LIN228H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Syllable, Joule, Dune
Document Summary
Tense vowels are longer than the lax ones. Usually higher and more to the peripheral of the vowel area. The schwa is neither tense nor lax, it has its own category. English lax vowels do not occur in word-final open syllables. An open syllable is one which ends in a vowel or glide with no final consonant. Tense vowels occur in both open and closed syllables: saw, sawed. A nucleus is the vocalic, vowel part of a syllable. Lax monophthongs: / / Lax vowels only occur in closed syllables (pit, pet, pat, put) Schwa is not a typical lax vowel because it occurs in both open and closed syllables (vodka, appeal) The diphthongs /aj aw j ej w/ occur before / / (fire, hour, joyous, player, slower). In careful speech, the diphthongs are pronounced fully. But in casual conversation, the schwa becomes a glide, this is known as smoothing.
