Uzbekistan state university of world languages english language faculty №2 Course paper Theme: General principiles of vowel formation

According to the speed (=rate) of vibration of the vocal cords, there are vowels different in pitch. The more rapid the rate of vibration, the higher is the pitch.
Consonants. 1) The VM creates voice for voiced consonants, sonorants, semi-vowels. 2) The VM gives the mechanism of aspiration. Aspiration is an additional puff of air for some consonant. There appear postponed vibrations after the release of / p, t, k, t∫ /, the vocal cords don’t start to vibrate immediately. There’s a gap within which a puff of air is given to the consonants. And only after the puff of air has been supplied, the vocal cords start vibrating for the following vowel. So there are aspirated and non-aspirated consonants.
Resonator mechanism
Vowels. !leading mechanism! In the production of vowels it involves the work of the mouth resonator only. The RM is the leading mechanism in the production of vowels as it specifies tone creating different vowels. The mouth resonator changes its shape, size and volume making all vowels different. The position of the lips and the movements of the tongue modify the shape, size and volume of the mouth resonator.
According to the horizontal movement of the tongue, the English vowels fall into:
- front / i:, e, æ /
- front-retracted / I /
- central / ә , ә: /
- back / o, o:, u:/
- back-advanced / a:, u, /\ /
According to the vertical movement of the tongue, the English vowels are subdivided into 3 classes. Each of these classes is further subdivided into 2 variations – narrow and broad.
Close = high
half-open = mid
open = low

narrow
i: , u:
e , ә:
o: , /\

broad
I , u
ә
æ , a: , o

According to the position of the lips, the English vowels are classified into rounded / o, o:, u, u: / and unrounded /all the rest/.
According to the stability of articulation (= the stability of the shape, size and volume of the mouth resonator) the English vowels are divided into: 1) 10 monophthongs (the mouth resonator doesn’t change its properties), 2) 8 diphthongs (during their pronunciation the tongue and the lips move from one vowel position to another with the result that the properties of the mouth resonator change) and 3) 2 diphthongoids / i:, u:/ (diphthongoid is a vowel sound intermediate in character between a monophthong and a diphthong. Its elements are very close to each other, and the tongue and/ or the lips move an extremely short distance between them).
Consonants. In the production of consonants the RM can involve the work of 2 resonators: mouth resonator or nasal resonator. It provides the possibility for changing of the resonator (its shape, size, volume) because the soft palate can be raised (oral sounds) or lowered (nasal sounds).