Vowel Sounds

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The position of the tongue determines the production of the different vowels. The position of the tongue is governed by two factors: first, vocal height ,its position with respect to the roof of the mouth; second, the vocal backness , its position with respect of the mouth as measured from front to back. The height of the tongue may range from open, as in [a], to close, as in [i]. In general, there are three distinctive positions, namely, open, mid and close positions, and also other in-between, more subtle positions, such as near-open, open-mid, close-mid and near-close positions. Notice that vocal height is somewhat associated to jaw opening.

The tongue is a very flexible and quick muscle that may be positioned at several places in the mouth. Its position within the mouth defines the vocal backness. The tongue may be at the back, almost touching the soft palate or velum, as in the sounds [ʌ] and [u]; it may be at a central position, as in [ə]; or it may be at the ...

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whether the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation. When the vocal cords vibrate fully, the consonant is called voiced; when they do not vibrate at all, it is voiceless.

The following table shows the consonant phonemes found in English. When consonants are shown in pairs, voiceless consonants appear on the left and voiced consonants on the right.

Consonants
Bilabial
Labio-Dental
Dental


Nasal
m
n

ŋ

Plosive
t,d
...

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