British English Vowels RP LAX VOWELS TENSE VOWELS

British English Vowels (RP)

LAX VOWELS TENSE VOWELS

LAX VOWELS

close front back open 4

KIT FOOT DRESS STRUT TRAP LOT 5

BACK F RO NT CLOSE (HIGH) OPEN (LOW) 6

preview: • The 6 lax vowels are ALWAYS SHORT • fen • bit • not • very • clever fen bit not veröld klefi

preview: • The 6 lax vowels are ALWAYS SHORT • fen • bit • not • very • television fenn verry tellevision (“telly”) 8

preview: • The 6 lax vowels are ALWAYS SHORT • fen • bit • not • very • television fenn bitt. . . ? nott. . ? verry tellevision (“telly”) 9

preview: • English vowels MUST NOT BE PREASPIRATED • nott (noht) • bitt (biht) • stopp (stohp) • better (behter) • supper (söhper) 10

TENSE VOWELS

CLOSE (HIGH FLEECE GOOSE DRESS FOOT BACK F RO NT KIT NURSE THOUGHT STRUT TRAP LOT PALM OPEN (LOW) 12

BACK F RO NT CLOSE (HIGH OPEN (LOW) 13

English Diphthongs δι-ϕθογγος di-phthong. . fþong

English Diphthongs • “pure” vowels • diphthongs

English Diphthongs • how "pure" are the "pure" vowels?

BACK F RO NT CLOSE (HIGH OPEN (LOW) 17

1 Rising to KIT 18

2 Rising to FOOT 19

3 Centring to Schwa 20

21

22

SQUARE words are spelled -airfair chair stair cairn -arefare care mare stare 23

NEAR words are spelled -eerbeer engineer queer -ierfierce pier 24

But words spelled with -ear-, –ere-, -eirare variable SQUARE bear pear wear heir their where they’re NEAR fear clear rear weir here we’re idea hero 25

Vowels - summary

CLOSE (HIGH FLEECE GOOSE DRESS FOOT BACK F RO NT KIT NURSE THOUGHT STRUT TRAP LOT PALM OPEN (LOW)

BACK F RO NT CLOSE (HIGH OPEN (LOW) 28

BACK F RO NT CLOSE (HIGH OPEN (LOW) 29

Vowels - summary Learn chart positions: • front – central - back • close (high) – mid – open (low Learn symbols and keywords for • 6 lax vowels + “schwa” • 5 tense vowels • 8 diphthongs (diphthongs are also tense vowels)

Difference between lax and tense vowels • lax vowels are short • tense vowels are long but are subject to clipping 31

Clipping A tense vowels (or diphthong) is CLIPPED (shortened) when a fortis consonant immediately follows it. 32

Preview: FORTIS and LENIS consonants 16 consonants occur in PAIRS, fortis and lenis FORTIS consonants are unovoiced LENIS consonants are often (but not always) voiced (This is not the only distinction between fortis and lenis. We’ll discuss this later. ) 33

Preview: FORTIS and LENIS consonants fortis: lenis: pie, buy church, judge tie, die mission, vision key, gay ice, eyes fine, vine think, this 34