feelings or attitude towards the listener.     

        In affective meaning, language is used to express personal feelings or attitude to the listener or to the subject matter of his discourse.

        For Leech affective meaning refers to what is convey about the feeling and attitude of the speak through use of language (attitude to listener as well as attitude to what he is saying). Affective meaning is often conveyed through conceptual, connotative content of the words used

        E.g. “you are a vicious tyrant and a villainous reprobation and I hate you” Or “I hate you, you idiot”.

        We are left with a little doubt about the speaker’s feelings towards the listener. Here speaker seems to have a very negative attitude towards his listener. This is called affective meaning.

        But very often we are more discreet (cautious) and convey our attitude indirectly. E.g. “I am terribly sorry but if you would be so kind as to lower your voice a little”.

v) Reflected Meaning:

        Reflected meaning and collocative meaning involve interconnection.

        At the lexical level of language, Reflected meaning arises when a word has more than one conceptual meaning or multiple conceptual meaning. In such cases while responding to one sense of the word we partly respond to another sense of the word too. Leech says that in church service ‘the comforter and the Holy Ghost ’refer to the third in Trinity. They are religious words. But unconsciously there is a response to their non-religious meanings too. Thus the ‘comforter’ sounds warm and comforting while the ‘Ghost’ sounds ‘awesome’ or even ‘dreadful’. One sense of the word seems to rub off on another especially through relative frequency and familiarity (e.g. a ghost is more frequent and familiar in no religious sense.).

E.g. Daffodils

“The could not but be gay

In such jocund company”

        The word ‘gay’ was frequently used in the time of William Wordsworth but the word now is used for ‘homosexuality’.

        In such type cases of multiple meaning, one meaning of the word pushes the other meaning to the background. Then the dominant suggestive power of that word prevails. This may happen because of the relative frequency or familiarity of the dominant meaning. This dominant meaning which pushes the other meaning at the background is called the reflected meaning.

vi) Collocative Meaning:

        Collocative meaning is the meaning which a word acquires in the company of certain words. Words collocate or co-occur with certain words only e.g. Big business not large or great. Collocative meaning refers to associations of a word because of its usual or habitual co-occurrence with certain types of words. ‘Pretty’ and ‘handsome’ indicate ‘good looking’.

        However, they slightly differ from each other because of collocation or co-occurrence. The word ‘pretty’ collocates with – girls, woman, village, gardens, flowers, etc.

        On the other hand, the word ‘handsome’ collocates with – ‘boys’ men, etc. so ‘pretty woman’ and ‘handsome man’. While different kinds of attractiveness, hence ‘handsome woman’ may mean attractive but in a mannish way. The verbs ‘wander’ and ‘stroll’ are quasi-synonymous- they may have almost the same meaning but while ‘cows may wonder into another farm’, they don’t stroll into that farm because ‘stroll’ collocates with human subject only. Similarly one ‘trembles with fear’ but ‘quivers with excitement’. Collocative meanings need to be invoked only when other categories of meaning don’t apply. Generalizations can be made in case of other meanings while collocative meaning is simply on idiosyncratic property of individual words. Collocative meaning has its importance and it is a marginal kind of category.

vii) Thematic Meaning:

        It refers to what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or a writer organizes the message in terms of ordering focus and emphasis .Thus active is different from passive though its conceptual meaning is the same. Various parts of the sentence also can be used as subject, object or complement to show prominence. It is done through focus, theme (topic) or emotive emphasis. Thematic meaning helps us to understand the message and its implications properly. For example, the following statements in active and passive voice have same conceptual meaning but different communicative values.

e.g.

1) Mrs. Smith donated the first prize

2) The first prize was donated by Mrs. Smith.

        In the first sentence “who gave away the prize “is more important, but in the second sentence “what did Mrs. Smith gave is important”. Thus the change of focus change the meaning also.

        The first suggests that we already know Mrs. Smith (perhaps through earlier mention) its known/given information while it’s new information.

        Alternative grammatical construction also gives thematic meaning. For example,

1) He likes Indian good most.

2) Indian goods he likes most

3) It is the Indian goods he likes most.

