English Vowels Research Articles

L1 variation and L2 acquisition: L1 German /eː/-/ɛː/ overlap and its effect on the acquisition of L2 English /ɛ/-/æ/.

A person's first language (L1) affects the way they acquire speech in a second language (L2). However, we know relatively little about the role different varieties of the L1 play in the acquisition of L2 speech. This study focuses on German (L1) learners of English (L2) and asks whether the degree to which German speakers distinguish between the two vowels /eː/ and /ɛː/ in their L1 has an impact on how well these individuals identify /æ/ and discriminate between the two English vowels /ɛ/ and /æ/. These two English vowels differ in both vowel quality and duration (/æ/ is longer than /ɛ/). We report on an identification and a discrimination experiment. In the first study, participants heard a sound file and were asked to indicate whether they heard "pen" or "pan" (or "pedal" or "paddle"). The stimuli differed from each other in terms of both vowel quality (11 steps on a spectral continuum from an extreme /æ/ to an extreme /ɛ/) and duration (short, middle, long). In the second study, participants had to signal whether two sound files they were exposed to differed from each other. We modeled the percentage of /æ/ ("pan," "paddle") selection (identification task only, binomial logistic regression), accuracy (discrimination task only, binomial logistic regression), and reaction time (identification and discrimination tasks, linear mixed effects models) by implementing the German Pillai score as a measure of vowel overlap in our analysis. Each participant has an individual Pillai score, which ranges from 0 (= merger of L1 German /eː/ and /ɛː/) to 1 (=maintenance of the contrast between L1 German /eː/ and /ɛː/) and had been established, prior to the perception experiments reported here, in a production study. Although the findings from the discrimination study remain inconclusive, the results from the identification test support the hypothesis that maintaining the vowel contrast in the L1 German leads to a more native-like identification of /æ/ in L2 English. We conclude that sociolinguistic variation in someone's L1 can affect L2 acquisition.

English Vowel

In this case the differences that exist in two different languages Pronunciation can be a barrier to communication. A speaker can cause misunderstandings when he mispronounces a word in a foreign language. English has a number and types of sounds that are very different from the number of sounds in that language. Indonesian.Also, a letter with a different word can represent a different sound. The aim of this course is to equip students with knowledge of English vowels so that they can improve the pronunciation of English words to make them better and correct. This training is conducted online via Zoom Media because You are taking the semester through the use of two approaches namely teaching and training.Although not 100% of partners succeed in producing the correct pronunciation, improvements can be seen in the pronunciation of the accompaniment. Partners, meanwhile, had a positive attitude toward the activity through active participation in the training provided and also satisfaction. From the survey data provided by the service team, partners were identified as part of the campaign.Barriers encountered during the activity were due to the partner's lack of confidence and the influence of the partner's mother tongue.

Students’ Error In Pronouncing English Vowel

Language and how to pronounce it are inseparable in the context of learning a new language. There are undoubtedly faults in the process of pronouncing a word in any language, particularly non-native languages. While many people confuse error with a mistake, error often refers to the difference between the actual or expected value and the resultant or observed value. Errors may be measured, examined, and used to determine the degree of correctness or inaccuracy in a variety of domains. Mistakes, on the other hand, are more typically seen in general or daily conditions. Mistakes are often defined as improper or wrong behaviors or decisions, whether in decision-making, physical activities, or communication. Incomprehension, carelessness, or actions that are contrary to what should have been done are all examples of mistakes. This study, which focused on the pronunciation errors produced by English language education majors at the college of education, employed a qualitative descriptive approach to gather information from 20 students and ask them to read a short tale. This study identified three types of error: Substitution, additional, and omission. Following additional with 3.78% and omission with 0.34% as the least frequent error types made by students, it was discovered after gathering all the data that substitution accounted for 100% of all errors.

English vowels

Vowels in English are pronounced with the mouth open, they can be sung. Also, vowels in English can be long vowels and short short vowels. The number of short vowels is seven long: five diphthongs and eight diphthongs. Diphthongs: Combinations of two vowels in a syllable. In English it is very important to respect the abbreviations and the length of the vowels, as the length of a sound can depend on the meaning of the word. For example: boat - sheep The first word of the sound i is short, and in the second vowel combination it is a sound that I owe only i. Translation of the first word - ship and the second - sheep. English short vowel – truncated stressed vowel. Vowel length in English or monophthong. They recite a fixed articulation. The first diphthong resonates, creating a surprising syllable. And the second - just a quick point. English has short and long vowels. There are 6 short vowels, some say 7, including the sound schwa [ə], as in "go, still, cinema, etc.". The six short vowels are [ʌ], [æ], [e], [ɪ ] , [ɒ] and [ʊ] with examples /cup/, /black/, /yes/, /sit/, /rock/ and /pull/ each has 5, namely H. [u:], [i: ] , [ɑ:], [ɔ:] and [ɜ:] with examples of each word: /food/, /look/, /dark/,/call/ and /wallet.
 

