a) Unchecked and Checked Vowels
Allophonic differences in the vowel system of the English language are conditioned by their distributional characteristics. All of them may occur in initial position»
/i:/ economy /a:/ arc /u:/ Uganda /ei/ eight /ia/ earshot
/i/ image /v/ on /ë/' utter /ai/ idea /åý/ airway
/e/ editor /o:/ all /ý:/ earn /au/ hour /èý/ Urdu!
/ae/ acid /u/ Uruguay /ý/ about /oi/ oily /ýé/ over
In initial position the vowel is more or less free from the influence of the next consonant phoneme.
Vowels may be nasalized, (a) more — if they precede the'nasal sound and (b) less — when they follow it.
(a) tfia pen hsem b) mi: nset msep
kin ten bom meed nest b
Low vowels are more affected by nasal consonants than mid and high vowels.
| noon | nine |
| noodle | neat |
| moon | clean |
| mar | mean |
| farm | fine |
Allophonic differences in the vowel system are mostly in quantity, or length. The quantity of vowels depends on the following factors:
1. position of a vowel in a word: (1) free; (2) terminated by a
■voiced, or a voiceless consonant;
2. position of a vowel in relation to word stress;
3. position of a vowel in relation to sentence stress and rhythm;
4. there are extralinguistic factors that may affect the length of
■vowels. They are connected with emotional characteristics. For exam
ple, if we compare similar vowels in the following sentences we may
«observe quantitative dependence of vowels on the emotional colour
ing.
The 'Man o? »Property, by iJohn 4Gabworthy (title) "A "Forsyte," reiplied iyoung ,Jolyon, "is 'not an uncommon animal..."
/o:/ in the word Forsyte is longer than /d:/ in the word oats-worthy.
Connection of a vowel with word stress is another characteristic ifeature, peculiar to the English language. A vowel in unstressed position may change not only its quantity but it undergoes qualitative -changes, which may result not only in its reduction but in the occurrence of the neutral vowel /ý/.
It should be borne in mind that unstressed vowels in English jnay preserve their quantity. They may be fully long: emission ,/k'mifn/, orchestral /î:'kestrel/, etc.
This is never the case with the Russian language, where all unstressed vowels are reduced, according to their position in the word.
For example, the Russian /a, o/ are reduced to /ë/ in the first jpretonic syllable and to /ú/ in other unaccented syllables: ñ/ë/ñíà, ä/ë/ðû, ãîë/ú/âó, ñòîð/ú/íó, ç/ú/ ãîðîé.
The Russian /e/ is pronounced as /ûã/ after /æ, ø/ in the first pretonic syllable: æ/ûå/íà, æ/ûå/âàòü. In other pretonic syllables ,/e/ is pronounced as /ú/: æ/ú/ëòèçíà.
The Russian /a/ is pronounced as /íå/ after the soft /÷, ø/ in •the first pretpnic syllable: ÷/èå/ñû.
The Russian /e/ is pronounced as /ý/ after soft consonants in posttonic position: âûí/ý/ñó, î÷/ý/ðåäü.
The quality oE English vowels of full formation is very stable and definite </i:/ and /u:/ are exceptions).
Articmatory differences of vowel phonemes depend on (1) the place ■of articulation of the adjacent consonant and on (2) the active organ of speech of the adjacent consonant,
"Contextual" and Idiolectal Variants of English Voxels.ar.d Monophthongs in Terms of CV, VC Relations