Vowel Diagram

A vowel diagram or vowel chart is a schematic arrangement of the vowels. Depending on the particular language being discussed, it can take the form of a triangle or a quadrilateral. Vertical position on the diagram denotes the vowel closeness, with close vowels at the top of the diagram, and horizontal position denotes the vowel backness, with front vowels at the left of the diagram. Vowels are unique in that their main features do not contain differences in voicing, manner, or place (articulators). Vowels differ only in the position of the tongue when voiced. The tongue moves either vertically and horizontally within the oral cavity. Vowels are produced with at least a part of their vocal tract obstructed.

In the vowel diagram,convenient reference points are provided for specifying tongue position. The position of the highest point of the arch of the tongue is considered to be the point of articulation of the vowel. The vertical dimension of the vowel diagram is known as vowel high, which includes high, central (mid), or low vowels. The horizontal dimension of the vowel diagram includes tongue advancement and identifies how far forward the tongue is located in the oral cavity during production. Vowels are also categorized by the tenseness or laxness of the tongue. The schwa is in the center of the chart and is frequently referred to as the neutral vowel. Here, the vocal tract is in its neutral state and creates a near perfect tube. For other vowels, there is a necessary movement of the vocal tract and tongue away from the neutral position, either up/down or backward/forward. The next dimension for vowels are tense/lax; here we can distinguish high/mid/low dimensions and the front/central/back dimensions. In other words, all vowels but schwas. For instance, and or and are very hard to tell apart, but we can categorize them into tense or lax. Tense vowels are and . Lax vowels are and . The next dimension for vowels are rounding. Rounding is important because it continues to help differentiate the vowels of English. For example, when you say, your lips are rounded but when you say, your lips are spread. We can categorize vowels as rounded or unrounded. So, rounded vowels are, and the unrounded vowels are, .

The vowel systems of most languages can be represented by vowel diagrams. Usually there is a pattern of even distribution of marks on the chart, a phenomenon that is known as vowel dispersion. For most languages, the vowel system is triangular. Only 10% of languages, including the English language, have a vowel diagram that is quadrilateral. Such diagrams are termed vowel trapezia or vowel quadrilaterals. German phonologists know these as, respectively, a Vokalviereck and a Vokaltrapez.

Different vowels vary in pitch. For example, high vowels such as and tend to have higher fundamental frequency then low vowels such as . Vowels are distinct from each other based on their acoustic form, or spectral properties. Spectral properties consist of the speech sound's fundamental frequency and its formants. Each vowel in the vowel diagram has a unique first and second formant, or F1 and F2. The frequency of the first formant refers to the width of the pharyngeal cavity and the position of the tongue on a vertical axis, ranging from open to close. The frequency of the second formant refers to the length of the oral cavity and the position of the tongue on a horizontal axis. Vowels, and are often referred to as point vowels because they represent the most extreme F1 and F2 frequencies. has a high F1 frequency because of the narrow size of the pharynx and the low position of the tongue. F2 is higher in the case of because the oral cavity is short and the tongue is at the front of the mouth. F2 is low in the production of because the mouth is elongated and the lips are rounded while the pharynx is lowered.

The IPA vowel chart comprises the cardinal vowels, and is displayed in the form of a trapezium. By definition, no vowel sound can be plotted outside of the IPA trapezium because its four corners represent the extreme points of articulation. The vowel diagrams of most real languages are not so extreme. In English, for example, high vowels are not as high as the corners of the IPA trapezium, nor are front vowels as front.