Hogskolan Dalarna Speech Analysis Course EN3037Peter Sundkvist

A comparison between English vowelsystem and Vietnamese vowel system

Autumn, 2009

Nguyen VanTung

820705T510h08tunng@du.se

1

Table of contents

1. Introduction

1

2. Theoretical Background

2

3. Methodology and Data

3

4. Data Analysis and Results

3

5. Conclusion

9

References

Appendices

1. Introduction

Since language has become more and more important tool for

communication in such a world where the demand of

understanding each other has become greater than ever, the

need of understanding and using language as a common tool

has been crucially important. In the world of languages,

there are thousands of living languages. Each of them has

its own sound system including vowels and consonants. Among

them, English is not an exception and is spoken as either

the first language, or the second language in many

countries. In fact, it is the most widely used language in

the world. English is said to be no longer bound in Great

Britain. In Vietnam, the number of people who study English

keeps increasing. In order to help Vietnamese people learn

English faster and English speaking people who want to study

Vietnamese language, the understanding of phonetics is very

important. Therefore, a contrastive or comparative phonetic

research is a good reference for language learners; teachers

and linguists get the best results of their language

studies. That is why this essay focuses on making the

1

comparison between single English vowels and Vietnamese

counterparts. In addition, the comparison is worth making

since the results could be a useful for realizing if a

Vietnamese speaks standard English or Vietnamese English and

vice versa. It is certainly good for sociolinguistic area of

study where one can be identified through the language one

speaks.

The comparison between English and Vietnamese vowel

system aims at recognizing the position where vowels are

made, making clear the similarities and differences in terms

of phonetic qualities: openness/height,

frontness/advancement of the tongue when producing vowel

sounds in two languages. It also aims at providing a useful

reference for Vietnamese people to study English and English

speakers to study Vietnamese. In addition, it is inevitably

useful for the research area of sociolinguistics.

2. Theoretical Background

So far, in addition to the comparison of American and

Canadian English or General American English and British

2

English or BBC English (Ladefoged: chapters 3 & 5), there

have been comparisons of English and other languages such as

Colins (2003) with Phonetics of English and Dutch, T Tardif, SA

Gelman, F Xu (1999) with a comparison of English and Mandarin and

so on.

Most of the comparisons mention vowel section. Since

there are different types of English nowadays, comparisons

focus mainly on BBC English and General English. In this

essay, the vowels are taken from those occurring in BBC

English and their transcription symbols are taken from the

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The source of sample

words and symbols is taken from Ladegoged (2003:28).

Ladefoged supposes that there are 20 different phoneme

vowels in BBC English, of which there are 11 single vowel

sounds including: [i:], [I], [ε], [ӕ], [a:], [ɒ], [ͻ:], [ʊ],

[u:], [ʌ] and [ɜ:].

In Vietnamese, there are different sources writing

about phonetics such as Hao (1998), Vietnamese Dictionary

(1988), (2000), and so on. According to these sources, there

are 11 single vowel sounds whose symbols are [i], [e], [ε],

3

[ӕ], [u], [ư], [ω], [ә], [ͻ], [ʌ], and [a]. However, in

order to be easy to follow the comparison, this paper uses

the transcription symbols and sample words from two

linguists Tri (2005) and Que (1996). Since their works are

written in English and target at foreign learners of

Vietnamese language, the sample words representing 11

phonetic symbols are easy to understand and compare with the

sounds in BBC English.

3. Methodology

It is common knowledge that English is now not bound within

Great Britain, but there are American English, Canadian

English, South African English, Indian English and so on. In

this essay, not all of the vowel sounds in those languages,

but only the single vowel sounds of British English or BBC

English are taken to compare with those in Vietnamese.

First, English and Vietnamese single vowels are collected.

The English vowel sounds in the comparison are taken from

those occurring in BBC English (source: Ladefoged

(2003:28)). The Vietnamese vowel sounds are taken from Tri.

4

(2005:3). Second, according to Ladefoged (2003:39) “in order

to represent the vowels of a language we need to show the

average values of the formants.”, English and Vietnamese

single vowels are pronounced thee times separately by a

natural English speaker and a Vietnamese man respectively to

get average values of the vowels. Then, with the support of

the software called Wavesurfer, the values of the recorded

vowels are measured. The measured values are then plotted in

a formant chart from which similarities, differences and

conclusion will be drawn.

4. Data Analysis and Results

According to Theoretical Background, the number of single

vowel sounds of the both languages is equal. Both of them

have 11 single vowels. Table 1, the vowel sounds of English,

and Table 2, Vietnamese vowels are drawn according to the

average values of frequency measured from three-time

repetition of different sample words by a natural English

speaker and a native Vietnamese. These vowels are plotted in

a single figure named figure 1. The positions of the vowels

5

both in English and Vietnamese as based on the values of

formant 1 and formant 2 (F1, F2) taken from table 1 and

table 2.

