RP English Phonetics: Vowels and Diphthongs
/r/ Phoneme Articulation
The point of articulation of /r/ is post-alveolar. In RP English, it never appears as a syllabic nucleus, though it is a frictionless continuant. It appears in a pre-vocalic position. Phonetically, this sound is a retroflex vowel.
Articulation: The tip of the tongue is near the alveolar ridge, the tongue is retracted, and the air escapes freely. An /r/ was originally produced in this position: bird. Postvocalic /r/ has been lost because of its vocalic articulation. So, a postvocalic /r/ indicates that the preceding vowel is long. For example: car /kɑː/.
Historically, /r/ disappeared in postvocalic position, but there is an exception: the linking /r/. For example: near it /nɪərɪt/.
The difference between the linking /r/ and the intrusive /r/ is that an intrusive /r/ appears by analogy with the linking /r/. The typical position of the intrusive /r/ is after low vowels. If you insert an /r/ between them, this is an intrusive /r/. When vowels are in hiatus, they are separated by this /r/ too.
Minimal Pairs
In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, and have a distinct meaning.
Closing Diphthongs
- /eɪ/: The starting point is between the half-close and the half-open position. The glide moves in the direction of /ɪ/. For example: day.
- /aɪ/: The starting point is a position that is almost fully open, and the glide moves towards /ɪ/. For example: fly.
- /ɔɪ/: Its starting point is at the back. It is fairly long (it does not complete the movement to short /ɪ/). There is lip-rounding at the beginning. For example: boy.
- /əʊ/: The starting point is the central area (schwa), and it glides back to short /ʊ/. For example: go.
- /aʊ/: The starting point is at the back of the mouth, and the tongue glides towards the centralized vowel (the glide does not reach short /ʊ/). Lip-rounding at the bend of the glide. For example: now.
Centring Diphthongs
- /ɪə/: It has its starting point in the region of /ɪ/ and glides center to the articulation of /ə/. For example: beer.
- /eə/: There is a centring movement of the tongue, not a glide. The starting point is a very open variety of /e/ (transcribed in /ɛ/). For example: chair.
- /ʊə/: The starting point of articulation is at the back, short /ʊ/, and centring to the point of articulation of /ə/. There is a change of lip position: from a rounding position to a neutral one. For example: poor.
Vowels
- /iː/: Long i, front, close, no lip-rounding, peripheral, tense. The front of the tongue is raised almost to the extreme of the close position. For example: tree.
- /ɪ/: Short i, front, half-close, no lip-rounding, centralized, lax. For example: sit.
- /e/: Front, middle vowel, between half-close and half-open position. For example: bed.
- /ɜː/: Mid-central (between half-open and half-close position), no lip-rounding, long. For example: bird.
- /ə/: Schwa, central, short, can only appear in unaccented syllables (no accented schwa), the most frequent vowel in English. It can be represented by any of the vowels. Very often it appears in minimal pairs. For example: father.
- /ɑː/: Open, back, no lip-rounding (lips in neutral position), long. For example: calm.
- /ʌ/: Open, centralized, neutral, short. It is a neutral vowel because the tongue is raised very slightly in the center. For example: color.
- /æ/: Front, half-open position, no lip-rounding, lips spread. The tongue is raised almost to the half-open level. Closer to cardinal /e/ than to cardinal /a/. The rising of this vowel is a characteristic of RP. For example: cat.
- /ɒ/: Open, back, almost no lip-rounding, short ‘o’. It is much more open than Spanish /o/ and very close to /ɑː/. For example: dog.
- /ɔː/: Back, between half-open and half-close position, lip-rounding, tense, long ‘o’. Very similar in its point of articulation to the Spanish /o/. For example: door.
- /uː/: Close, back, maximum lip-rounding, tense and peripheral, long ‘u’. For example: blue.
- /ʊ/: Half-close, back, centralized, lax, considerable lip-rounding, short ‘u’. For example: put.