Vowel 32693 move=:edit= 224328641 2008-07-08T10:52:35Z AlleborgoBot 3813685 robot Adding: [[ext:Vocal]] {{Manner_of_articulation}} In [[phonetics]], a '''vowel''' is a [[sound]] in spoken [[language]], such as English ''ah!'' {{IPA|[ɑː]}} or ''oh!'' {{IPA|[oʊ]}}, pronounced with an open [[vocal tract]] so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the [[glottis]]. This contrasts with [[consonant]]s, such as English ''sh!'' {{IPA|[ʃː]}}, where there is a constriction or closure at some point along the vocal tract. A vowel is also understood to be [[syllable|syllabic]]: an equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is called a [[semivowel]]. In all languages, vowels form the [[syllable nucleus|nucleus]] or peak of syllables, whereas [[consonant]]s form the [[syllable onset|onset]] and (in languages which have them) [[syllable coda|coda]]. However, some languages also allow other sounds to form the nucleus of a syllable, such as the syllabic ''l'' in the [[English language|English]] word ''table'' {{IPA|[ˈteɪ.bl̩]}} (the stroke under the ''l'' indicates that it is syllabic; the dot separates syllables), or the ''r'' in [[Serbian language|Serbian]] ''vrt'' {{IPA|[vr̩t]}} "garden". We might note the conflict between the phonetic definition of 'vowel' (a sound produced with no constriction in the vocal tract) and the phonological definition (a sound that forms the peak of a syllable).<ref>Laver, John (1994) ''Principles of Phonetics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 269.</ref> The approximants [j] and [w] illustrate this conflict: both are produced without much of a constriction in the vocal tract (so phonetically they seem to be vowel-like), but they occur on the edge of syllables, such as at the beginning of the English words 'yes' and 'wet' (which suggests that phonologically they are consonants). The American linguist [[Kenneth Pike]] suggested the terms 'vocoid' for a phonetic vowel and 'vowel' for a phonological vowel,<ref>Crystal, David (2005) ''A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics (Fifth Edition)'', Maldern, MA/Oxford: Blackwell, p. 494.</ref> so using this terminology, [j] and [w] are classified as vocoids but not vowels. The word ''vowel'' comes from the [[Latin]] word ''vocalis'', meaning "speaking", because in most languages words and thus speech are not possible without vowels. ''Vowel'' is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them. ==Written vowels== {{main|Writing system}} The name "vowel" is often used for the symbols that represent vowel sounds in a language's [[writing system]], particularly if the language uses an [[alphabet]]. In writing systems based on the [[Latin alphabet]], the letters ''A'', ''E'', ''I'', ''O'', ''U'', ''W'' and ''Y'' are all used to represent vowels, although not all of these letters represent vowels in all languages (some of them, especially ''W'' and ''Y'', are also used to represent [[approximant consonant|approximant]]s); in addition, extensions of the Latin alphabet have independent vowel letters such as ''Ä'', ''Ö'', ''Ü'', ''Å'', ''Æ'', and ''Ø''. The phonetic values vary by language, and some languages use ''I'' and ''Y'' for the consonant {{IPA|[j]}}, e.g. initial ''I'' in Romanian and initial ''Y'' in English. In the original Latin alphabet, there was no written distinction between ''V'' and ''U'', and the letter represented the approximant {{IPA|[w]}} and the vowels {{IPA|[u]}} and {{IPA|[ʊ]}}. In Modern [[Welsh language|Welsh]], the letter ''W'' represents these same sounds. Similarly, in [[Creek language|Creek]], the letter ''V'' stands for {{IPA|[ə]}}. There is not necessarily a direct one-to-one correspondence between the vowel sounds of a language and the vowel letters. Many languages that use a form of the Latin alphabet have more vowel sounds than can be represented by the standard set of five vowel letters. In the case of English, the five vowel letters ''A'' ''E'' ''I'' ''O'' and ''U'' can represent a variety of vowel sounds, while the letter ''Y'' and, to a lesser extent, ''W'' can represent both a vowel and a consonant (e.g. "g'''y'''m", "c'''w'''m"). Other languages cope with the limitation in the number of Latin vowel letters in similar ways. Many languages, like English, make extensive use of combinations of vowel letters to represent various sounds. Other languages use vowel letters with modifications, e.g. ''Ä'' in Finnish, or add [[diacritic]]al marks, like [[Umlaut (diacritic)|umlauts]], to vowels to represent the variety of possible vowel sounds. Some languages have also constructed additional vowel letters by modifying the standard Latin vowels in other ways, such as ''æ'' or ''ø'' that are found in some of the [[Scandinavian language]]s. The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] has a set of 28 symbols to represent the range of basic vowel qualities, and a further set of diacritics to denote variations from the basic vowel. ==Articulation== <!