        Sometimes thematic contrast i.e. contrasts between given and new information can be conveyed by lexical means.

e.g.

1) John owns the biggest shop in London

2) The biggest shop in London belongs to John.

The ways we order our message also convey what is important and what not. This is basically thematic meaning.

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Articulation of individual Consonant sounds, Consonants Three term Label Description, English Phonetics and Phonology -I, Aspects of English Language – II, Phonetics

  University of Madras

Syllabus with effect from 2020-2021

BA English Literature

[2^nd Year, 4^th Semester]

ASPECTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE – II

Unit 2: English Phonetics and Phonology -I

Articulation of individual Consonant sounds 

Three term Label Description

Description of Consonant sounds:

Consonant sounds are those sounds in the production of which the obstruction is created to the air-stream. These sounds are generally made by a definite interference of the speech organs with the air stream. During the production of consonant sounds the air released from the lungs escapes through mouth with friction. The 24 consonant sounds in English are - /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/, /m/, /n, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/.

The description of these consonant sounds involves with the following three term labels:

a) The State of Glottis (voiced or voiceless consonant sounds)

b) Place of articulation

c) Manner of articulation

i) Plosive:

/p/:

      During the articulation of this plosive sound /p/, the soft palate is raised and shuts off the nasal passage of air. The two lips come in contact tightly. The lower lip is the active articulator and the upper lip is the passive articular. The vocal cords are remain wide. Then there is a sudden separation of lips and the air escapes with an explosive sound. Thus the sound can be described as “voiceless bilabial plosive”. E.g. Pin, cap, paper.

/b/:

      During the articulation of this plosive sound /b/, the soft palate is raised and shuts off the nasal passage of air. The two lips come in contact tightly. The lower lip is the active articulator and the upper lip is the passive articular. The vocal cords are vibrate. Then there is a sudden separation of lips and the air escapes with an explosive sound. Thus the sound can be described as “voiced bilabial plosive”. E.g. Bin, cab, bubble.

/t/:

      During the articulation of this plosive sound /t/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip or blade of the tongue makes a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and completely blocks the oral passage of air. The tip of the tongue is the active articulator. The vocal cords are remain wide. The compressed air escapes with an explosive sound. Thus the sound is described as “voiceless alveolar plosive”. E.g. tin, Pot, cutter.

/d/:

      During the articulation of this plosive sound /d/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip or blade of the tongue makes a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and completely blocks the oral passage of air. The tip of the tongue is the active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. The compressed air escapes with an explosive sound. Thus the sound is described as “voiced alveolar plosive”. E.g. din, mud, modern.

/k/:

      During the articulation of this consonant sound the soft palate is raised and completely closes the nasal passage of air. The back of the tongue makes a firm contact against the soft palate. The back of the tongue is the active articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. Then the compressed air escapes with an explosive sound. This sound is described as “voiceless velar plosive”. E.g. cat, Kite, Pack.

/g/:

      During the articulation of this consonant sound the soft palate is raised and completely closes the nasal passage of air. The back of the tongue makes a firm contact against the soft palate. The back of the tongue is the active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. Then the compressed air escapes with an explosive sound. This sound is described as “voiced velar plosive”. E.g. Gate, bag, beggar.

ii) Affricate:

/tʃ/:

      During the articulation of this consonant sound the soft palate is raised so as to close the nasal air stream. The tip and blade of the tongue make a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and blocks the oral passage of air. At the same time the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate for a fricative release of the sound. Then the tip of the tongue removed slowly and the air released with friction between the front of the tongue and hard palate. The vocal cords remain wide. This sound is described as “voiceless palato-alveolar affricate”. E.g. Church, watch, chain.

/dʒ/.

      During the articulation of this consonant sound the soft palate is raised so as to close the nasal air stream. The tip and blade of the tongue make a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and blocks the oral passage of air. At the same time the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate for a fricative release of the sound. Then the tip of the tongue removed slowly and the air released with friction between the front of the tongue and hard palate. The vocal cords are vibrate. This sound is described as “voiced palato-alveolar affricate”. E.g. Joy, Stage, juice.

iii) Fricatives:

/f/:

      During the articulation of this sound /f/, the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The lower lip is brought near the upper front teeth with a narrow gap between them, the air passes through this narrow gap. The lower lip is the active articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. Therefore the sound is described as “voiceless labio-dental fricative”. E.g. Fan, soft, staff.

