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THE VOWEL SOUNDS. 43
and it seems reasonable to accept the terms narrow and wide as used by some phoneticians instead of short and long; it is difficult for the voice-producer to allow that a difference in the tension of the tongue muscles makes a long vowel into a short one, because one of the fundamental principles of voice-production is, that there should be no rigidity of any muscles; but it is quite conceivable that the tongue is "bunched up," as Sweet says, and that this narrows the passage.
58. Shaping for Vowel Sounds.—The purity of tone-production depends so very much upon the proper shaping of the mouth cavity for vowel sounds, that it is necessary to define accurately the exact shape belonging to each principal vowel. 00, OH, AW (u: o: o:) are called hack vowels only because the tongue is raised at the back, highest for oo and lowest for aw, the pressure of tone is felt at the front. AH (a:) is the neutral or fiat-tongued vowel, while for AT (c :) and EE (i:) the tongue is raised in front, higher for EE. It will be noticed that the lower jaw moves with the tongue, it is highest for 00 and EE and lowest for AH. The lips are parted until the corners of the mouth are obliterated for AH; they are protruded and rounded as in pouting for the back vowels . they are widened, that is their corners are drawn outwards, for the front vowels as in a smile.
59. TABLE OF VOWEL SOUNDS. |
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Noon u: Nook u
No o: Nut A |
Tongue raised high at back.
Lips well protruded and well rounded.
Jaw raised so that teeth are fairly close together.
Tongue raised at back (not so high as for u :).
Lips protruded and rounded. |
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Jaw lowered to separate teeth. |
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