Vowel Length Variation in the Pronunciation of Iraqi EFL Learners

This study examined the realization of English vowel length by EFL Iraqi learners. The study was basically interested in identifying whether Iraqi EFL learners are able to realize variations in vowel length based on following sounds. To this end, 20 male and female participants with 20-37 years age range participated in a production test. Before, they did so, they were asked to respond to a demographic questionnaire that aimed to ensure that all informants selected are suitable for the study aims and they well represent the population of the study. The production test included 60 English real words that provided English pure vowels (monophthongs) in different settings. The production was done using high quality smart phones. The recordings were analyzed using PRAAT to measure vowel length. The results showed that though variations in vowel length do exist where these vowels are located in different settings, paired samples T.Tests revealed that these variations were not statistically significant. Moreover, numerical differences in vowel length based on gender variable were present in all vowels; however, results of independent samples T.Tests indicated significant differences in closed settings only. No significant differences among vowel length means in the open setting were identified. EFL learners need to be exposed to native speech and pay attention to phonetic details so as to improve their pronunciation in general and vowel length realization in particular.

Individual variability in subcortical neural encoding shapes phonetic cue weighting

Recent studies have revealed great individual variability in cue weighting, and such variation is shown to be systematic across individuals and linked to differences in some general cognitive mechanism. The present study investigated the role of subcortical encoding as a source of individual variability in cue weighting by focusing on English listeners’ frequency following responses to the tense/lax English vowel contrast varying in spectral and durational cues. Listeners differed in early auditory encoding with some encoding the spectral cue more veridically than the durational one, while others exhibited the reverse pattern. These differences in cue encoding further correlate with behavioral variability in cue weighting, suggesting that specificity in cue encoding across individuals modulates how cues are weighted in downstream processes.

A Comprehensive Literature Review on English Vowels

This literature review provides a comprehensive examination of English vowels, their definition, pedagogical approaches for teaching them, and the benefits of learning them. The analysis explores that there are front vowel, central vowel, and back vowel. This research identifies the effectiveness of explicit instruction, auditory training, and visual aids in improving learners' pronunciation and perception of English vowels. Understanding and mastering English vowels contribute to enhanced pronunciation, listening skills, speaking fluency, reading ability, and overall language acquisition. Furthermore, learning English vowels promotes cultural integration and facilitates cross-cultural communication. The findings from this review offer valuable insights for language educators in designing effective instructional strategies for teaching English vowels and empowering learners to excel in English-speaking environments.

Perceptions of Vowels and Consonants in Arabic and English: Implications for Translators and Dictionary Users

This paper investigates Arabic terms used as equivalents for English consonants and vowels. The Arabic terms, namely harf sakin (consonants) and harakat (vowels), are specifically tailored for the study of Arabic linguistic items. In bilingual dictionaries, Arabic terms do not truly reflect the linguistic realities represented by English vowels and consonants. The aim of the study is therefore to identify the linguistic realities that the Arabic terms represent within the Arabic linguistic environment. A sketch of contrastive analysis of vowels and consonants in English and Arabic helps in clarifying the linguistic meanings, which are absent from bilingual dictionaries. The findings of the study show that Arabic lexical equivalents are simply sense- indicators and thus not sufficient, as the totality of the conceptual meaning of the item is not provided in bilingual dictionaries. The study concludes by briefly discussing some of the study’s implications for translators and other dictionary users.