/v/:

      During the articulation of this sound /v/, the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The lower lip is brought near the upper front teeth with a narrow gap between them, the air passes through this narrow gap. The lower lip is the active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. Therefore the sound is described as “voiced labio-dental fricative”. E.g. Van, Wave, Oval.

/θ/:

      During the articulation of this sound /θ/, the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The tip of the tongue makes a light contact with the upper front teeth with a narrow gap between these two with the air escaping through the tongue. The tip of the tongue is active articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. Thus the sound is described as “Voiceless dental fricative”. E.g. Think, with, path.

/ð/:

      During the articulation of this sound /ð/, the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The tip of the tongue makes a light contact with the upper front teeth with a narrow gap between these two with the air escaping through the tongue. The tip of the tongue is active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. Thus the sound is described as “Voiced dental fricative”. E.g. This, weather, mother.

/s/:

      During the articulation of this sound /s/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip or blade of the tongue are brought near the teeth-ridge with a narrow space between them. The air passes through this narrow gap. The tip of the tongue is active articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. The sound is described as “Voiceless alveolar fricative”. E.g. Sun, Sing.

/z/:

      During the articulation of this sound /s/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip or blade of the tongue are brought near the teeth-ridge with a narrow space between them. The air passes through this narrow gap.The tip of the tongue is active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. The sound is described as “Voiced alveolar fricative”. E.g. zoo, zip.

/ʃ/:

      During the articulation of this sound /ʃ/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip of the tongue is brought very near the teeth ridge. But front of the tongue is raised towards hard palate. The air from lungs escapes through the narrow gap between the teeth ridge and hard palate. The vocal cords remain wide. Therefore the sound is described as “Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative”. E.g. Shut, ship, push.

/ʒ/:

      During the articulation of this sound /ʒ/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip of the tongue is brought very near the teeth ridge. But front of the tongue is raised towards hard palate. The air from lungs escapes through the narrow gap between the teeth ridge and hard palate. The vocal cords are vibrate. Therefore the sound is described as “Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative”. E.g. Pleasure, measure,

/h/:

      During the articulation of this sound /h/, the air from the lungs escapes through a narrow glottis with audible friction. The vocal cords are remain wide. This consonant is described as “voiceless glottal fricative”. E.g. Hut, House.

iv) Nasal:

/m/:

      During the articulation of this sound /m/, the two lips are come in contact tightly and shuts the oral passage of air. The lower lip is the active articulator. The soft palate is lowered and the air escapes freely through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are vibrate. Therefore this sound is described as “voiced bilabial nasal”. E.g. Man, Sum, among.

/n/:

      During the articulation of this sound /n/, the oral closure is affected by the tip or blade of the tongue making a firm contact against the alveolar ridge. The tip of the tongue is the active articulator. The soft palate is lowered and the air-stream flows through nose. The vocal cords are vibrate. The sound is described as “Voiced alveolar nasal”. E.g. Net, pen, manner.

/ŋ/:

      During the articulation of this sound /ŋ/, the back of the tongue raised towards the soft palate and the air shuts in oral cavity. The back of the tongue is the active articulator. The soft palate is lowered so as to allow air through nose. The vocal cords are vibrate. The sound is described as “Voiced velar nasal”. E.g. Sing, Ring.

v) Lateral:

/l/:

      During the articulation of this consonant /l/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The oral passage of air is blocked when the tip or blade of the tongue makes a firm contact with the alveolar ridge. The side of the tongue are lowered and the air escaped through these sides. The Tip of the tongue is the active articulator. This sound is described as “voiced alveolar lateral consonant. E.g. Line, Pull, Long.

 vi) Frictionless continuant or Rolled:

/r/:

      During the production of the sound /r/, the active articulator strikes against the passive articulator several times (the tongue tip taps against the teeth ridge), the air thereby escaping intermittently. This sounds are called trills or rolled consonants. E.g. Red, broad, near.