-- This section is linked from [[Danish language]] --> {{Vowels}} [[Image:Cardinal vowels-Jones x-ray.jpg|thumb|200px|X-rays of Daniel Jones' {{IPA|[i, u, a, ɑ]}}.]] In spoken language, the [[Articulatory phonetics|articulatory features]] that distinguish different vowel sounds are said to determine the vowel's ''quality''. [[Daniel Jones (phonetician)|Daniel Jones]] developed the [[cardinal vowel]] system to describe vowels in terms of the common features ''height'' (vertical dimension), ''backness'' (horizontal dimension) and ''roundedness'' (lip position). These three parameters are indicated in the schematic IPA [[vowel diagram]] on the right. There are however still more possible features of vowel quality, such as the velum position (nasality), type of vocal fold vibration (phonation), and tongue root position. ===Height===<!-- This section is linked from [[Latin spelling and pronunciation]] --> Vowel height is named for the vertical position of the tongue relative to either the roof of the mouth or the aperture of the [[jaw]]. In '''high vowels''', such as {{IPA|[i]}} and {{IPA|[u]}}, the tongue is positioned high in the mouth, whereas in '''low vowels''', such as {{IPA|[a]}}, the tongue is positioned low in the mouth. The IPA prefers the terms '''close vowel''' and '''open vowel''', respectively, which describes the jaw as being relatively open or closed. However, vowel height is an acoustic rather than articulatory quality, and is defined today not in terms of tongue height, or jaw openness, but according to the relative frequency of the first [[formant]] (F1). The higher the F1 value, the lower (more open) the vowel; height is thus inversely correlated to F1.<ref>According to [[Peter Ladefoged]], traditional articulatory descriptions such as height and backness "are not entirely satisfactory", and when phoneticians describe a vowel as high or low, they are in fact describing an acoustic quality rather than the actual position of the tongue. Ladefoged, Peter (2006) ''A Course in Phonetics (Fifth Edition)'', Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, p. 189.</ref> The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] identifies seven different [[vowel height]]s: *[[close vowel]] (high vowel) *[[near-close vowel]] *[[close-mid vowel]] *[[mid vowel]] *[[open-mid vowel]] *[[near-open vowel]] *[[open vowel]] (low vowel) True mid vowels do not contrast with both close-mid and open-mid in any language, and the letters {{IPA|[e ø ɤ o]}} are typically used for either close-mid or mid vowels. Although English contrasts all six contrasting heights in its vowels, these are interdependent with differences in backness, and many are parts of [[diphthong]]s. It appears that some varieties of [[German language|German]] have five contrasting vowel heights independently of length or other parameters. The [[Austro-Bavarian|Bavarian]] dialect of [[Amstetten (Württemberg)|Amstetten]] has thirteen long vowels, reported to distinguish four heights (close, close-mid, mid, and near-open) each among the front unrounded, front rounded, and back rounded vowels, plus an open central vowel: {{IPA|/i e ɛ̝ æ̝/, /y ø œ̝ ɶ̝/, /u o ɔ̝ ɒ̝/, /a/}}. Otherwise, the usual limit on the number of contrasting vowel heights is four. The parameter of vowel height appears to be the primary feature of vowels cross-linguistically in that all languages use height contrastively. No other parameter, such as front-back or rounded-unrounded (see below), is used in all languages. Some languages have [[vertical vowel system]]s in which, at least at a phonemic level, only height is used to distinguish vowels. ===Backness=== [[Image:Cardinal vowel tongue position-front.svg|thumb|200px|Tongue positions of [[Cardinal vowel|cardinal]] front vowels with highest point indicated. The position of the highest point