Improving Pronunciation of English Vowel Sounds Through Listen and Repeat Technique at MAN 1 Palu

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan bahwa penggunaan teknik listen and repeat dapat memperbaiki pengucapan siswa dalam bunyi-bunyi vokal bahasa Inggris. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain penelitian pra-eksperimental. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas XI MIPA di MAN 1 Palu yang berjumlah 104 orang. Sampel dari penelitian ini diambil dengan menggunakan teknik cluster sampling. Instrumen pengumpulan data diambil melalui tes yang diberikan kepada siswa sebanyak dua kali, yaitu pre-test dan post-test. Data yang telah didapatkan dianalisis secara statistik untuk mengetahui capaian signifikan siswa dalam pre-test dan post-test. Setelah menganalisis data, hasil dari pre-test adalah 41.2 dan post-test 85.61. Hasil dari t-hitung adalah 19.25. Merujuk pada nilai t-tabel dengan mengaplikasikan degree freedom (df) 30 (31-1) dan tingkat kepercayaan 0.05, peneliti menemukan bahwa nilai dari t-tabel adalah 2.042. Hasil dari analisis data menunjukkan bahwa hipotesis diterima dihubungkan dengan analisis t-hitung lebih tinggi dari t-tabel. Ini berarti bahwa penggunaan teknik listen and repeat efektif untuk memperbaiki pengucapan siswa dalam bunyi-bunyi vokal bahasa Inggris, khususnya pada bunyi monophthongs.

Analysis on the Mandarin Vowel System and the English Vowel System

A large number of second-language learners, no matter Chinese learners of English or English learners of Mandarin, find it hard to pronounce different sounds from different language systems. This is a vital issue to be solved in language speaking and especially in language teaching. There is an interesting phenomenon that most Chinese learners of English are poor at speaking, although they might get good grades in reading and listening. For English learners of Mandarin, it is also tough since some sounds in Mandarin do not appear or appear infrequently in English. This paper introduces the two vowel systems of Mandarin and English and compares and explains the differences between them by reviewing previous research. All the data come from quoting materials. To conclude, the English vowel system and the Mandarin vowel system are different in classification and tone, and both languages have some sounds that are not involved in the other language. There are some methods that make it easier for language learners to pronounce better.

The Effect of English Teaching on the Acquisition of English Vowel System: The Case of Chinese Learners of English from Zhejiang Province in China

As an important part of the phonological system, vowel pronunciation receives a lot of attention. Teaching and learning are important parts of a person's English vowel system. It is therefore necessary to examine the current state of students' vowel knowledge and skills and the current state of vowel teaching in order to better guide the teaching of English. This paper focuses on the impact of English language teaching on the English vowel system, using Zhejiang, China as an example. The research study included the collection of pronunciation data from respondents and a linguistic background survey in the form of a questionnaire. Based on the results, it specifically explored the vowel pronunciation of different subgroups (English majors and non-English majors, native speakers and respondents) and the pedagogical causes of the formation of pronunciation characteristics. It has been found that systematic phonics instruction does help students to pronounce vowels correctly, and that instruction does mitigate factors such as negative native language transfer, helping students to develop a vowel system that is closer to that of their native speakers.

Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners’ Pronunciation of British English Vowels: A Production-Based Study

The present study investigated the production of British English (BrE) vowels by Yemeni-Arabic learners of English. Specifically, the most problematic BrE vowels for those learners were explored in relation to Lados’ (1957) contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH) and Flege’s (1995) Speech Learning Model (SLM). Sixty-seven Yemeni EFL learners at different proficiency levels completed a questionnaire, which mainly explored how difficult the BrE vowels are for them, and a vowel production test, which measured the learners’ production accuracy of the BrE vowels. Overall, the results revealed that Yemeni EFL learners encountered some difficulties when pronouncing BrE vowels, but their production accuracy rates increased as their levels grow. It was found that the same vowels, /e/, /ɒ/, /eə/, /ɔ:/, /ʊ/ & /u:/, were found to be the most inaccurately produced sounds by learners at all levels. The subtle differences between vowels might have caused the learners’ production problems. Findings also showed that learners’ L1 vowels that are different from the BrE vowels were easier to produce, and this is congruent with the SLM.

The perception–production link varies with stages of L2 development and vowel properties

Abstract This study investigates whether the perception–production link in phonological acquisition varies with stages of L2 development. It also examines whether the perception–production link for L2 vowels varies according to vowel properties, or whether the L2 vowels match or mismatch with L1 vowels. Korean learners of English in the UK were divided into more experienced and less experienced groups based on age of arrival and length of residence. The learners completed English vowel production, English vowel identification, and English–Korean vowel mapping tasks with English words (e.g., beat, bot). The intelligibility of their production and the accuracy of their vowel identification were assessed. Results show that only the more experienced learners’ perception and production were significantly correlated. Among L2 Standard Southern British English vowels similar to L1 Korean vowels (/i, ʌ, u/) only /i/ showed a significant correlation between perception and production, while among L2 vowels dissimilar to L1 vowels (/eɪ, ɘʊ, ɑ, ɒ/) only /ɑ/ showed a negative correlation, indicating that the correlation varied with vowel properties. The study contributes to the L2 phonological acquisition literature by exploring the perception–production link in terms of different stages of L2 development and L2 vowel properties.

