VOWELS
Vowel sounds can be described in four ways: tongue height, frontness, roundness and tenseness. To produce vowel sounds there needs to be movement of air involved but unlike consonants their is no obstruction involved.
Tongue Height
Tongue height describes how high the tongue is when the vowel is pronounced. It is usually described as being either high, mid, or low.
Frontness
Frontness describes the tongues position with respect to the back or front of the mouth. It is usually described as being front, central, or back.
Roundness
Roundness describes how round one's lips are when a vowel is pronounced. It is usually described as being rounded or unrounded.
Tenseness
Tenseness describes the amount of muscle tension in the vocal cords when a vowel is pronounced. It is usually described as either being tense or lax.
Vowel Guide
The chart below shows how each sound falls into each of the above categories. Along the frontness, along the side is tongue height, tenseness is represented through bolding, with tense sounds being bolded and lax sounds not, and roundness is represented by the sounds with the grey background.
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i ɪ |
u ʊ o ɔ |
|
| Middle | e ɛ |
ə |
|
| Low | æ |
|
ɑ |
For more information about these sounds visit the IPA