is used to determine vowel height and backness]] Vowel backness is named for the position of the tongue during the articulation of a vowel relative to the back of the mouth. In front vowels, such as {{IPA|[i]}}, the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth, whereas in back vowels, such as {{IPA|[u]}}, the tongue is positioned towards the back of the mouth. However, vowels are defined as back or front not according to actual articulation, but according to the relative frequency of the second [[formant]] (F2). The higher the F2 value, the fronter the vowel; backness is thus inversely correlated to F2. The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] identifies five different degrees of vowel backness: *[[front vowel]] *[[near-front vowel]] *[[central vowel]] *[[near-back vowel]] *[[back vowel]] Although English has vowels at all five degrees of backness, there is no known language that distinguishes all five without additional differences in height or rounding. ===Roundedness=== {{main|Vowel roundedness}} [[Vowel roundedness|Roundedness]] refers to whether the lips are rounded or not. In most languages, roundedness is a reinforcing feature of mid to high back vowels, and not distinctive. Usually the higher a back vowel, the more intense the rounding. However, some languages treat roundedness and backness separately, such as French and German (with front rounded vowels), most [[Uralic languages]] ([[Estonian language|Estonian]] has a rounding contrast for {{IPA|/o/}} and front vowels), [[Turkic languages]] (with an unrounded {{IPA|/u/}}), Vietnamese (with back unrounded vowels), and [[Korean language|Korean]] (with a contrast in both front and back vowels). Nonetheless, even in languages such as German and Vietnamese, there is usually some phonetic correlation between rounding and backness: front rounded vowels tend to be less front than front unrounded vowels, and back unrounded vowels tend to be less back than back rounded vowels. That is, the placement of unrounded vowels to the left of rounded vowels on the IPA vowel chart is reflective of their typical position. Different kinds of [[labialization]] are also possible. The [[Japanese language|Japanese]] {{IPA|/u/}}, for example, is not rounded like English {{IPA|/u/}}, where the lips are ''protruded'' (or ''pursed''), but neither are the lips spread to the sides as they are for unrounded vowels. Rather, they are ''compressed'' in both directions, leaving a slot between the lips for the air to escape. (See [[Vowel roundedness]] for illustrations.) [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] are two of the few languages where this feature is contrastive, having both [[close front rounded vowel|protruded-lip]] and [[close front compressed vowel|compressed-lip]] high front vowels. In many treatments, both are considered a type of rounding, and are often called ''endolabial rounding'' (pulled in and compressed; the margins of the lips approach each other) and ''exolabial rounding'' (pushed out and pursed; the insides of the lips approach each other). However, some phoneticians do not believe that these are subsets of a single phenomenon of rounding, and prefer instead the three independent terms ''rounded'', ''compressed'', and ''spread'' (for unrounded). ===Nasalization=== {{main|Nasal vowel|Nasalization}} [[Nasalization]] refers to whether some of the air escapes through the nose. In [[nasal vowel]]s, the [[velum]] is lowered, and some air travels through the nasal cavity as well as the mouth. An oral vowel is a vowel in which all air escapes through the mouth. [[French language|French]], [[Polish language|Polish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] contrast nasal and oral vowels. ===Phonation=== {{main|Phonation}} [[Phonation|Voicing]] describes whether the [[vocal cords]] are vibrating during the articulation of a vowel. Most languages only have voiced vowels, but several Native American languages, such as [[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]] and [[Totonac language|Totonac]], contrast voiced and devoiced vowels. Vowels are devoiced in whispered speech. In [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and [[Quebec French]], vowels that are between voiceless consonants are often devoiced. Modal voice, [[creaky voice]], and [[breathy voice]] (murmured vowels) are [[phonation]] types that are used contrastively