The Impact of Bimodal Hearing on Speech Acoustics of Vowel Production in Adult Cochlear Implant Users.

This study aimed to investigate the acoustic changes in vowel production with different forms of auditory feedback via cochlear implant (CI), hearing aid (HA), and bimodal hearing (CI + HA). Ten post-lingually deaf adult bimodal CI users (aged 50-78 years) produced English vowels /i/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɑ/, /ʊ/, and /u/ in the context of /hVd/ during short-term use of no device (ND), HA, CI, and CI + HA. Segmental features (first formant frequency [F 1], second formant frequency [F 2], and vowel space area) and suprasegmental features (duration, intensity, and fundamental frequency [f o]) of vowel production were analyzed. Participants also categorized a vowel continuum synthesized from their own productions of /ɛ/ and /æ/ using HA, CI, and CI + HA. F 1s of all vowels decreased; F 2s of front vowels but not back vowels increased; vowel space areas increased; and vowel durations, intensities, and f os decreased with statistical significance in the HA, CI, and CI + HA conditions relative to the ND condition. Only f os were lower, and vowel space areas were larger with CI and CI + HA than with HA. Average changes in f o, intensity, and F 1 from the ND condition to the HA, CI, and CI + HA conditions were positively correlated. Most participants did not show a typical psychometric function for vowel categorization, and thus, the relationship between vowel categorization and production was not tested. The results suggest that acoustic, electric, and bimodal hearing have a measurable impact on vowel acoustics of post-lingually deaf adults when their hearing devices are turned on and off temporarily. Also, changes in f o and F 1 with the use of hearing devices may be largely driven by changes in intensity.

English pre-fortis clipping by L2 Saudi speakers

The current study is a partial replication of Flege and Port (Language Speech 24(2):125–146, 1981), which examined the production of pre-fortis clipping (i.e., vowel shortening before voiceless obstruents) by Saudi L2 English speakers. In addition, it examined whether language experience operationalized as the length of residence in an English-speaking country, had any positive effect on the production of the pre-fortis clipping by the Saudi L2 English speakers. 16 Saudi L2 English speakers were requested to produce the English vowels /æ/, /ɪ/ and /i:/ in a carrier word, once before the voiceless stop /t/ and once before the voiced stop /d/. The same vowels in the same context were also elicited from a reference group of native English speakers. Similar vowels in a similar context were also obtained in Arabic from Saudi native speakers. A durational ratio of each vowel before /t/ to the same vowel before /d/ was calculated for each speaker in the native and nonnative groups. Similar to the findings of Flege and Port (1981), both the Saudi native Arabic and L2 English speakers showed broadly less durational contrast between the vowels in the two contexts than did the native English speakers. However, the results varied across the three examined vowels. In addition, no significant correlation was found between the length of residence and the L2 speakers’ production.

Gestural characterisation of vowel length contrasts in Australian English

Many languages contrast long and short vowels, but the phonetic implementation of vowel length contrasts is not fully understood. We examine articulation of long and short vowels in Australian English to investigate whether duration contrasts involve intrinsic differences in the underlying gestures, or differences in their timing relationships with flanking consonants. We used electromagnetic articulography to track tongue dorsum and lip movement in two long-short vowel pairs /iː-ɪ/ (bead – bid) and /ɐː-ɐ/ (bard – bud) produced in /pVp/ syllables by nine speakers of Australian English. For short vowels, lingual movement towards the vowel target (formation interval) is shorter and smaller, but not stiffer, than that of long vowels. Syllables containing the short vowel /ɐ/ also exhibited more vowel-coda overlap than those containing /ɐː/. These data suggest that both vowel-intrinsic and syllable-level mechanisms are involved in the realisation of vowel length contrasts in Australian English.