English single vowel sounds

Vowel

s

Sample

words

F1: F2 values of frequency

[i:]

[I]

[ε]

[ӕ]

[a:]

[ɒ]

[ͻ:]

[ʊ]

[u:]

[ʌ]

[ɜ:]

beat

bit

bet

bat

bart

bot(tom)

bought

hood

boot

but

bert

F1 = 200 Hz. F2 = 2320 Hz

F1 = 350 Hz. F2 = 2200 Hz

F1 = 400 Hz. F2 = 2100 Hz

F1 = 650 Hz. F2 = 1950 Hz

F1 = 780 Hz. F2 = 1300 Hz

F1 = 250 Hz. F2 = 800 Hz

F1 = 430 Hz. F2 = 1300 Hz

F1 = 200 Hz. F2 = 2000 Hz

F1 = 250 Hz. F2 = 1850 Hz

F1 = 800 Hz. F2 = 1400 Hz

F1 = 450 Hz. F2 = 1400 Hz

6

Table 1: English single vowels

Vietnamese Single Vowel Sounds

Vowel

s

Sample words

F1: F2 values of

frequencyVietnamese English

[i]

[e]

[ε]

[ӕ]

[u]

[ư]

[ω]

[ә]

[ͻ]

[ʌ]

[a]

i, y xin, ly

ê mê bê

e tem beo

a tan man

u rút súp

ư bưc lức

ô thô rốt

ơ sơ phơ

o pho tròn

â âm khâm

a ắc sắt

sin, lovely

May, bay

temp, bell

than, man

root, soup

book, look

to w , road

sir, per

paw, trawl

umber, come

arc, sarge

F1 = 250 Hz. F2 = 2250

Hz

F1 = 470 Hz. F2 = 2000

Hz

F1 = 600 Hz. F2 = 2050

Hz

F1 = 950 Hz. F2 = 1300

Hz

F1 = 300 Hz. F2 = 1100

Hz

F1 = 400 Hz. F2 = 1370

Hz

F1 = 380 Hz. F2 = 780

7

Hz

F1 = 550 Hz. F2 = 1300

Hz

F1 = 500 Hz. F2 = 1000

Hz

F1 = 650 Hz. F2 = 1500

Hz

F1 = 1000 Hz. F2 =

1400 Hz

Table 2: Vietnamese Single Vowel Sounds

8

Symbols in blue squares are phonetic symbols of BBC English Symbols in dark green ovals are phonetic symbols of Vietnamese

Figure 1: A plot of the first 2 formants of 11 vowel sounds ofBBC English and 11 single vowel sounds of Vietnamese

Many facts findings about two vowel systems have been

found from the investigation of figure 1 above. There are

differences and similarities in the comparison of the two

vowel systems. First, the two vowel systems are different in

terms of frontness or the advancement of the vowels. English

9

seems to have more front vowel sounds than Vietnamese. From

the frequency values of F2 ranging from 1600 Hz or higher,

there are 6 vowel sounds in English: [i:], [ʊ], [u:], [I],

[ε], and [ӕ] while in Vietnamese there are three: [i], [e],

and [ε] in that area. On the contrary, Vietnamese has more

back vowel sounds than English. In the area from 500 Hz to

1100 Hz of F2, there are three vowel sounds in Vietnamese:

[u], [ә], and [ω] while in English there is only [ɒ]. It is

also easy to recognize that the majority of Vietnamese vowel

sounds is in the central part of the figure, the English

counterparts are in the front.

In terms of the openness or height of the vowels, the

contrary can also be recognized when in English there are

more low vowels than in Vietnamese. Noticeably, two lowest

vowels are those of English: [i:] and [ʊ] while two highest

vowels are those of Vietnamese: [ӕ] and [a].

In terms of spacing, the green ovals representing vowel

system in Vietnamese are further apart with their measured

values of F1 and F2 in the vowel space compared with the

English corresponding vowels because there are no signs of

10

mergers in the figure. This means that the places of

articulation for different Vietnamese vowels are clearly

different so that clear-cut vowel sounds are produced.

The findings above have shown many differences in two

vowel systems from figure 1. However, the two systems have

vowels which are articulated in similar positions regarding

frontness or openness. The similarities between the two

systems are shown in the two following tables - table 3 and

table 4.

F2 values English vowels Vietnamese vowels

1950 Hz – 2050 Hz [ʊ] [e]

[ӕ] [ε]

1370Hz – 1400Hz [ɜ:] [ư]

[ʌ] [a]

11

1300 Hz [ͻ:] [ӕ]

[a:] [ә]

Table 3: Similarity in frontness/ advancement of the vowels

F1 values English vowels Vietnamese vowels

650Hz [ӕ] [ʌ]

450 Hz – 470 Hz [ɜ:] [e]

400 Hz [ε] [ư]

250 Hz [u:] [i]

Table 4: Similarity in openness/ height of the vowels

The comparison above showed that in English, single

vowels sounds occur more frequently in front or in the

middle of the tongue rather than at the back. In

Vietnamese, vowels sounds tend to occur in the middle of the

tongue. However, in both languages, vowels occur very

12

frequently at low and middle positions not so at high

positions.