      During the production the consonant /r/ in sometime, the active articulator strikes against the passive articulator once and then quickly flaps forward. Such consonants are called taps or flaps. E.g. very, carry.

vii) Semi Vowels:

/j/:

      During the articulation of this sound /j/, the front of the tongue takes up a position between front close and front half close position. The soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The vocal cords are vibrate. Thus the sound is described as “voiced palatal approximants”. E.g. Yawn, young.

/w/:

      During the articulation of this sound /w/, the back of the tongue assumes a position required for the articulation of a vowel between back close and back half close position. The soft palate raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The vocal cords are vibrate. Thus the sound is described as “voiced bilabial approximants”. E.g. wet, water.

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Cardinal vowel chart, Description of Vowels, Pure vowels, Diphthongs, Triphthongs, vowel Three Term label, Description of individual Vowel sounds, English Phonetics and Phonology, Aspects of English Language, English Literature

   University of Madras

Syllabus with effect from 2020-2021

BA English Literature

[2^nd Year, 4^th Semester]

ASPECTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE – PAPER II

Unit 3: English Phonetics and Phonology -II

3.1 Vowels – Definiton, Cardinal vowels, Vowel Chart

3.2 Description of Vowels – Pure vowels, Diphthongs, Triphthongs – Three Term label, Description of individual Vowels

Vowels – Definiton, Cardinal vowels, Vowel Chart

    In English (the Received Pronunciation of England), there are 44 distinctive speech sounds or phonemes. Twenty of these are vowel sounds and the remaining 24 are consonantal sounds. In the vowel sounds twelve are pure vowels or monophthongs and eight are vowel glides or diphthongs.

      During the production of vowel sounds, the air escapes through the mouth without any friction. They can be defined with an open approximation without any obstruction, partial or complete, in the air passage.

      In the vowel sounds, there are 12 pure vowels or monophthongs and 08 vowel glides or diphthongs. A monophthong is when there is only one vowel sound in a syllable. A diphthong is the combination of two vowel sounds together.

Length of vocalization:  

     The monophthongs are sub-classified into short vowels and long vowels. Without exception, vowels are produced with the vocal folds vibrating. They are, therefore, all voiced. In addition, vowels may be sustained for relatively longer and shorter intervals of time. They are categorized as:

      (i) Long vowels (5)

      (ii) Short vowels (7)

      If the vowel is long, a colon-like mark (:) is placed after the symbol for the vowel, e.g. /i:/, /u:/, /ɑ:/, /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/.

    Each of the vowels has a distinct quality because of the different positions the tongue takes during vowel articulation. Vowels can be classified on the basis of the following:

      (a) Part of the tongue that is raised (front/central/back)

      (b) Height of the tongue

      (c) Position of the lips (rounded/unrounded/neutral)

      Cardinal vowels are a group of fixed and unchanging reference vowel points used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages. In simple words, Cardinal vowels are not vowels of any particular language, but a measuring system. The idea of cardinal vowels originated with Daniel Jones.

    There are in fact two subsets of cardinal vowels: Primary and Secondary. The eight vowels seen so far are called the primary cardinal vowels. The secondary cardinal vowels are obtained by using the opposite lip-rounding on each primary cardinal vowel. e.g. close lip-rounding applied to the [i] tongue position, or lip spreading applied to the [u] position.

       The eight vowels seen so far are called the primary cardinal vowels. The secondary cardinal vowels are obtained by using the opposite lip-rounding on each primary cardinal vowel.

      The eight primary cardinal vowels are numbered as follows: 1 [i], 2 [e], 3 [ɛ], 4 [a], 5  [ɑ], 6 [ɔ], 7 [o], and 8 [u].   

      A secondary vowel series can be obtained by reversing the lip position, e.g. close lip-rounding applied to the [i] tongue position, or lip spreading applied to the [u] position. The eight secondary cardinal vowels are numbered as follows: 9 [y], 10 [ø], 11 [œ], 12 [Œ], 13 [ɒ], 14[ʌ], 15[ɤ], 16 [ɯ], 17 [i], 18 [u].