Investigating the Effects of Speaker Variability on Arabic children’s Acquisition of English Vowels

This study investigated whether speaker variability in phonetic training benefits vowel learnability by Arabic learners of English. Perception training using High-Variability stimuli in laboratory studies has been shown to improve both the perception and production of Second Language sounds in adults and children and has become the dominant methodology for investigating issues in Second Language acquisition. Less consideration is given to production training, in which Second Language learners focus on the role of the articulators in producing second language sounds. This study aimed to assess the role of speaker variability by comparing the effect of using High-Variability and Low-Variability stimuli for production training in a classroom setting. Forty-six Arabic children aged 9-12 years were trained on 18 Standard Southern British English vowels in five training sessions over two weeks and were tested before and after training on their vowel production and category discrimination. The results indicate that Low-Variability stimuli may be more beneficial for children, however, High-Variability stimuli may alter some phonetic cues. Furthermore, the results suggest that production training may be used to improve the perception and production of Second Language sounds, but also to inform the design of Second Language pronunciation learning programmes and theories of Second Language acquisition.

A comparative study of English vowel shifts and vowel space area among Korean Americans in three dialect regions

AbstractRecent sociophonetic research has focused on the ways in which race and ethnicity influence language as well as how language is used to construct racial and ethnic identity. Comparisons of the speech of members of one ethnic group across different regions are still uncommon. In this study, fifty-one native American English speakers of Korean descent, hailing from three different dialect areas of the United States (Los Angeles County and Orange County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Gwinnett County, Georgia), were recorded speaking English in casual interviews. Their speech was analyzed for characteristics of local sound patterns in each region, including the Short Front Vowel Shift (California Vowel Shift) and the Southern Vowel Shift, as well as overall Vowel Space Area. All three groups showed evidence of the Short Front Vowel Shift, and none demonstrated the Southern Vowel Shift. The Californian speakers had the smallest vowel spaces, while the Georgian speakers had the largest. We relate these findings to the ways Korean Americans in Texas and California understand their ethnic identity vis-à-vis a kind of metropolitan or urban speech style in a highly multicultural environment, while, in comparison, Korean Americans in Georgia may use vowel space to highlight their orientation toward or away from local mainstream (white) cultural identity.

Spectral and temporal implementation of Japanese speakers’ English vowel categories: A corpus-based study

This study investigates the predictions of second language (L2) acquisition models — SLM, PAM-L2, and L2LP — on how native (L1) Japanese speakers implement the spectral and temporal aspects of L2 American English vowel categories. Data were obtained from 102 L1 Japanese speakers in the J-AESOP corpus, which also includes nativelikeness judgments by trained phoneticians. Spectrally, speakers judged to be less nativelike showed a strong influence of L1-L2 category assimilation, except L2 /æː/ whose dissimilarity from L1 categories likely triggered new category formation, in accordance with SLM and PAM-L2. However, more nativelike speakers showed vowel spectra similar to those of native English speakers for all vowels, which aligns better with L2LP. Temporally, although speakers tended to assimilate the phonetic length of English vowels to Japanese phonemic length distinctions, segment-level L1-L2 category similarity was not a significant predictor of the speakers’ nativelikeness. Instead, implementation of prosodic-level factors such as stress and phrase-final lengthening were better predictors. The results highlight the importance of suprasegmental factors in successful L2 category learning and also reveal a weakness in current models of L2 acquisition, which focus primarily on the segmental level. The use of speech corpora for L2 research is discussed.

SDAV 1.0: A Low-Cost sEMG Data Acquisition & Processing System For Rehabilitatio

Over the last two decades, myoelectric signals have been widely used in fields including rehabilitation devices and human-machine interfaces. This study aimed to develop an algorithm for surface electromyography (sEMG) data acquisition utilizing low-cost hardware and validate its performance using English vowels as silent speech content. The sEMG data were collected from the three facial muscles of one healthy subject. The sEMG signals were pre-processed, and various time-domain and statistical features were extracted in real time. The raw data and features were then used to train and test three customized machine learning classifiers: k-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and artificial neural network (ANN). All customized classifiers achieved almost equivalent accuracy rates of 0.83 ± 0.01 in recognizing the English vowels with an improvement of 27.27% (KNN), 3.75% (SVM), and 51.85% (ANN) utilizing the same low-cost data acquisition hardware. Our findings are substantially closers to the results of commercial hardware setups, which raise the possibility of potential usage of low-cost sEMG data acquisition systems with the proposed algorithm in place of commercial hardware setups for rehabilitation devices and other related sectors of human-machine interaction.