Semi-vowels and vowel glides

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Semi-vowels and vowel glides

• Theoretically, as far as phoneticians are
  concerned, any segment must be either a vowel or
  a consonant. If a segment is not a vowel, it is a
  consonant.
• The problematic area is that the initial sound in
  hot gives little turbulence, depending on how
  forcefully it is said, and in yet and wet the
  initial segments are obviously vowels.

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• To get out of this problem, the usual solution is
  to say that these segments are neither vowels nor
  consonants but midway between the two categories.
• For this purpose, the terms semi-vowel or, less
  commonly, semi-consonant, are often used.

3

• Languages also frequently make use of a
  distinction between vowels where the quality
  remains constant throughout the articulation and
  those where there is an audible change of
  quality. The former are known as pure or
  monophthong vowels and the latter, vowel glides.

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• If a single movement of the tongue is involved,
  the glides are called diphthongs.
• Diphthongal glides in English can be heard in
  such words as way ???, tide ????, how ???,
  toy ???, and toe ???.

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• A double movement produces triphthongs.
• A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to
  another and then to a third, all produced rapidly
  and without interruption (Roach, 2000 24).
• They are really diphthongs followed by the schwa
  ?, found in English words like wire ???? and
  tower ????.

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The vowels of English (RP)
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• There are certain differences between the
  qualities of vowels in RP and GA.
• Notably, the central vowels ??? are r-colored
  or rhotic for GA, transcribed as ?? and ??,
  respectively. It means that they involve curling
  the tip of the tongue up in a gesture of
  retroflection and the phenomenon is known as
  r-coloring or rhoticity.

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• Another major difference is that in GA ? is
  used where it is ? in RP and ? replaces ??
  in RP.
• Other minor differences exist but they do not
  lead to noticeable effects to the ordinary
  perception.

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The description of these vowels needs to fulfill
four basic requirements

• the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low)
• the position of the highest part of the tongue
  (front, central, back)
• the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs.
  lax or long vs. short), and
• lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded).

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• Now we can describe the English vowels in this
  way