Introducing English Linguistics

Table 7.2. Vowels in English (adapted from Ladefoged 2005: 28–30)
Front
near-front
central
near-back
back
Close
i
u
Near-close
i
υ
Close-mid
ei
oυ (GA) əυ (RP)
Mid
ə
Open-mid
ε
ɔ
Near-open

Open
ɑ (GA) ɒ (RP)
the tongue in the mouth: how high or low the tongue is positioned (the
vertical axis on the left) and the degree to which the tongue is placed in
the front or back of the mouth (the horizontal axis on top). The vowel /i/
is considered a close front vowel because when this vowel is articulated,
the front of the tongue is at a very high position in the very front of the

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mouth. The vowel /u/ is a close back vowel because like /i/ the tongue is
high in the mouth. However, rather than the tongue being positioned in
the front of the mouth, the back of the tongue is high in the back of the
mouth. The vowel /ɑ/ is also a back vowel but it is open because unlike /u/
the back of the tongue is low in the mouth. The vowel /ə/, known as the
schwa
, is pronounced with the tongue at a height mid-way between the
top and bottom of the mouth and positioned in the center of the mouth.
The vowel /ε/ is pronounced with the tongue positioned slightly lower in
the mouth than the schwa but not as close to the front of the mouth as
/i/. The remaining vowels exhibit varying degrees of height and frontness
and backness.
It is important to realize that the system of vowel classification illus-
trated in Table 7.2 is somewhat of an idealization. Ladefoged (2001: 71)
characterizes notions such as height and frontness and backness as
“labels that describe how vowels sound in relation to one another. They
are not absolute descriptions of the position of the body of the tongue.”
Unlike consonants, he continues, “there are no distinct boundaries
between one type of vowel and another.” But while the categories in Table
7.2 may indeed be merely “labels,” they are a convenient way for linguists
to describe and compare vowels.