5. Conclusion

In the comparison, the two systems have the same number of

vowels. Most of them are in low or middle position so that

neither of them uses entire vowel space. In this specific

diagram, two vowels systems distribute unevenly, especially

the English one because there are some vowels that come

close to the same point in F1-F2 space. For instance [ͻ:]

and [ɜ:], [a:] and [ʌ]. This may be the challenge for

Vietnamese people who are familiar with articulating

separate vowels. However, knowing the similarities and

differences will help language learners recognize which ones

require more practice and drills so as to overcome

difficulties and make progress more quickly with the

language study.

However, there are limits to comparison between

speakers because the exact values of the formants are

affected by the absolute size of the vocal tract Ladefoged

(2003: 43). The size and the shape of the vocal tract differ

13

significantly not only between males and females but also

between people of the same gender. Therefore, the values of

F1 and F2 recorded from a natural English speaker and a

native Vietnamese are relative, rather than absolute.

In the ocean of differences between English and

Vietnamese phonetically, the comparison between single

Vietnamese vowels and English vowels is only a small drop.

Within the scope of the comparison, many other areas or

phonetics are left unmentioned such as consonants including

place and manner of articulation, intonation and so on.

However, this is inevitably an opportunity for those who are

interested in the comparison of English and Vietnamese

phonetically.

References

Colins. B, & Mees. I. M. (2003) Phonetics of English and

Dutch, Brill Academic Publishers

Hao. C. X (1998). Tiếng Việt: Mấy vấn đề ngữ âm, ngữ pháp,

ngữ nghĩa. Nha xuat ban Giao duc

14

Ladegoged. P. (2003). Vowels and consonants: an introduction

to the sounds of languages. Blackwell Publishing.

Ladegoged. P. (2001). A Course in Phonetics. Harcourt

College Publishers

Tri. N. Th. (2005) Simple Vietnamese for You. BookSurge. LLC

T. Tardif, SA Gelman, F. Xu (1999) A comparison of English

and Mandarin Child Development, v70 n3 p620-35 May-Jun

1999

Appendices

Recording of single English vowels (attached in the soundfile)Recording of single Vietnamese vowels (attached in the soundfile)

15

English single vowel sounds

Vowel

s

Sample

words

F1: F2 values of frequency

[i:]

[I]

[ε]

[ӕ]

[a:]

[ɒ]

[ͻ:]

[ʊ]

[u:]

[ʌ]

[ɜ:]

beat

bit

bet

bat

bart

bot(tom)

bought

hood

boot

but

bert

F1 = 200 Hz. F2 = 2320 Hz

F1 = 350 Hz. F2 = 2200 Hz

F1 = 400 Hz. F2 = 2100 Hz

F1 = 650 Hz. F2 = 1950 Hz

F1 = 780 Hz. F2 = 1300 Hz

F1 = 250 Hz. F2 = 800 Hz

F1 = 430 Hz. F2 = 1300 Hz

F1 = 200 Hz. F2 = 2000 Hz

F1 = 250 Hz. F2 = 1850 Hz

F1 = 800 Hz. F2 = 1400 Hz

F1 = 450 Hz. F2 = 1400 Hz

16

Vietnamese Single Vowel Sounds

Vowel

s

Sample words

F1: F2 values of

frequencyVietnamese English

17

[i]

[e]

[ε]

[ӕ]

[u]

[ư]

[ω]

[ә]

[ͻ]

[ʌ]

[a]

i, y xin, ly

ê mê bê

e tem beo

a tan man

u rút súp

ư bưc lức

ô thô rốt

ơ sơ phơ

o pho tròn

â âm khâm

a ắc sắt

sin, lovely

May, bay

temp, bell

than, man

root, soup

book, look

to w , road

sir, per

paw, trawl

umber, come

arc, sarge

F1 = 250 Hz. F2 = 2250

Hz

F1 = 470 Hz. F2 = 2000

Hz

F1 = 600 Hz. F2 = 2050

Hz

F1 = 950 Hz. F2 = 1300

Hz

F1 = 300 Hz. F2 = 1100

Hz

F1 = 400 Hz. F2 = 1370

Hz

F1 = 380 Hz. F2 = 780

Hz

F1 = 550 Hz. F2 = 1300

Hz

F1 = 500 Hz. F2 = 1000

Hz

F1 = 650 Hz. F2 = 1500

18

Hz

F1 = 1000 Hz. F2 =

1400 Hz

19

Source: Tri. Ng. Th. (2005). Simple Vietnamese for you.

20