in some languages. Often, these co-occur with [[tone (linguistics)|tone]] or stress distinctions; in the [[Mon language]], vowels pronounced in the high tone are also produced with creaky voice. In cases like this, it can be unclear whether it is the tone, the voicing type, or the pairing of the two that is being used for phonemic contrast. This combination of phonetic cues (i.e. phonation, tone, stress) is known as ''register'' or ''register complex''. ===Tongue root retraction=== :''Main articles: [[Advanced and retracted tongue root]].'' Advanced tongue root (ATR) is a feature common across much of Africa. The contrast between advanced and retracted tongue root resembles the tense/lax contrast acoustically, but they are articulated differently. ATR vowels involve noticeable tension in the vocal tract. ===Secondary narrowings in the vocal tract=== {{main|Pharyngealization}} [[Pharyngealisation|Pharyngealized vowels]] occur in some languages; [[Sedang language|Sedang]] uses this contrast, as do the [[Tungusic languages]]. Pharyngealisation is similar in articulation to retracted tongue root, but is [[acoustics|acoustically]] distinct. A stronger degree of pharyngealisation occurs in the [[Northeast Caucasian languages]] and the [[Khoisan languages]]. These might be called '''epiglottalized''', since the primary constriction is at the tip of the epiglottis. The greatest degree of pharyngealisation is found in the '''[[strident vowel]]s''' of the Khoisan languages, where the [[larynx]] is raised, and the pharynx constricted, so that either the epiglottis or the [[arytenoid cartilage]]s vibrate instead of the vocal cords. Note that the terms ''pharyngealized'', ''epiglottalized'', ''strident'', and ''sphincteric'' are sometimes used interchangeably. ====Rhotic vowels==== {{main|R-colored vowel}} [[R-colored vowel|Rhotic vowels]] are the "R-colored vowels" of English and a few other languages. ===Tenseness/checked vowels vs. free vowels=== {{main|Tenseness}} [[Tenseness]] is used to describe the opposition of ''tense vowels'' as in ''leap'', ''suit'' vs. ''lax vowels'' as in ''lip'', ''soot''. This opposition has traditionally been thought to be a result of greater muscular tension, though phonetic experiments have repeatedly failed to show this. Unlike the other features of vowel quality, tenseness is only applicable to the few languages that have this opposition (mainly [[Germanic language]]s, e.g. [[English language|English]]), whereas the vowels of the other languages (e.g. [[Spanish language|Spanish]]) cannot be described with respect to tenseness in any meaningful way. In discourse about the English language, "tense and lax" are often used interchangeably with "long and short", respectively, because the features are concomitant in the common varieties of English. This cannot be applied to all English dialects or other languages. In most [[Germanic languages]], lax vowels can only occur in closed [[syllables]]. Therefore, they are also known as [[checked vowel]]s, whereas the tense vowels are called [[free vowel]]s since they can occur in any kind of syllable. ==Acoustics== :''Related article: [[Phonetics]].'' [[Image:Spectrogram -iua-.png|thumb|400px|Spectrogram of vowels {{IPA|[i, u, ɑ]}}. {{IPA|[ɑ]}} is a low vowel, so its F1 value is higher than that of {{IPA|[i]}} and {{IPA|[u]}}, which are high vowels. {{IPA|[i]}} is a front vowel, so its F2 is substantially higher than that of {{IPA|[u]}} and {{IPA|[ɑ]}}, which are back vowels.]] The acoustics of vowels are fairly well understood. The different vowel qualities are realized in acoustic analyses of vowels by the relative values of the [[formant]]s, acoustic [[resonance]]s of the vocal tract which show up as dark bands on a [[spectrogram]]. The vocal tract acts as a [[resonant cavity]], and the position of the jaw, lips, and tongue affect the parameters of the resonant cavity, resulting in different formant values. The acoustics of vowels can be visualized using spectrograms, which display the acoustic energy at each frequency, and how this changes with time. The first formant, abbreviated "F1", corresponds to vowel openness (vowel height). [[Open vowel]]s have high F1 frequencies while [[close vowel]]s have low F1 frequencies, as can be seen at right: The {{IPA|[i]}} and {{IPA|[u]}} have similar low first formants, whereas {{IPA|[ɑ]}} has a higher formant. The second formant, F2, corresponds