Tongue Height For Vowels

Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
TONGUE!!!
Below, you will see two diagrams. The diagram on the left shows the a side-view of
the human oral cavity.
The diagram below is called a vowel chart. The trapezoidal shape of the chart
represents the side-view your mouth.
Vowel charts can be extremely useful when learning the vowels of a foreign
language. But they will mean nothing to you unless you are able to develop a strong
awareness of your mouth.
When air leaves your mouth unobstructed, the position of your tongue
influences the sounds that come out.
A vowel chart is a visual representation of where your tongue is while
articulating a vowel.
As youll soon see, the location of vowel on the chart matches where the
tongue position is supposed to be.

Further, there are only two dimensions of movement that affect the sound of a
vowel:
up/down movement
forward/back movement
In phonetics, we call these two dimensions Vowel Height and Vowel
Backness.
Vowel Height
When you lower your tongue towards your lower jaw, you are making a
more OPEN vowel sound
When you raise your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, you are
making a more CLOSED vowel sound
Alternate back and forth between the /a/ and /u/ vowels as I do in the audio
below and try to develop an awareness of height change.

Be sure to keep your lower jaw completely still so that it forces you to isolate
just your tongue.
Powered by Translate
TONGUE!!!
Below, you will see two diagrams. The diagram on the left shows the a side-
view of the human oral cavity.
The diagram below is called a vowel chart. The trapezoidal shape of the
chart represents the side-view your mouth.
Vowel charts can be extremely useful when learning the vowels of a foreign
language. But they will mean nothing to you unless you are able to develop a
strong awareness of your mouth.

When air leaves your mouth unobstructed, the position of your tongue
influences the sounds that come out.
A vowel chart is a visual representation of where your tongue is while
articulating a vowel.
As youll soon see, the location of vowel on the chart matches where the
tongue position is supposed to be.
Further, there are only two dimensions of movement that affect the sound of a
vowel:
up/down movement
forward/back movement
In phonetics, we call these two dimensions Vowel Height and Vowel
Backness. Check out this quick video for a short explanation:
Vowel Height
When you lower your tongue towards your lower jaw, you are making a
more OPEN vowel sound
When you raise your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, you are
making a more CLOSED vowel sound

Alternate back and forth between the /a/ and /u/ vowels as I do in the audio
below and try to develop an awareness of height change.
Be sure to keep your lower jaw completely still so that it forces you to isolate
just your tongue.
/u/ Close Vowel
/a/ Open Vowel
When you move from /u/ > /a/, you are LOWERING your tongue for a
more OPEN vowel.

When you move from /a/ > /u/, you are RAISING your tongue for a
more CLOSED vowel.
Vowel Backness
When you extend your tongue forward towards your teeth, you are
making a more FRONT vowel sound.
When you retract your tongue backward towards your throat, you are
making a more BACK vowel sound.
Alternate back and forth between the /i/ and /u/ vowels as I do in the audio
below, and try to develop an awareness of backness.

When you move from /i/ > /u/, you are retracting your tongue backward
for a more BACK sound
When you move from /u/ > /i/, you are extending your tongue forward
from a more FRONT sound

Vowel Tuning
Every language has its own set of vowels, and each of these vowels has its
own tongue position.
When you learn a new language, you will need to tune your articulation
to a new set of vowels.
This can be challenging for adults since we develop strong hearing and
speaking habits in our own native language. But this is where vowel charts
come in handy.
Once you know where the target-language vowel is in relation to your
closest native-language vowel on the chart, you can see the direction
you need to move your tongue for the correct sound.
Take the Spanish /o/ vowel for example. As you can see from the chart below,
the Spanish /o/ is more open than the English /o/, but still not as open as
the // sound from the English word awe.

So as a native English speaker, I know that I must move tongue slightly down
from the /o/ vowel, but not so much that I start making an // sound:
This difference between English /o/ and Spanish /oo / is more a question of
speaking with an authentic accent. Whether you change it or not, a Spanish
speaker will understand you either way.
Vowel tuning is also extremely important for differentiating words in a
foreign language.
For example, a Spanish speaker learning English will have a difficult time
hearing and saying the English // vowel from words like sit and chick.
Instead, they would hear and articulate the /i/ sound the closest vowel in
Spanish and say the words seat and cheek.
A quick look at the vowel chart shows that the Native Spanish speaker would
have to lower his tongue and OPEN his /i/ vowel to get the // vowel.
Its important to note that at first, you will NOT be able to accurately
perceive foreign sounds.

During your childhood, you started to lose sensitivity to sounds that were not
relevant to your native language.
As a result, foreign sounds get absorbed into the sounds you are already
familiar with, the way the // vowel gets absorbed into the /i/ for adult native
Spanish speakers.
The good news: you CAN learn to hear and speak these new sounds
with practice.
Dont ever let anyone convince you otherwise. I often hear people make
arguments about how adults cant learn new things.
Its easy to believe that when you start learning something new. And its easy
to believe that when youre stuck at the steepest part of the learning curve.
Theres no doubt that forcing your brain open to hear new sounds can be
challenging, so we have to be clever about it.
The ability to use a vowel chart and adjust your tongue position is a huge help
in this process, but ultimately its just a means to an end.

Its not enough to know where a vowel is in theory, you gotta really feel it.
When it comes to vowel tuning, the way to feel it is through musical rhymes
https://www.mimicmethod.com/ft101/vowel-height/

Tongue Height For Vowels

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tongue Height For Vowels

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tongue Height For Vowels

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Powered by Google TranslateTranslate

influences the sounds that come out.

A vowel chart is a visual representation of where your tongue is while

tongue position is supposed to be.

In phonetics, we call these two dimensions Vowel Height and Vowel

more OPEN vowel sound

making a more CLOSED vowel sound

below and try to develop an awareness of height change.

just your tongue.

view of the human oral cavity.

chart represents the side-view your mouth.

strong awareness of your mouth.

influences the sounds that come out.

A vowel chart is a visual representation of where your tongue is while

tongue position is supposed to be.

In phonetics, we call these two dimensions Vowel Height and Vowel

Backness. Check out this quick video for a short explanation:

more OPEN vowel sound

making a more CLOSED vowel sound

below and try to develop an awareness of height change.

just your tongue.

/u/ Close Vowel

/a/ Open Vowel

more OPEN vowel.

more CLOSED vowel.

making a more FRONT vowel sound.

making a more BACK vowel sound.

below, and try to develop an awareness of backness.

for a more BACK sound

from a more FRONT sound

own tongue position.

to a new set of vowels.

Once you know where the target-language vowel is in relation to your

you need to move your tongue for the correct sound.

the // sound from the English word awe.

speaking with an authentic accent. Whether you change it or not, a Spanish

speaker will understand you either way.

Vowel tuning is also extremely important for differentiating words in a

Spanish and say the words seat and cheek.

perceive foreign sounds.

relevant to your native language.

arguments about how adults cant learn new things.

challenging, so we have to be clever about it.

in this process, but ultimately its just a means to an end.

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.