]The articulatory description of vowel production
An articulatory description of the production of vowel sounds will include references to the following organs and their movements:
1. velum - is the velum raised or lowered? If the velum is lowered, then the vowel is nasalised.
2. lips - are the lips in a spread position, a rounded position or mutually open?
3. tongue - see notes below on the Cardinal Vowel system.
4. airstream - is the pulmonic egressive airstream sustained (long) or not (short)?
5. vocal folds - always partially closed - all vowels are voiced.
The Cardinal Vowel system
Traditionally, phoneticians have found it difficult to describe vowels in articulatory terms.
The problem is that the quality of a vowel depends on the shape of the space in the oral cavity during the passage of the airstream.
It is difficult to describe the shape of a space.
For this reason, instead of describing the shape of the space, phoneticians prefer to describe the shape of the tongue which determines the shape of the space in the oral cavity.
There are several ways of describing the shape of the tongue.
American phoneticians prefer to use a system based on distinctive features.
British phoneticians prefer to use a system based on the Cardinal Vowels.
Cardinal Vowels
The Cardinal Vowels form a system devised by Daniel Jones together with others during the 1920s and 1930s.
Cardinal vowels have been used by phoneticians ever since.
The Cardinal Vowel system is based on a basic concept called the vowel limit.
The vowel limit is the highest point that any part of the tongue can be raised to in the oral cavity without causing either friction or compression as the airstream passes through the oral cavity.
If any part of the tongue is raised but does not go beyond the vowel limit, then the passage of air produces a vowel sound.
If any part of the tongue is raised and goes beyond the vowel limit; then, because of the nature of the affect of the articulators on the passage of air, the resulting sound is either a fricative or a plosive - i.e. a consonantal sound.
Certain parameters determine the quality of the vowel.
The main determiners of the vowel quality are:
i. tongue position - tongue shape
ii. lip position
iii. duration (how long the airstream is sustained)
With regard to tongue position we must ask two questions:
i. Which part of the tongue is raised?
ii. How high is it raised?
The answers to these two questions will indicate the shape of the tongue.
The shape of the tongue will determine the shape of the space in the oral cavity.
We describe the shape of the space in the oral cavity by describing the shape of the tongue.
The Cardinal Vowel system enables us to describe fairly scientifically the shape of the tongue.
Firstly, Cardinal Vowels are not the sounds of any language.
They are sounds which are able of being produced by the human vocal tract when the corresponding part of the tongue has been raised to the vowel limit.
In this sense, the Cardinal Vowels are extreme points in terms of sound production which are used as reference markers for the study of vowel systems of human languages.
Daniel Jones determined Cardinal Vowel #1 as the highest and most front point on the vowel limit.
In a similar way, he determined Cardinal Vowel #5 as the lowest and most back point on the vowel limit.
The other Cardinal Vowels - from CV #1 to CV #8 - are set at equidistant points on the sphere.
The Cardinal vowels are usually presented superimposed on a trapezium.
The symbols are as follows:
CV #1 - [
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CV #2 - [ 
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CV #3 - [ 
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CV #4 - [ 
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CV #5 - [ 
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CV #6 - [ 
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CV #7 - [ 
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CV #8 - [ 
]
The vowel sounds from Cardinal Vowel #1 to Cardinal Vowel #4 are produced with spread lips.
The vowel sounds from Cardinal Vowel #5 to Cardinal Vowel #8 are produced with rounded lips.
Another important point is voicing.
All vowels are voiced.
Cardinal Vowels are fixed reference points indicating the extreme positions of the tongue, possible in the production of vowel sounds, given the limitations of the human vocal tract.
Once the fixed points have been established as scientific parameters, then it is possible to speak of the vowel sounds of any language in terms of their relationship to the fixed reference points.
If we display the reference points on a trapezium, then, the vowel system of any language can be superimposed on the trapezium, thereby showing the relative proximity of a specific vowel of that language to the nearest Cardinal Vowel.
The fundamental parameters used in vowel description are high, low, front, back, mid and central.
Those parameters indicate the shape of the tongue and consequently the shape of the space in the oral cavity, which determines the quality of the vowel sound.
Other parameters are voicing (all vowels are voiced) and duration - vowels are either long or short depending on the duration of the airstream.
Basically, a high-front vowel is produced by raising the blade or front of the tongue to the upper vowel limit.
To produce a high-back vowel, the back of the tongue is raised towards the back vowel limit.
A further parameter is lip position.
Most English vowels are produced with spread lip position for front vowels and rounded lip position for back vowels.
Primary Cardinal Vowels
Front Cardinal Vowels are produced with spread lips.
CV #1 - [
]
CV #2 - [
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CV #3 - [
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CV #4 - [
]
Back Cardinal Vowels are produced with rounded lips.
CV #5 - [
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CV #6 - [
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CV #7 - [
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CV #8 - [
]
Secondary Cardinal Vowels
Front Cardinal Vowels are produced with rounded lips.
CV #9 - [ 
]
CV #10 - [ 
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CV #11 - [ 
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CV #12 - [ 
]
Back Cardinal Vowels are produced with spread lips.
CV #13 - [ 
]
CV #14 - [ 
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CV #15 - [ 
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CV #16 - [ 
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Central Cardinal Vowels
CV #17 - [ 
] - produced with spread lips.
CV #18 - [ 
] - produced with rounded lips.
Dynamic description of the movement of the vocal organs during the production of various vowels
Reminder: vowel formula: Specific tongue configuration (which determines the shape of the space in the oral cavity) + voiced pulmonic arstream = vowel sound
Examples:
i. [ 
]
- pulmonic egressive (voiced) high / front vowel
The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal cavity. The lips move into a spread position. The tongue moves into a high front position. Pulmonic air passes through partially closed vocal folds, causing voice, into the oral cavity and out of the body between spread lips.
ii. [ ]
- pulmonic egressive (voiced) high / back vowel
The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal cavity. The lips move into a spread position. The tongue moves into a high back position. Pulmonic air passes through partially closed vocal folds, causing voice, into the oral cavity and out of the body between spread lips.
iii. [ ]
- pulmonic egressive (voiced) low / back vowel
The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal cavity. The lips move into a spread position. The tongue moves into a low back position. Pulmonic air passes through partially closed vocal folds, causing voice, into the oral cavity and out of the body between spread lips.
iv. [ 
]
- pulmonic egressive (voiced) central vowel
The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal cavity. The lips move into a spread position. The tongue moves into a central position. Pulmonic air passes through partially closed vocal folds, causing voice, into the oral cavity and out of the body between spread lips.