to vowel frontness. [[Back vowel]]s have low F2 frequencies while [[front vowel]]s have high F2 frequencies. This is very clear at right, where the front vowel {{IPA|[i]}} has a much higher F2 frequency than the other two vowels. However, in open vowels the high F1 frequency forces a rise in the F2 frequency as well, so an alternative measure of frontness is the ''difference'' between the first and second formants. For this reason, some people prefer to plot as F1 vs. F2&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;F1. (This dimension is usually called 'backness' rather than 'frontness', but the term 'backness' can be counterintuitive when discussing formants.) In the third edition of his textbook, [[Peter Ladefoged]] recommended use of plots of F1 against F2&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;F1 to represent vowel quality.<ref>Ladefoged, Peter (1993) ''A Course in Phonetics (Third Edition)'', Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, p. 197.</ref> However, in the fourth edition, he changed to adopt a simple plot of F1 against F2,<ref>Ladefoged, Peter (2001) ''A Course in Phonetics (Fourth Edition)'', Fort Worth: Harcourt, p. 177.</ref> and this simple plot of F1 against F2 was maintained for the fifth (and final) edition of the book.<ref>Ladefoged, Peter (2006) ''A Course in Phonetics (Fifth Edition)'', Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, p. 189.</ref> Katrina Hayward compares the two types of plots and concludes that plotting of F1 against F2&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;F1 "is not very satisfactory because of its effect on the placing of the central vowels",<ref>Hayward, Katrina (2000) ''Experimental Phonetics'', Harlow, UK: Pearson, p. 160.</ref> so she also recommends use of a simple plot of F1 against F2. In fact, this kind of plot of F1 against F2 has been used by analysts to show the quality of the vowels in a wide range of languages, including RP British English,<ref>Deterding, David (1997) The formants of monophthong vowels in Standard Southern British English Pronunciation, ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 27, 47-55.</ref><ref>Hawkins, Sarah and Jonathan Midgley (2005) Formant frequencies of RP monophthongs in four age groups of speakers, ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 35, 183-199.</ref> the Queen's English,<ref>Harrington, Jonathan, Sallyanne Palethorpe and Catherine Watson (2005) Deepening or lessening the divide between diphthongs: an analysis of the Queen's annual Christmas broadcasts. In William J. Hardcastle and Janet Mackenzie Beck (eds.) '' A Figure of Speech: A Festschrift for John Laver'', Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 227-261.</ref> American English,<ref>Flemming, Edward and Stephanie Johnson (2007) Rosa's roses: reduced vowels in American English, ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 37, 83-96.</ref> Singapore English,<ref>Deterding, David (2003) An instrumental study of the monophthong vowels of Singapore English, ''English World-Wide'', 24, 1–16</ref> Brunei English,<ref>Salbrina, Sharbawi (2006) The vowels of Brunei English: an acoustic investigation. ''English World-Wide'', 27, 247-264.</ref> North Frisian,<ref>Bohn, Ocke-Schwen (2004) How to organize a fairly large vowel inventory: the vowels of Fering (North Frisian), ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 34, 161-173.</ref> Turkish Kabardian,<ref>Gordon, Matthew and Ayla Applebaum (2006) Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian, ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 36, 159-186.</ref> and various indigenous Australian languages.<ref>Fletcher, Janet (2006) Exploring the phonetics of spoken narratives in Australian indigenous languages. In William J. Hardcastle and Janet Mackenzie Beck (eds.) '' A Figure of Speech: A Festschrift for John Laver'', Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 201-226.