Cardinal Vowels Chart

(a) The part of the tongue raised:

      In producing vowel sounds, some part of the tongue is raised in the direction of the roof of the mouth. The front, the back and the center of the tongue can be raised. When the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate, front vowels can be produced. That means, the front vowels are those during the production of which the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate./i/ in sit, /i: / in seat, /e/ in met and /æ/ in sat are front vowels. When the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the soft palate, back vowels can be produced. That means, the back vowels are those, during the production of which the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. /a: / in arm, /ɒ/ in cot, /ɔː/ in caught, /u/ in push, and /u: / in pool are back vowels. Vowels can also be produced by raising the center of the tongue in the direction of the part of the roof of the mouth where the hard palate and soft palate meet. These vowels are called central vowels. That means, the central vowels are those during the production of which the central part of the tongue is raised towards a point where the hard palate and soft palate meet. /ə/ in ago, /ə: / in bird, and /Λ/ in cup are central vowels.

      The front vowels are /i/, /i:/, /e/, /æ/.

      The back vowels are /a:/, /ɒ/, /ɔː/, /u/, /u:/.

      The central vowels are /ә/, /ә:/, /Λ/.

(b) The height of the tongue:

      Vowel sounds can also be classified and described on the basis of the height of the tongue. In the production of vowel sounds our tongue moves at different levels from upper to lower. According to the height of the tongue, vowels are classified into four. These are close vowels, half-close vowels, half-open vowels and open vowels.

i) Close vowels: Close vowels are those during the production of which the tongue is raised to the vowel limit, that is, the tongue is very close to the roof of the mouth. Examples are /i: / as in seat and /u: / as in pool.

ii) Open vowels: open vowels are those during the production of which the tongue is far away from the roof of the mouth. /a:/ in arm and /æ/ in sat are open vowels

iii) Half-close vowels: Half-close vowels are those during the production of which the tongue raised between the close and the open positions, but nearer the close position than the open position. The vowel /e/ in get is an example.

iv) Half-open vowels: half-open vowels are those during the production of which the tongue raised between the close and the open positions, but nearer the open position than the close position. /æ/ in sat is an example. 

(c) The position of lips:

      The position of lips can also describe vowel sounds. According to this vowels are divided as rounded and unrounded vowels. Rounded vowels are those during the articulation of which the lips are rounded. The vowels /u/, /u: /, /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ are rounded vowels. The unrounded vowels are those during the articulation of which the lips are spread or neutral. The vowels /i/, /i: /, /e/ and /æ/ are unrounded one.

Description of Vowels – Pure vowels, Diphthongs, Triphthongs – Three Term label, Description of individual Vowels

Description of Pure vowels- Three Term label pure vowels 

(Vowel Chat)

Front Vowels:

1) /i:/:-

      During the articulation of this vowel /i:/, the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate to a position almost near close. The lips are unrounded. The tongue is tensed. So it can be described as a front close unrounded vowel. e.g. seat /si:t/, dream/dri:m/, free /fri:/, green/ɡri:n/.

2) /i/:-

      During the production of this vowel /i/, the rear part of the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, just above the half- closed position. The lips are loosely spread and the tongue is tensed. So the vowel can be described as centralized front unrounded vowel, just above the half close position. e.g. sit /sit/, bit /bit/, stick /stik/, build /bild/.

3) /e/:-

      During the articulation of the vowel /e/, the front part of the tongue is raised to a position between half close and half open. The lips are loosely spread and the tongue is tensed. The vowel can be described as front unrounded vowel, between half close and half open. e.g. set /set/, dead /ded/, pen /pen/, sell /sel/, fresh/freʃ/.

4) /æ/:-

      During the articulation of the vowel /æ/, the front of the tongue is raised slightly below the half-open position. The lips are naturally open and the tongue is tensed. It can be described as front unrounded vowel, just below the half open position. e.g. sat /sæt/,  back /bæk/, action /ækʃn/, tank /tæŋk/.

