Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages. For instance, the vowel of the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
word "feet" can be described with reference to cardinal vowel 1, , which is the cardinal vowel closest to it.
A cardinal vowel is a
vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sound produced when the
tongueThe tongue is a muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing . It is the primary organ of taste, as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. A secondary function of the tongue is speech, in which the organ assists...
is in an extreme position, either front or back, high or low.
Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages. For instance, the vowel of the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
word "feet" can be described with reference to cardinal vowel 1, , which is the cardinal vowel closest to it.
A cardinal vowel is a
vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sound produced when the
tongueThe tongue is a muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing . It is the primary organ of taste, as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. A secondary function of the tongue is speech, in which the organ assists...
is in an extreme position, either front or back, high or low. The current system was systematised by
Daniel JonesDaniel Jones was a London-born British phonetician. A pupil of Paul-Édouard Passy, professor of phonetics at the École des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne , Daniel Jones is considered by many to be the greatest phonetician of the early 20th century.-Biography:In 1900, Jones studied briefly at...
in the early 20th century, though the idea goes back to earlier phoneticians, notably Ellis and Bell.
Three of the cardinal vowels, , and have articulatory definitions. [i] is produced with the tongue as far forward and as high in the mouth as is possible (without producing friction), with spread lips. is produced with the tongue as far back and as high in the mouth as is possible, with pursed lips. This sound can be approximated by adopting the posture to whistle a very low note, or blow out a candle. is produced with the tongue as low and as far back in the mouth as possible.
The other vowels are 'auditorily equidistant' between these three 'corner vowels', at four degrees of aperture or 'height': close (high tongue position), close-mid, open-mid, and open (low tongue position). The Ngwe language of
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
has been cited as a language with a vowel system that has 8 vowels which are rather similar to the 8 primary cardinal vowels (Ladefoged 1971:67).
These degrees of aperture plus the front-back distinction define 8 reference points on a mixture of articulatory and auditory criteria. These eight vowels are known as the eight 'primary cardinal vowels', and vowels like these are common in the world's languages.
The lip positions can be reversed with the lip position for the corresponding vowel on the opposite side of the front-back dimension, so that e.g. Cardinal 1 can be produced with the rounding for Cardinal 9, etc.; these are known as 'secondary cardinal vowels'. Sounds such as these are less common in the world's languages. Other vowel sounds are also recognised on the vowel chart of the
International Phonetic AlphabetThe International Phonetic Alphabet
["The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...]
.
Table of cardinal vowels
| cardinal | IPA | description |
|---|
| 1 |
|
close front unrounded vowel The close front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is i....
|
| 2 |
|
close-mid front unrounded vowel -Close-mid front unrounded vowel:The close-mid front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is e....
|
| 3 |
|
open-mid front unrounded vowel The open-mid front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is <>, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is E.- Features :...
|
| 4 |
|
open front unrounded vowel The open front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is a....
|
| 5 |
|
open back unrounded vowel The open back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A...
|
| 6 |
|
open-mid back rounded vowel The open-mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is O. The IPA symbol is a turned letter c and both the symbol and the sound are...
|
| 7 |
|
close-mid back rounded vowel The close-mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is o.-Features:...
|
| 8 |
|
close back rounded vowel The close back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u....
|
| 9 |
|
close front rounded vowel The close front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y...
|
| 10 |
|
close-mid front rounded vowel The close-mid front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a lowercase letter o with a diagonal stroke through it, derived from the Danish, Norwegian and Faroese alphabets which use the...
|
| 11 |
|
open-mid front rounded vowel The open-mid front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 9. The symbol œ is a ligature of the letters o and e...
|
| 12 |
|
open front rounded vowel The open front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, not confirmed to be phonemic in any spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is &. The symbol is a small capital Œ...
|
| 13 |
|
open back rounded vowel The open back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Q. The symbol is called turned script a, because it is a rotated version of script a,...
|
| 14 |
|
open-mid back unrounded vowel The open-mid back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is V. The IPA symbol is an inverted letter v and both the symbol and the sound are...
|
| 15 |
|
close-mid back unrounded vowelThe close-mid back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. Its symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is , called "ram's horns". It is distinct from the symbol for the voiced velar fricative, , which has a descender....
|
| 16 |
|
close back unrounded vowel The close back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is M. The IPA symbol is a turned letter m, although given its relation to the sound...
|
| 17 |
|
Close central unrounded vowel The close central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 1. The IPA symbol is the letter i with a horizontal bar...
|
| 18 |
|
Close central rounded vowel The close central rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is }....
|
In the IPA's
number chart, the cardinal vowels have the same numbers used above, but added to 300.
See also
- list of phonetics topics
- audio demonstrations of cardinal vowels as spoken by Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones was a London-born British phonetician. A pupil of Paul-Édouard Passy, professor of phonetics at the École des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne , Daniel Jones is considered by many to be the greatest phonetician of the early 20th century.-Biography:In 1900, Jones studied briefly at...
at age 75