Vowel (definition)

Phonetically, a vowel (V) is a sound produced with a fairly open configuration of the vowel tract and the vibration of the vocal folds; notably, articulators in the vocal tract must be adequately distant so as not to create audible frication. Vowels typically form the nuclei of syllables are often described with the following features (most of which are acoustic rather than articulatory):

1. The rounding of the lips,
2. The frontness or backness of the tongue body,
3. The height of the tongue body,
4. The tenseness of the gesture (see also Advanced Tongue Root (definition)),
5. The nasality of the sound, and
6. The length of the acoustic signal.

See Also

• Consonant (definition)
• Sounds of Scottish Gaelic

External Links

• http://akerbeltz.org/index.php?title=Vowels
• http://akerbeltz.org/index.php?title=Unstressed_vowels
• Interactive IPA Charts
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel

References

• Crystal, David. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
• Ladefoged, Peter (1993) A Course in Phonetics Third Edition. London: Harcourt Press.
• Matthews, P. H. (1997) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.