Front vowel

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A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned approximately as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherwise make it a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also called bright vowels because they are perceived as sounding brighter than the back vowels. [1]

Contents

Near-front vowels are essentially a type of front vowel; no language is known to contrast front and near-front vowels based on backness alone.

Rounded front vowels are typically centralized, that is, near-front in their articulation. This is one reason they are written to the right of unrounded front vowels in the IPA vowel chart.

Partial list

The front vowels that have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

There also are front vowels without dedicated symbols in the IPA:

As above, other front vowels can be indicated with diacritics of relative articulation applied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as ⟨i̞⟩, ⟨e̝⟩ or ⟨ɪ̟⟩ for a near-close front unrounded vowel.

Articulatorily fronted vowels

Fronted vowels are one of three articulatory dimensions of vowel space. The prototypical fronted vowel is [i]. Below it in the chart are fronted vowels with jaw opening. Esling vowel chart.png
Fronted vowels are one of three articulatory dimensions of vowel space. The prototypical fronted vowel is [i]. Below it in the chart are fronted vowels with jaw opening.

In articulation, fronted vowels, where the tongue moves forward from its resting position, contrast with raised vowels and retracted vowels. In this conception, fronted vowels are a broader category than those listed in the IPA chart, including [ɪʏ], [ɨʉ], and, marginally, mid-central vowels. Within the fronted vowels, vowel height (open or close) is determined by the position of the jaw, not by the tongue directly. Phonemic raised and retracted vowels may be phonetically fronted by certain consonants, such as palatals and in some languages pharyngeals. For example, /a/ may be fronted to [æ] next to /j/ or /ħ/. [2]

Effect on preceding consonant

In the history of many languages, for example French and Japanese, front vowels have altered preceding velar or alveolar consonants, bringing their place of articulation towards palatal or postalveolar. This change can be allophonic variation, or it can have become phonemic.

This historical palatalization is reflected in the orthographies of several European languages, including the ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ of almost all Romance languages, the ⟨k⟩ and ⟨g⟩ in Norwegian, Swedish, Faroese and Icelandic, and the ⟨κ⟩, ⟨γ⟩ and ⟨χ⟩ in Greek. English follows the French pattern, but without as much regularity. However, for native or early borrowed words affected by palatalization, English has generally altered the spelling after the pronunciation (Examples include cheap, church, cheese, churn from /*k/, and yell, yarn, yearn, yeast from /*ɡ/.)

Before back vowel: hardBefore front vowel: soft
English ⟨C⟩call /kɔːl/ cell /sɛl/
English ⟨G⟩gall /ɡɔːl/ gel /dʒɛl/
French ⟨C⟩Calais [kalɛ] ⓘ cela [səla] ⓘ
French ⟨G⟩gare [ɡaʁ] ⓘ gel [ʒɛl] ⓘ
Greek ⟨Γ⟩γάιδαρος [ˈɣai̯ðaros] ⓘ γη [ʝi] ⓘ
Greek ⟨Χ⟩Χανιά [xaˈɲa] ⓘ χαίρετε [ˈçerete] ⓘ
Italian ⟨C⟩caro [ˈkaːro] ⓘ città [tʃitˈta] ⓘ
Italian ⟨G⟩gatto [ˈɡatto] ⓘ gente [ˈdʒɛnte] ⓘ
Italian ⟨SC⟩scusa [ˈskuːza] ⓘ pesce [ˈpeʃʃe] ⓘ
Japanese ⟨S⟩sūdoku [sɯꜜːdokɯ] ⓘ shiitake [ɕiꜜːtake] ⓘ [a]
Japanese ⟨T⟩atatakai [atatakaꜜi] ⓘ dotchi [dotꜜtɕi] ⓘ [a]
Swedish ⟨K⟩karta [ˈkɑ̂ːʈa] ⓘ kär [ɕæːr] ⓘ
Swedish ⟨G⟩god [ɡuːd] ⓘ göra [ˈjœ̂ːra] ⓘ
Swedish ⟨SK⟩skal [skɑːl] ⓘ skälla [ˈɧɛ̂lːa] ⓘ

Occurrences

According to PHOIBLE, / i / is the most common phonemic front vowel, occurring in around 92% of inventories, while / œ / is the least common, occurring in only one inventory on the database. [3]

Frequency of front vowels [3]
Vowel %
/ i /92
/ a /88
/ e /61
/ ɛ /37
/ ɪ /15
/ æ /7
/ y /6
/ ø /3
/ œ /3
/ ʏ /1
/ ɶ /0 [b]
  1. 1 2 Palatalization of /si/, /ti/ etc. is shown in spelling in Hepburn romanization.
  2. ↑ Of the phonological inventories listed on PHOIBLE, ɶ only occurs in Northern Altai

See also

Related Research Articles

A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (length). They are usually voiced and are closely involved in prosodic variation such as tone, intonation and stress.

In phonetics, palatalization or palatization is a way of pronouncing a consonant in which part of the tongue is moved close to the hard palate. Consonants pronounced this way are said to be palatalized and are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet by affixing the letter ⟨ʲ⟩ to the base consonant. Palatalization is not phonemic in English, but it is in Slavic languages such as Russian and Ukrainian, Finnic languages such as Estonian and Võro, Irish, Marshallese, Kashmiri, and Japanese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiced labial–palatal approximant</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ɥ⟩ in IPA

The voiced labial–palatalapproximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages, for example, French "huitième", read as [ɥitjɛm]. It has two constrictions in the vocal tract: with the tongue on the palate, and rounded at the lips. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɥ⟩, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨h⟩, or occasionally ⟨jʷ⟩, which indicates with a different kind of rounding.

The voiced palatal approximant is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j⟩. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨y⟩. Because the English name of the letter J, jay, starts with, the approximant is sometimes instead called yod (jod), as in the phonological history terms yod-dropping and yod-coalescence.

A close vowel, also known as a high vowel, is any in a class of vowel sounds used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned approximately as close as possible to the roof of the mouth as it can be without creating a constriction. A constriction would produce a sound that would be classified as a consonant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Near-close vowel</span> Type of vowel sound

A near-close vowel or a near-high vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted.

A mid vowel is any in a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned approximately midway between an open vowel and a close vowel.

A central vowel, formerly also known as a mixed vowel, is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned approximately halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark vowels because they are perceived as sounding darker than the front vowels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open-mid front rounded vowel</span> Vowel sound represented by ⟨œ⟩ in IPA

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Near-close near-front rounded vowel</span> Vowel sound represented by ⟨ʏ⟩ in IPA

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References

  1. ↑ Tsur, Reuven (February 1992). The Poetic Mode of Speech Perception. Duke University Press. p. 20. ISBN   0-8223-1170-4.
  2. ↑ Scott Moisik, Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins, & John H. Esling (2012) "The Epilaryngeal Articulator: A New Conceptual Tool for Understanding Lingual-Laryngeal Contrasts"
  3. 1 2 Steven Moran and Daniel McCloy, ed. (2019). PHOIBLE 2.0. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
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