Vowel Alternation in Ulysses

Vowel Appendix

Vowels in the International Phonetic Alphabet

Peter Ladefoged of UCLA has produced an online chart of the vowels in the International Phonetic Alphabet, linked to sound files that exemplify the charted vowels.

English Vowel Inventories

These two vowel charts are based on data from Ladefoged's Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages.

British English Vowels IPA symbol Example Word
1 i: heed
2 ɪ kit
3 eɪ bait
4 ɛ bet
5 æ cat
6 ɑ: cart
7 ɒ body
8 ɔ: caught
9 ʊ Buddhist
10 əʊ coat
11 u: booed
12 ʌ cut
13 ɜ: heard
14 aɪ kite
15 aʊ howdy
16 ɔɪ quoit
17 ɪə beer
18 eə care
19 aə pyre
20 ʊə boor
 
American English Vowels IPA symbol Example Word
1 i: heed
2 ɪ kit
3 eɪ bait
4 ɛ bet
5 æ cat
6 ɑ: cot
7 ɔ: caught
8 ʊ Buddhist
9 oʊ coat
10 u: booed
11 ʌ cut
12 ɝ heard
13 aɪ kite
14 aʊ howdy
15 ɔɪ Boyd

Vivian Cook’s prepublication online edition of Inside Language includes a chart of English vowels based on data from J.C. Wells' (1982) three-volume edition on English accents and dialects. Audio recordings from his work are available online as well. Raymond Hickey's Dublin English: Evolution and Change provides an inventory of vowels specific to Dublin.

Sample Sound Wave Image

The following images were produced by Grinnell Ulysses Collective member Emily Sue Tomac using the sound analysis freeware Praat to generate wave forms from an elicited recording I made of an anonymous volunteer speaker. This first shows the sound wave for the word "quack" in its entirity. The regular, majority of the waveform represents the medial vowel [æ], which can be examined more precisely in the zoomed-in second image (limited to the vowel-portion of the sound wave).

Quack Sound Wave

Sound Wave from "Quack"

Vowerl Wave Zoom

Wave of the Vowel [æ]