Vowel

A vowel ( from Latin: vocalis [ littera ] sounding [ letter] ', to vox, voice ') or vowel is a sound that can flow largely unimpeded in its articulation of the Phonationsstrom. Vowels are voiced in general.

Phone vowels, ie units of spoken language. Letters of written language such as A, E, I, etc. are vowels.

  • 4.1 vowels in stressed syllables
  • 4.2 vowels in unstressed syllables
  • 5.1 Spanish
  • 5.2 French

Vowels in the articulatory phonetics

To display all vowels, the so-called vowel or vowel trapezoid triangle ( see figure above ) is used. This includes the vowels in the vertical for the necessary for their formation degree of opening of the oral cavity of open (a- sound) (i, u sound) arranged according to closed. In the horizontal, they are ( o, u - lute) divided arising in the front ( e -, i- lute) or the back of the mouth. They can be called front vowels or back vowels.

Basically, each vowel can be formed rounded with lip rounding, which brings about a change in the sound quality: For a strained i- sound [ i] is lip rounding a ü - sound [ y] and an unrounded [ e] ö - sound [ ø ]. In German there is the rounded vowels ü [y, ʏ ] ö [ ø, œ ], o [o, ɔ ] and u [u, ʊ ] and unrounded a [a ], e [ ɛ, e] and i [i, ɪ ].

Furthermore, nasal vowels can by lowering the soft palate are formed as the [ ɔ ] in French on " man".

Vowels in many languages ​​according to their length ( vowel quantity) divided into short and long vowels. In German, the short vowels are unstressed, eg the [ ı ] in the middle. The long vowels are tense, for example, the [i: ] in rent. There are also short span sounds like the [i ] in musicians (see Zellerhoff 2011, 275).

The Polish linguist Piotr Żyromski proposed for the German vowels to distinguish five different parameters: quality, quantity, Dorsalität, height of Dorsalität ( vowel height) and lip rounding ( lip position ).

Vowels in the acoustic phonetics

According to the shape of the sound wave are vowels, then, in contrast to most consonant to the sounds. Vowels have a primary sound. This consists of a root of the fundamental frequency f0, which in turn forms overtones. These are always integer multiples of the fundamental, that is, if you change the root, then change whatever the overtones.

The resonance in the vocal tract (or extension tube ), that is in the glottis in the larynx and Pharynxraum and in the mouth and nasal cavity, results in sharp Obertonbereiche so that they become more dominant over the other partials. This resonance-enhanced partials are called formants.

For vowels can be detected four to five formants F1 and F2 ( for vowels are formed in the front tongue portion ) are responsible for the identification of vowels. So you decide if we, for example, a [i ː ] or [u ː ] bring forth.

Measurement of the parameters of the articulation

The articulation can be reproduced quantitatively with three parameters ( formants ): F1 indicates the openness or tongue height, tongue position F2 from back to front, and F3, the lip rounding. A [i ] for example, has a higher F2 value as a [ u] but a much lower F1 value than, say, [a].

Demarcation to the consonants

If you classify sounds only after their manner of articulation, then vowels from consonants differ only in that the Phonationsstrom for vowels flows almost unimpeded through the extension tube. (More precisely: In contrast to the consonant constriction [ narrowing ] in the articulation space is not so strong that it produced a sound. )

Another possibility is the classification according to acoustic criteria, primarily according to their sonority ( sonority ). After that, most consonants are sounds without sonority, while it is (partly ) r- According to sounds is for vowels and consonants, some, such as the l, m, n, ng and. These are so sonorant.

Sonority and sonority is an important property in terms of the function of a sound as syllable nuclei: the more sonorous a sound is, the more it stands out from the other surrounding sounds. Sonor Ante sounds can therefore be syllabic.

In some languages ​​take l, m, n, ng, but also r syllabic character and enter the main sound, for example, l in Plzeň in Czech and r in Krk in Croatian. Also in Germany come the sounds l, m, n, ng syllabic before, but only in an unstressed syllable, as in the standard pronunciation in the endings -em ,-en and -el/-l after consonants ( m- syllabic sound: " large "," life "; syllabic n sound: " talk, " syllabic ng According to " lie ", syllabic l -sound: " apple "," Dirndl ").

Vowels in German

The German is what affects the sound inventory of the language comparison, relatively rich in vowels. The spoken vowels ( monophthongs ) of standard German are:

Vowels in stressed syllables

In stressed syllables, a distinction in English between two types of vowels:

  • Vowels that are long and closed (eg [o: ] as in sound) and
  • Vowels that are short and open ( eg [ ɔ ] as in sun).

