Թեմա - English Vowels and Methods of their Presentation in ELT Classroom
Տեսակ - Կուրսային, անհատական և ստուգողական աշխատանքներ
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Առարկա - Անգլերեն լեզվով
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1.1 General Characteristics of Articulation of English Vowels
1.2 General Characteristics of Classification of English Vowels
Chapter 2. Articulatory Peculiarities of English Vowels
2.1. Articulatory Difficulties of English Vowels
2.2 The Great Vowel Shift in English
2. Cruttenden, A. (2001). Gimson’s pronunciation of English (6th edition). London: Arnold, p.139
3. Jones, D., Roach, P., Hartman, J. & Setter, J. (2003). English pronouncing dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.420
4. Wells, J. (2000). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow: Longman, p.593
5. Roach, P. (2000). English phonetics and phonology: A practical course, 3rd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.24
6. Ladefoged, P. (2001). A Course in phonetics, 4th edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt, p. 29
7. Deterding, D. How Many Vowel Sounds Are There in English?
8. Kenstowicz, Michael 1994. Phonology in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.
9. Lacy, Paul (ed.) 2007. The Cambridge handbook of phonology. Cambridge: University Press.
The word “vowel” comes from the Latin word “vocalis”, meaning "vocal" ("relating to voice"). In English, the word vowel is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them. The phonetic definition of "vowel" (a sound produced with no constriction in the vocal tract) does not always match the phonological definition (a sound that forms the peak of a syllable).
In the history of English phonology, there were many diachronic sound changes affecting vowels, especially involving phonemic splits and mergers.
English consonants have been remarkably stable over time, and have undergone only few changes in the last 1500 years. On the other hand, English vowels have been quite unstable. Not surprisingly, then, the main differences between modern dialects almost always involve vowels.
Around the late 14th century, English began to undergo the Great Vowel Shift.
The Great Vowel Shift was a somewhat complex transformation that changed the way English was spoken; it involved an evolution of vowels. As we have already mentioned, the Great Vowel Shift was first studied by the Danish linguist and Otto Jespersen (1860-1946), who named the shift.
Previously, vowels were pronounced using the front of the mouth, now they are pronounced with the back. The main difference between the pronunciation of Middle English and Modern English is in the value of the long vowels, described as the Great Vowel Shift. Vowels of Middle English had "continental" values much like those remaining in Spanish and liturgical Latin. However, during the Great Vowel Shift, the two highest long vowels became diphthongs, and the other five underwent an increase in tongue height with one of them coming to the front ([u: ]). It should be noticed that this change only affected the long vowels or “tense vowels” it did not have any affect on short vowels. Long vowels are distinguished by the repetition of the letter as in feet, tooth, or feel. They are also recognized but as “e” at the end of the word, for example in came, name, and like .
Below we will show the most common changes caused by the Great Vowel Shift:
Middle English (ME) a is pronounced as the a in “father”. Early modern English (EME) pronounces the long a as in “gate”.
ME pronounces the long e as the long a in “gate”. EME pronounces the long e as the e in “tweet”.
ME pronounces the long i as the e in “tweet”. EME pronounces the long i as the i in “light”.
ME pronounces the long o as the o in “tool”. EME pronounces the long o as the o in “goal”.
Recall that the vowel in “stone”, “home”, and “road” is, in Old English, a low back vowel: tan, ham, rad. In Middle English, this vowel had moved up to the position now present in Standard Modern caught or bought. (The words were variously spelled in Middle English: stoon, hoom, road, rod, stane, hame can all be observed.)