Back Vowels:

1) /ɑ:/:-

      During the production of this vowel /ɑ:/, the back of the tongue is kept as low as possible in fully open position. The lips are wide open. It can be described as back open unrounded vowel. e.g. car /kɑ:/, dance /dɑ:ns/, laugh /lɑ:f/,past /pɑ:st/.

2) /ɒ/:-

      During the articulation of this vowel /ɒ/, the back of the tongue is raised just above the open position. The lips are slightly rounded. The vowel is described as back rounded vowel just above the open position. e.g. cost /kɒst/, sorry /sɒri/, frost /frɒst/ lock /lɒk/.

3) /ɔ:/:-

      During the articulation of the vowel /ɔ:/, the back of the tongue is raised to a position between half open and half-close. The lips are rounded. The vowel can be described as back rounded vowel, between half open and half-close position. e.g. ward /wɔːd/, audible /ɔːdəbl/, August /ɔːgəst/, board /bɔːd/.

4) /u /:-

      During the articulation of this sound /u /, the front part of the back of the tongue is raised towards just above half close position. The lips are rounded. The vowel can be described as back rounded vowel, just above half close position. e.g.book /buk/, push/puʃ/, full /ful/, cushion /kuʃən/.

5) /u:/ :-

      During the articulation of this vowel /u:/, the back of the tongue is raised very near to the close position. The lips are closely rounded. The vowel can be described as back close rounded vowel. e.g. super /su:pə/, root /ru:t/, group /gru:p/, proof /pru:f/.

Center Vowels:

1) /ʌ/ :-

      During the articulation of this vowel /ʌ/, the central part of the tongue is raised to a height just above the open position. The lips are neutrally open. The vowel can be described as central unrounded vowel just above open position. e.g. cut /kʌt/, duck /dʌk/, uncle /ʌŋkl/, shut /ʃʌt/.

2) /ɜ:/ :-

      During the production of the vowel /ɜ:/, the central part of the tongue is raised to a height between half close and half open position. The lips are spread. The vowel can be described as central unrounded vowel, between half close and half-open position. e.g. curd /kɜ:d/, girl /gɜ:l/, person /pɜ:sən/, surface /sɜ:fes/.

3) /ə/ :-

      During the articulation of the vowel /ə/ the central part of the tongue is raised just below half open position. The vowel can be described as central unrounded vowel just below half-open position. e.g. about /əbʊt/, father /fɑːdə/, ignorant /ignɒrənt/, human /hjuːmən/.

Description of Diphthongs, Triphthongs – Three Term label

    Diphthongs are vowel glides within a syllable. In the production of the diphthong sound, the tongue begins from a position required for the production of one vowel and moves towards another vowel within a single syllable. In diphthongs most of the length and stress is given to the first element (vowel). Thus, diphthong sounds are made up of the combination of two pure vowels where the glide begins at one element and moves towards another vowel. Diphthongs are called as mixed vowels.

There are eight diphthongs in English. They are

Closing diphthong:

Three diphthong ending in ‘i’ -

·      /ei/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “great” and usually includes the letters /ey/, /ay/, /ai/ and /a/. Examples: steak, pain, weight

·      /ai/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “eye” and usually includes the letters /i/, /igh/, and /y. Examples: my, cry, light, like

·      /ɔi/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “boy” and usually includes the letters /oy/ and /oi/. Examples: oil, coy, roil

Two diphthong ending in ‘u’ -

·      /əu/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “boat” and usually includes the letters /ow/, /oa/ and /o/. Examples: tow, loan, though

·      /au/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “ow!” and usually includes the letters /ou/ and /ow/. Examples: town, found, cow

·      /iə/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “ear” and usually includes the letters /ee/, /ie/ and /ea/. Examples: leer, tear, pier

Centering diphthong:

Three diphthong ending in ‘ə’ -

·      /eə/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “air” and usually includes the letters /ai/, /a/, and /ea/. Examples: hair, lair, bear

·      /uə/ - Creates a speech sound similar to “sure” and usually includes the letters /oo/, /ou/, /u/, and /ue/. Examples: cure, pure, cur.