This pattern is broken into two cases:

  • Although the unrounded open vowel central [ a] appears in both the long and in the short form ( vowel quantity), but is always spoken openly ( vowel quality).
  • With the short half-open unrounded front vowel [ ɛ ] correspond two long forms: first the unrounded semi-closed front vowel [e: ] and 2 long form [ ɛ: ] (as in girls). However, this applies particularly for the standard pronunciation. In many German dialects is the long < ä > as [e: ] pronounced.

Some other vowels, which are not listed in the table appear only in foreign words. Was particularly productive, here is the French, the German, the nasals [ ɑ ] (as in orange), [ ɛ ] ( complexion, Mannequin), [ õ ] ( Contenance ), [ ɔ ] ( jargon ) and [œ ] ( perfume ) and the long vowel [œ: ] ( oeuvre ) owes. The use of nasal vowels is considered partly as linguistic training; the debate with ordinary, non- nasaliertem vowel - usually of [ ŋ ] followed (eg Orange [ oʀaŋʒə ], sweet [ bɔŋbɔŋ ] ) - is increasingly seen as the standard.

From the English came, among others, the long vowel [ ɔ ː ] ( Smalltalk) into German.

Vowels in unstressed syllables

In the unstressed syllables has the German seven other vowels, which correspond to the corresponding long vowel in their quality, but are shorter.

For example, in stressed syllables correspond to the grapheme the allophones [e: ] (as in single ) or [ ɛ ] ( nice). In unstressed syllables - for example, in active, conscience - will instead appear often ( instead of the undermentioned schwa ) of the short sound [ e]. Although this situation also occurs in German words (eg at home, why, so, before), foreign words are mostly affected ( eg directly, debate, physics, economics).

Two sounds are in standard German exclusively in reduction syllables: [ ə ], called schwa ( flower), and [ ɐ ] ( leather). They are often not taken into phonemes and out in the representations of the German vowel inventory it and forget.

In the Eva -Maria Krech et al published the Great Dictionary of German pronunciation (1982 ) next to the long and short and semi- long vowels are listed. Examples are the a sound in Leda or grandma; to speak in a grandma really short [ and front ] a- sound, like for example it is colloquially in the Ruhr usual, is not considered to be standard. Other examples are the semi- long e - sound in coffee ( stressed on the first syllable, it stresses the second, we speak not half long, but a really long e -sound ) or meteorologist, demobilize, regeneration, de-escalation (in each of the first e - sound; half length here in all cases with more than two syllables between itself and the main emphasis ); the semi- long i- sound in words such as Omi, Ami Gabi; the semi- long - o sound in words such as cinema, car, Eskimo; the long half- u - sound in words such as battery or Uhu (second u -sound, the first has full length); the long half- ö - sound in foreign words such as greening; the long half- ü - sound in foreign words such as pyroelectricity, hyperboloid or hybridization (again, in all cases with more than two syllables between itself and the main emphasis ).

Vowels in other languages

English [ ɐ ] is mostly / ʌ / transcribed.

English is significantly poorer in vowel -speakers (but not in vowel phonemes ) than the German, but it has more diphthongs (take, go, night, flower, boy, here, there, sure ).

Spanish

In the Spanish language, or more precisely the Castilian, there are only five vowel phonemes / aeiou /. This distinguishes the Castilian of the other Ibero-Romance languages ​​Portuguese, Galician and Catalan ( Valencian with, in which case the differences from the Castilian are lower). The a- sound similar to the German short ( open ) a, while i -sound and u - According to the long ( closed ) vowels in German same. The e -sound and the o- According to the Spanish have an average height and therefore no exact counterpart in High German.

The unconfined ( with less muscle tension shaped ) i- sound ( as in wind), the unconfined above - loud ( as desired), the unstressed u - sound ( as in request ) and the a -like, so-called deep schwa sound ( as - he spelled vowel in mother) missing in French. Otherwise it has the same oral ( by mouth shaped ) vowels such as the German plus four nasal vowels. However, the French does not know the systematic meaning -changing difference between short unstressed and long tense vowels, which is typical for the German (as in choice / Wall, the / for him / in, Ole / Olle, console / desk, Tönchen / Tönnchen, sensor / filler).

Vowel letters

It is commonly understood by vowels and the letters that represent such sounds. In order to prevent the widespread confusion and equating of sounds and letters, it makes sense to use the term vowel letters.

In German, they usually correspond to the letters: A, Ä, E, I, O, E, U, T, Y.

They face the consonant letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, p, T, V, W, X, Z.

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