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Date: 2015-10-07; view: 503.

Figure 2A vowel chart showing the relative vowel qualities repre­sented by some of the symbols used in transcribing English. The symbols [e, а, о] occur as the first elements of diphthongs.

The symbols we have been using for the contrasting vowels may also be regarded as shorthand descriptions for different vowel qualities. There are problems in this respect, in that we have been using these symbols somewhat loosely, allowing them to have different values for different dialects. But the general values can be indicated by a vowel chart as in Figure 2. The symbols have been placed within a quadrilateral, which shows the range of possible vowel qualities. Thus [i:] is used for a high front vowel, [u] for a high back one, [i] for a lower high front vowel, [e] for a raised mid-front vowel, [ə] for a lowered mid-front vowel, and so on.

The simple vowel chart in Figure 2 shows only two of the dimensions of vowel quality, and … even these are not represented very accurately. Furthermore, Figure 2 does not show anything about the variations in the degree of lip rounding in the different vowels…

Peter Ladefoged. A Course in Phonetics. LA, 1982, cc. 33-39

7. Figure 2. The System of Cardinal Vowels

(1)i u(8)

High