 

(Diphthongs Chart)

Closing Diphthongs:

      Those diphthongs which have close vowels /i/ and /u/ as their final elements are called closing diphthongs. They are /ei/, /ai/,/ɔi/,/əu/,/au/.

1) /ei/:-

      During the articulation of this diphthong /ei/, the glide begins with the tongue position between half-open and half-close and moves in the direction of /i/. So the diphthong is called as front unrounded vowel below half close to centralized front unrounded vowel just above half close position. E.g. play/plei/, table/teibl/, great/greit/, waist /weist/.

2) /ai/:-

      During the articulation of this diphthong /ai/, the glide begins from /a/ and moves towards the vowel sound /i/. The lips are neutral at the beginning and become loosely spread towards the end. So the diphthong is described as front open unrounded vowel to centralized front unrounded vowel just above half close position. e.g. fly /fai/, bright /brait/, white /wait/, silence /sailəns/, like /laik/.

3) /ɔi/:-

      During the articulation the glide for this diphthong /ɔi/, begins at the back vowel sound /ɔ/ and moves towards the front vowel sound /i/. The lips are rounded in the beginning and loosely spread at the end. So the diphthong is described as back rounded vowel between half close and half open position to centralized front unrounded vowel just above half close position. e.g. boy /bɔi/, boil /bɔil/, point /pɔint/, moist/mɔist/, voice /vɔis/.

4) /əu/:-

      During the articulation of this diphthong /əu/, the glide begins at /ə/ and moves towards /u/. The lips are neutral in the beginning and rounded at the end. So the diphthong is described as central unrounded vowel between half close and half open to back rounded vowel just above half close position. e.g. go /gəu/,  note /nəut/, home /həum/, Snow /snəu/, close /kləuz/.

5) /au/:-

      During the articulation of this diphthong /au/, the glide begins from /a/ and proceeds towards /u/. The lips are neutral in the beginning and rounded at the end. So the diphthong is described as bank open rounded vowel to back rounded vowel just above half close position. e.g. now /nau/, house /haus/, found /faund/, about /əbaut/, mouth /mauθ/.

Centering Diphthongs:

      The diphthongs which have the center vowel /ə/ as their final elements are called centering diphthongs. They are /iə/, /eə/ and /uə/.

1) /iə/:-

      During the articulation of this diphthong /iə/, the glide begins at the position /i/ and moves towards the direction /ə/. The lips are spread during the articulation of both the elements. So the diphthong is described as centralized front unrounded vowel just above half close position to center unrounded vowel between half close and half open position. e.g. here /hiə(r)/, cheer /tʃiə(r)/, period /piəriəd/, ear/iə/, clear /kliə/.

2) /eə/:-

      During articulation of this diphthong, the glide begins from /e/ and moves towards /ə/. The lips are neutral throughout. So the diphthong is described as front unrounded vowel below half close position to center unrounded vowel between half close and half open position. e. g. there /ðeə(r), aeroplane /eərəplein/, chair /tʃeə(r)/, share /ʃeə(r)/.

3) /uə/:-

      During the articulation of this diphthong the glide begins at /u/ and moves towards /ə/. The lips are rounded in the beginning and spread towards the end. So the diphthong is described as bank open rounded vowel to center unrounded vowel between half close and half open position. e.g. poor /puə/, insurance /inʃuərəns/, tour /tuə(r)/.

Triphthongs:

A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. However a triphthong consists of more than two vowels, that is, a vowel glides to another and then further glides to a third vowel. It can be understood if we carefully observe certain words that consists of a triphthongs like Hour - /auər/, Fire - /faiər/, Inspire - /inspaiər/.

Triphthong : 5 closing diphthongs with ‘ə’ added on the end.

- ei + ə = eiə. as in layer, player

- ai + ə = aiə. as in lire, fire

- ɔi + ə = ɔiə, as in loyal, royal

- əu + ə = əuə, as in lower, mower

- au + ə = auə, as in power, hour.

Examples of Triphthongs Words – Cure, Player, Our, Lower, Year, Buyer, Flyer, Higher, Fewer, Power, Slower, Shower, Stereo, Romeo, Radio.

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