Introduction

In this lesson, the goals are discuss how vowel sounds are classified in terms of their use of the speech system.

Major Terms

• tongue height
• tongue backness
• lip rounding
• tense
• lax

Vowel Classification

In the last two lessons, you were introduced to the classification of consonant sounds. The classification of consonants were shown to be based on three aspects of articulation: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing.

In this lesson, you will be introduced to the classification of vowel sounds. The classifcation of vowels is based on four major aspects: tongue height, tongue backness, lip rounding, and the tenseness of the articulators.

In the first section, you will be introduced to the classification of vowels based on tongue height.

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