Articulatory classification of English vowels

Russian phoneticians

• a classification of vowels according to the following principles:
• stability of articulation;
• tongue position;
• lip position;
• character of the vowel end;
• length;
• tenseness.

Stability of articulation

• specifies the actual position of the articulating organ in the process of the articulation of a vowel:
• the tongue position is stable (articulated vowel is relatively pure)
• it changes, that is the tongue moves from one position to another (a vowel consists of two clearly perceptible elements)
• an intermediate case, when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak.

• According to Russian scholars vowels are subdivided into:
• monophthongs (the tongue position is stable);
• diphthongs (it changes, that is the tongue moves from one position to another);
• diphthongoids (an intermediate case, when the change in the position is fairly weak).

• P. Roach → British English (BBC accent) has short vowels, long vowels and diphthongs.
• A.C. Gimson distinguishes 20 vocalic phonemes which are made of vowels and vowel glides.

Phonemic status of English diphthongs

• Diphthongs are complex entities like affricates:
• monophonemic units? or
• biphonemic units?
• no simple and logic criterion

Russian scholars

• English diphthongs → monophonemic status
• ↓
• arliculatory,
• morphonological
• and syllabic indivisibility + the criteria of duration and commutability

Articulatory indivisibility

• neither morpheme nor syllable boundary that separate the nucleus and the glide can pass within it
• ['seı-ıŋ] saying, ['kraı-ıŋ] crying, [ın-'ʤɔı-ıŋ] enjoying, ['puǝ-rǝ] poorer.

Duration of diphthongs

• the length of diphthongs is the same as the English long monophthongs in the same phonetic context
• [saıt - si:t], [kout - kɔ:t].