NAE Vowels-Part 1NAE Vowels-Part 1

• Think about the vowel

phonemes as you say the

vowels that occur in the middle

of these words: beat, bit, bait,

bet, bat, but, pot, bought, boat,

put, boot, bite, boy, bough

Features of a vowelFeatures of a vowel

• Core or peak of

a syllable

Study guide #2Study guide #2

• Why are Vs more

difficult to classify

according to their

articulation than

consonants?

Features of a vowelFeatures of a vowel

• Sound made with

continual vibration of

the vocal cords

• And an unobstructed

vocal tract

Features of a vowelFeatures of a vowel

• Lack of obstruction

makes it difficult to

describe the

articulation precisely.

Study guide #3Study guide #3

• Describe the vowel phonemes.

• Know the relative V positions (the

quadrant) for simple Vs & diphthongs,

tenseness, & lip rounding.

Vowel classificationsVowel classifications

• High, mid, low

• Front, central, back

• Tense, lax

• Rounded, spread

• Simple, glide, diphthong

NAE Vowels--tongue positionsNAE Vowels--tongue positions

beat

bit

bait

bet

bat pot bought

boat

put

boot

Ə

but

NAE Vowels--tongue positionsNAE Vowels--tongue positions

Ə

NAE Vowels--relative heightNAE Vowels--relative height

Front vowels: /iy/ and /æ/

NAE Vowels--relative heightNAE Vowels--relative height

Back vowels: /uw/ and /ɑ/

Study guide #5Study guide #5

• Explain the difference between

tense & lax vowels.

NAE Vowels--tense & laxNAE Vowels--tense & lax

Ə

NAE vowels--tense & laxNAE vowels--tense & lax

• Tense: includes all the glides,

outer limits of quadrant

• Can occur in open syllables: be,

bay, pa, law, bow, view

• Similar to pure vowels in Spanish &

Japanese, etc.--/a, i, e, o, u/

The glide /ey/The glide /ey/

The glide /ow/The glide /ow/

NAE vowels--tense & laxNAE vowels--tense & lax

• Lax: if stressed or in single-

syllable words, only in closed

syllables

• For example: pit, pet, pat, putt,

put

• / ɪ, ɛ, æ, ə, ʊ /

Study guide #6 & #7Study guide #6 & #7

• Lax Vs: usually most difficult for

NNSs (marked)

• Common, but not a good, ELL

strategy: shorten duration (of a

tense counterpart)

Rounded Vs = back VsRounded Vs = back Vs

• Sagittal diagram of /uw/: most rounded vowel

• Other rounded vowels: /ʊ, ow, ɔ/

Spread Vs = front VsSpread Vs = front Vs

• Sagittal diagram of /iy/: the most spread vowel

• Other spread Vs: /ɪ, ey, ɛ, æ/

Study guide #8Study guide #8

• Explain how the

cardinal vowels in

English differ from

their pure vowel

counterparts.

Cardinal v.s. pure vowelsCardinal v.s. pure vowels

• Cardinal vowels: / iy, ey, ɑ,

ow, uw /--English

• Pure vowels: / i, e, ɑ, o,

u /--Japanese & Spanish

Study guide #9Study guide #9

• Be able to predict which Vs

sounds might be easily

confused, substituted for one

another.

VowelsVowels

• What gets substituted for a

difficult vowel is quite

predictable: a sound with

features in common with the

target phoneme

VowelsVowels

• For example, what would be

substituted for / ɛ /?

• / ʊ /?

• / ɪ /?

• / uw /?

Study guide #10Study guide #10

• Why might it not

be the best use of

your time to focus

on teaching / ɔ/

to a learner of

NAE?

/ ɔ /

VowelsVowels

• The /ɑ/ /ɔ/ contrast--??

• In pairs, divide the following

words into /ɑ/ /ɔ/ categories:

arm, box, car, corn, cost, dog,

fall, god, heart, law, not, off, stop,

strong, talk, war, warm, watch

VowelsVowels

Dictionary answer:

• /ɑ/ group: arm, box, car, god,

heart, not, stop, watch

• /ɔ/ group: corn, fall, law, off,

strong, talk, war, warm, dog

• Either way: cost

Study guide #11Study guide #11

• Explain the

difference

between a glide

and a diphthong

in CMBG’s

system.

Diphthongs: /ay, aw, ɔy/

Diphthongs: /ay, aw, ɔy/

• As in buy, bow, boy

• Distinguishing feature:

pronounced tongue movement

(from bottom upward)

NAE Vowels--dipthongsNAE Vowels--dipthongs

NAE Vowels--dipthongsNAE Vowels--dipthongs

Glides v.s. diphthongs Glides v.s. diphthongs

• Glides move much less--/iy, ey/

very little, /ow, uw/ more

• Diphthongs are quite easy for

NNSs because nothing similar, so

no confusion

Main characteristics of NAE VsMain characteristics of NAE Vs

• Classified as high, mid, low

• Classified as front, central, back

• Classified as tense or lax (based

on muscle tension resulting from

location in quadrant & gliding)

Main characteristics of NAE VsMain characteristics of NAE Vs

• Classified as unrounded (spread)

or rounded

• Classified according to

movement (simple vs. glides,

diphthongs)