</ref> [[R-colored vowel]]s are characterized by lowered F3 values. Rounding is generally realized by a complex relationship between F2 and F3 that tends to reinforce vowel backness. One effect of this is that back vowels are most commonly rounded while front vowels are most commonly unrounded; another is that rounded vowels tend to plot to the right of unrounded vowels in vowel charts. That is, there is a reason for plotting vowel pairs the way they are. ==Prosody and intonation== :''Main articles: [[Prosody (linguistics)|Prosody]], [[Intonation (linguistics)|Intonation]].'' The features of vowel [[prosody]] are often described independently from vowel quality. In non-linear phonetics, they are located on parallel layers. The features of vowel prosody are usually considered not to apply to the vowel itself, but to the [[syllable]], as some languages do not contrast vowel length separately from syllable length. [[Intonation (linguistics)|Intonation]] encompasses the changes in pitch, intensity, and speed of an [[utterance]] over time. In [[tonal languages]], in most cases the tone of a syllable is carried by the vowel, meaning that the relative pitch or the [[pitch contour]] that marks the tone is superimposed on the vowel. If a syllable has a high tone, for example, the pitch of the vowel will be high. If the syllable has a falling tone, then the pitch of the vowel will fall from high to low over the course of uttering the vowel. [[Vowel length|Length]] or quantity refers to the abstracted duration of the vowel. In some analyses this feature is described as a feature of the vowel quality, not of the prosody. [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[Latin]] have a two-way phonemic contrast between [[vowel length|short and long vowels]]. The [[Mixe language]] has a three-way contrast among short, half-long, and long vowels, and this has been reported for a few other languages, though not always as a phonemic distinction. Long vowels are written in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] with a triangular colon, which has two equilateral triangles pointing at each other in place of dots ({{IPA|[iː]}}). The IPA symbol for half-long vowels is the top half of this ({{IPA|[iˑ]}}). Longer vowels are sometimes claimed, but these are always divided between two syllables. It should be noted that the length of the vowel is a grammatical abstraction, and there may be more phonologically distinctive lengths. For example, in Finnish, there are five different physical lengths, because stress is marked with length on both grammatically long and short vowels. However, Finnish stress is not lexical and is always on the first two [[Mora (linguistics)|moras]], thus this variation serves to separate words from each other. In non-tonal languages, like English, intonation encompasses [[lexical stress]]. A stressed syllable will typically be pronounced with a higher pitch, intensity, and length than unstressed syllables. For example in the word ''intensity'', the vowel represented by the letter 'e' is stressed, so it is longer and pronounced with a higher pitch and intensity than the other vowels. ==Monophthongs, diphthongs, triphthongs== {{main|Monophthong|Diphthong|Triphthong|Semivowel}} A vowel sound whose quality doesn't change over the duration of the vowel is called a [[monophthong]]. Monophthongs are sometimes called "pure" or "stable" vowels. A vowel sound that glides from one quality to another is called a [[diphthong]], and a vowel sound that glides successively through three qualities is a [[triphthong]]. All languages have monophthongs and many languages have diphthongs, but triphthongs or vowel sounds with even more target qualities are relatively rare cross-linguistically. English has all three types: the vowel sound in ''hit'' is a monophthong {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, the vowel sound in ''boy'' is in most dialects a diphthong {{IPA|[ɔɪ]}}, and the vowel sounds of, ''flower'' ([[British English|BrE]] {{IPA|[aʊə]}} [[American English|AmE]] {{IPA|[aʊɚ]}}) form a triphthong (disyllabic in the latter cases), although the particular qualities vary by dialect. In [[phonology]], diphthongs and triphthongs are distinguished from sequences of monophthongs by whether the vowel sound may be analyzed into different [[phonemes]] or not. For example, the vowel sounds in a two-syllable pronunciation of the word ''flower'' ([[British English|BrE]] {{IPA|[flaʊə]}} [[American English|AmE]] {{IPA|[flaʊɚ]}}) phonetically form a disyllabic triphthong, but are phonologically a sequence of a diphthong (represented by the letters <ow>) and a monophthong (represented by the letters <er>). Some linguists use the terms ''diphthong'' and ''triphthong'' only in this phonemic sense. ==Use of vowels in languages== The [[semantic]] significance of vowels varies widely depending on the language. In some languages, particularly [[Semitic languages]], vowels mostly serve to denote [[inflection]]s. This is similar to English ''man'' vs. ''men''. In fact, the alphabets used to write the Semitic languages, such as the [[Hebrew alphabet]] and the [[Arabic alphabet]], do not ordinarily mark all the vowels. These alphabets are technically called [[abjad]]s. Although it is possible to construct simple English sentences that can be understood without written vowels (<span title="Can you read this?">''cn y rd ths?''