I wrote:
>> pure vowels are produced with no
>> obstacles in the mouth,
>> so that the air can flow freely through it.
and Isabelle commented:
>I think this is wrong. I find no difference in my [y]
>and [i] besides the shape of the lips. Both have the
>high [i] tongue, and neither has any obstacle in the
>mouth. In fact, the production is EXACTLY the same,
>with the lips rounded forward for [y].
>
>So I would say that [y] is just as "pure," by your
>definition, as [i] or any of the other 7 Italian
>vowels.
and I'm talking back :-) :
OK...but, don't you think that they must have different phonetic symbols for
some reason? The rounding of the lips is not everything. If your /i/ above
is the same /i/ as in 'beat', not as in 'bit', so you should bear in mind
it's actually a dyphthong ( assuming you're a native speaker of English ),
being represented in many books as /iy/. I'll quote ' Teaching American
English Pronunciation', by Peter Aery and Susan Ehrlich, Oxford University
Press, page 33 ( ZIP code may be provided at request :-) :
' In many languages of the world, these tense vowels ( /iy/, /ey/, /uw/, and
/ow/ ) are not followed by off-glides ( semi-vowels /w/ and /y/ ) but are
pure vowels. Thus, when ESL ( English as a Second Language ) students
pronounce the tense vowels of English, they often omit the semi-vowel,
producing vowels that sound to the English ear more like the lax
counterparts of the tense vowels, that is, /i/, as in 'bit', /e/, as in
'bet', and /u/, as in 'book'.'
I added the parentheses above. Something else that shows that /y/ is
pronounced differently from a pure vowel is that it is classified as an
alveopalatal sound ( along with /sh/, as in 'wish', /j/ (?) as in 'beige',
/tsh/ and /dj/ ). That common characteristic it shares with /j/ is what
determined that Latin 'Iesus' - the 'I' here being the semi-vowel /y/ -
became the English Jesus /dj.../. The semi-vowel ended up being pronounced
as a consonant due to sharing with it articulation aspects.
Regardless of that, I think you have a point, since what does really
differentiate a vowel from a semi-vowel is that the first is the center of
the syllable, while the latter is produced supported by the vowel as a
consonant would. I think that is what does really determine the minute
differences in articulation between similar vowels and semi-vowels.
Bye,
Caio Rossi, the phonetics freak
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