Phonetic Classes:: - Monophthongs. - Diphthongs (And Triphthongs) A Difference in How Many Vowels Are Found Within One

2.
Functional classification of vowels in RP
Vowel sounds may be classified according to two types of factors: phonetic and
phonological. In the first case, classification is based on some articulatory characteristics
while in the second it is some aspect of vowel behaviour that serves as the basis for
classification.
phonetic classes :
-monophthongs.
-diphthongs (and triphthongs) a difference in how many vowels are found within one
syllable
-vowels may be short or long depending on their duration: long vowels are approximately
twice as long as short ones.
UNSTERESSED SYLLABLE=weak vowels. These vowels are shorter, weaker in

energy and closer to schwa /ə/ in place of articulation, weak vowels: /ə/, /ɪ/ and /ʊ/.
STRESSED SYLLABLE= full vowels, which are all the other vowels of English,
including /ɪ/ and /ʊ/. Within the class of full vowels we may find 2 subclasses: tense and lax
vowels. Tense and lax vowels occur in different types of environment.
All short vowels are lax (ɪ, e, ӕ, ʌ, ʊ, ɒ); all diphthongs and triphthongs are tense
(aɪ, eɪ, ɔɪ, aʊ, əʊ, ɪə, eə, ʊə, aɪə, aʊə)
Long monophthongs are divided to 2 classes:
Non-high long monophthongs (a:, ɜ:, ɔ:) are lax, except /ɔ:/ which also can be tense.
/ɔ:/ is tense when <or> is followed by any vowel (historian, before); or when <oar>,
<oor>, <our>, <aur> are in spelling (soar, door, pour, aura).
Tense vowels may be further classified into 2 subgroups based on the environments
in which they may occur. The vowels that appear before the <r> within the same word are
called Broken-Tense vowels, while Plain-Tense vowels appear everywhere else but never
before <r> within the same word. Plain-Tense vowels are /ɪə/, /ʊə/, /eə/, /ɔ:/, /aɪə/, /aʊə/,
/ɔɪə/. The rule responsible for this phenomenon is called Pre-r Breaking.
The members of the pairs are in complementary distribution, and they are variants,
allophones of the same phoneme: /ɪ:/ -> [ɪ:] [əʊ] (bead, beard), /u:/ -> [u:] [ʊə] (cute,
curious), /eɪ/ -> [eɪ] [eə] (baby, bare), /əʊ/ -> [əʊ] [ɔ:] (stone, story), /aɪ/ -> [aɪ] [aɪə] (fight,
fire), /aʊ/ -> [aʊ] [aʊə] (town, hour), /ɔɪ/ -> [ɔɪ] [ɔɪə] (moist, Moira).
Another process closely related to Pre-R Breaking is Smoothing which means the
simplification of Broken-tense vowels, that is, the complete monophthongization of
diphthongs or triphthongs. The middle component [ɪ] or [ʊ] of the triphthong is dropped
in casual speech, in faster speech even the last component, schwa is dropped. This
process is known as monophthongization. To make up for the loss of the second and
third components of the triphthong, the first part is lengthened, this process is called
compensatory lengthening.
Pre-R Breaking is never obligatory in GA, and it practically never occurs before a
syllable initial /r/ (hairy [herɪ]).
Lax vowels may be divided into 2 subgroups:
 Plain-Lax vowels: consist of short lax vowels (ӕ, ɒ, e, ɪ, ʌ, ʊ).
 Broad-Lax vowels: consist of the 3 long vowels (a:, ɔ:, ɜ:).
The rule due to which Broad-Lax vowels will replace their Plain-Lax counterparts
before <r> is called Pre-R Broadening. The /e, ɪ, ʌ, ʊ/ plain lax vowels share a
broad lax counterpart /ɜ:/. Plain-Lax and Broad-Lax appear in the same
environment.
Pre-R Broadening: if the /r/ after the lax vowel is silent (R-Dropping rule) (cat [ӕ],
car [a:], fit [ɪ], firm [ɜ:]) the vowel lengthens to make up for the loss of the /r/ in the
word. As GA is a rhotic accent, no /r/’s are dropped, consequently, compensatory
lengthening is impossible.
The absence of Broadening is typical where the /r/ is followed by a pronounced
vowel. This regular absence of Broadening is regularly referred to as the Carrot-Rule. It
is also often indicated in spelling by the doubling of the <r> (carrot, marriage, borrow,
carry). There are some examples, exceptions when broadening does take place even
though the following /r/ is nor syllable-final (courage, currency, current, hurry).
Broad-Lax vowels appear in environments other than before /r/; these cases are
called Broadness without /r/. For example, words like roar and raw, pore and paw, spar
and spa, baa(sheep) and bar are totally indistinguishable for a non-rhotic speaker – a fact
which contributes to the emergence of the so-called Intrusive-R.
VOWEL SHIFT is the process when tense vowels of word stems become lax in
certain environments; the vowel shift is a case of tense-lax alternation eg.: meter-metric.
/ɪ:/-/e/, final-finish/aɪ/-/ɪ/
Non-laxable vowels:/u:/, /ɔɪ/ and /aʊ/(they don’t have lax counterparts). (There are
also some cases which involve alternations but it is either not one of the regular vowel pairs (clear ->
clarity [ɪə] -> [ӕ], break -> breakfast [eɪ] -> [e]), or they involve lax-lax or tense-tense alternations
(example -> exemplify [a:] -> [e], empire -> imperial [aɪə] -> [ɪə]).)
Trisyllabic Laxness: means that a stressed vowel in the third-last syllable must be
lax (sane-sanity, grade-gradual, compare-comparison).
 If the suffix is a productive suffix, then it is not counted (lazy-laziness, tidy-
tidiness)
 Non-productive suffix, then it is counted (grave-gravity, crime-criminal,
divide-divisible).
 If no suffix is added to the word, then the syllable, even though being the third
one from the end, is lax (miracle, positive, animal).
Pre-cluster – Laxness: occurs when there is a consonant cluster after the stressed
vowel (intervene-intervention, receive-reception).
Laxing by free U requires that the stressed syllable is followed by a free U (a letter
<u> followed by a vowel letter) (grade-gradual, rite-ritual). Exceptions the vowels /(j)u:/
and /(j)ʊə/ (use-usual).
CiVLaxing rule forces a stressed vowel (spelled with <i> or <y>) to be pronounced
lax <ɪ> when followed by a consonant letter, another letter <i> and one more vowel
letter (decide-decision, revise-revision, idiot, familiar).
All the other vowels undergo CiV Tensing in the same environment (manic, mania,
Gloria, senior, radio). The CiV Tensing is more powerful than the laxing rules; it can
override their effect. But there are exceptions when CiV Tensing is present but the
stressed vowel is still lax (national, special, Italian).
Prevocalic Tenseness requires vowels to be tense before another vowel. The case
when 2 separate vowels are adjacent is referred to as hiatus (hiatus, Leo). The first
member of the hiatus, is stressed, is always tense. Prevocalic Tenseness is also stronger
than laxing rules.

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2.

Functional classification of vowels in RP

UNSTERESSED SYLLABLE=weak vowels. These vowels are shorter, weaker in

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