</span>), extended passages of English lacking written vowels are difficult if not impossible to completely understand (consider ''dd'', which could be any of ''add, aided, dad, dada, dead, deed, did, died, dodo, dud, dude, eddie, iodide,'' or ''odd''). In most languages, vowels are an unchangeable part of words, as in English ''man'' vs. ''moon'' which are not different inflectional forms of the same word, but different words. Vowels are especially important to the structures of words in languages that have very few consonants (like [[Polynesian languages]] such as [[Maori language|Maori]] and [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]]), and in languages whose inventories of vowels are larger than their inventories of consonants. ==See also== *[[English phonology]] *[[List of phonetics topics]] *[[Scale of vowels]] *[[Table of vowels]] *[[Words without vowels]] ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==Bibliography== * ''Handbook of the International Phonetic Association'', 1999. Cambridge University ISBN 0-521-63751-1 * Johnson, Keith, ''Acoustic & Auditory Phonetics'', second edition, 2003. Blackwell ISBN 1-4051-0123-7 * [[Peter Ladefoged|Ladefoged, Peter]], ''A Course in Phonetics'', fifth edition, 2006. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth ISBN 1-4130-2079-8 * Ladefoged, Peter, ''Elements of Acoustic Phonetics'', 1995. University of Chicago ISBN 0-226-46764-3 * Ladefoged, Peter and Ian Maddieson, ''The Sounds of the World's Languages'', 1996. Blackwell ISBN 0-631-19815-6 * Ladefoged, Peter, ''Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages'', 2000. Blackwell ISBN 0-631-21412-7. * Lindau, Mona. (1978). Vowel features. ''Language'', ''54'', 541–563. * Stevens, Kenneth N. (1998). ''Acoustic phonetics''. Current studies in linguistics (No. 30). Cambridge, MA: MIT. ISBN 0-262-19404-X. * Stevens, Kenneth N. (2000). Toward a model for lexical access based on acoustic landmarks and distinctive features. ''The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America'', ''111'' (4), 1872–1891. * Korhonen, Mikko. ''Koltansaamen opas'', 1973. Castreanum ISBN 951-45-0189-6 * Watt, D. and Tillotson, J. (2001). A spectrographic analysis of vowel fronting in Bradford English. ''English World-Wide'' 22:2, 269–302. Available at [http://www.abdn.ac.uk/langling/resources/Watt-Tillotson2001.pdf] ==External links== {{Spoken Wikipedia|Vowel.ogg|2005-07-18}} {{Wiktionary}} * [http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/vowels/contents.html Vowels and Consonants] Online examples from Ladefoged's ''Vowels and Consonants'', referenced above. * [http://www.oneletterwords.com Dictionary of All-Vowel Words]: a free online dictionary with over 1,000 words with no consonants and examples of usage from literature. *[http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/vowels/measurements.html Materials for measuring and plotting vowel formants] {{featured article}} [[Category:Vowels| ]] [[Category:Phonetics]] [[af:Klinker]] [[als:Vokal]] [[roa-rup:Vocalu]] [[ast:Vocal]] [[bs:Samoglasnik]] [[br:Vogalenn]] [[bg:Гласни звукове]] [[ca:Vocal]] [[cv:Уçă сасăсем]] [[cs:Samohláska]] [[da:Vokal (sprog)]] [[de:Vokal]] [[es:Vocal]] [[eo:Vokalo]] [[ext:Vocal]] [[fa:مصوت]] [[fr:Voyelle]] [[gl:Vogal]] [[ko:홀소리]] [[hi:स्वर वर्ण]] [[hr:Samoglasnik]] [[io:Vokalo]] [[it:Vocale]] [[he:תנועה (פונולוגיה)]] [[jv:Vokal]] [[ka:ხმოვანი]] [[kw:Bogalenn]] [[sw:Vokali]] [[ht:Vwayèl]] [[lb:Vokal]] [[ln:Moleli]] [[hu:Magánhangzó]] [[nah:Tzilīnitl]] [[nl:Klinker (klank)]] [[ja:母音]] [[no:Vokal]] [[nn:Vokal]] [[pl:Samogłoska]] [[pt:Vogal]] [[ro:Vocală]] [[qu:Hanllalli]] [[ru:Гласный звук]] [[simple:Vowel]] [[sk:Samohláska]] [[sl:Samoglasnik]] [[fi:Vokaali]] [[sv:Vokal]] [[th:สระ (สัทศาสตร์)]] [[uk:Голосний звук]] [[fiu-vro:Vabahelü]] [[wa:Voyale]] [[yi:וואקאלן]] [[zh:元音]]