Table 1. North American English vowels... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1.

North American English vowels classified by tongue position, tongue height, lip rounding and tenseness based on previous language description (Ladefoged, 1999)

Phoneme	Tongue position	Tongue height	Lip rounding	Tenseness
/ i /	Front	High	Unrounded	Tense
/ I /	Front	High	Unrounded	Lax
/ u /	Back	High	Rounded	Tense
/ ℧ /	Back	High	Rounded	Lax
/ e /	Front	Mid-high	Unrounded	Tense
/ o /	Back	Mid-high	Rounded	Tense
/ ə /	Central	Mid	Unrounded	Lax
/ ɚ /	Central	Mid	Unrounded	Lax
/ Λ /	Central	Mid-low	Unrounded	Lax
/ ε /	Front	Mid-low	Unrounded	Lax
/ ɔ /	Back	Mid-low	Rounded	Lax
/ æ /	Front	Low	Unrounded	Lax
/ ɑ /	Back	Low	Unrounded	Tense
/ aI /	Front $\to$ Front	Low $\to$ High	Unrounded	–
/ a℧ /	Front $\to$ Back	Low $\to$ High	Glide to Rounded	–
/ ɔI /	Back $\to$ Front	Mid-low $\to$ High	Rounded $\to$ Unrounded	–

Phoneme	Tongue position	Tongue height	Lip rounding	Tenseness
/ i /	Front	High	Unrounded	Tense
/ I /	Front	High	Unrounded	Lax
/ u /	Back	High	Rounded	Tense
/ ℧ /	Back	High	Rounded	Lax
/ e /	Front	Mid-high	Unrounded	Tense
/ o /	Back	Mid-high	Rounded	Tense
/ ə /	Central	Mid	Unrounded	Lax
/ ɚ /	Central	Mid	Unrounded	Lax
/ Λ /	Central	Mid-low	Unrounded	Lax
/ ε /	Front	Mid-low	Unrounded	Lax
/ ɔ /	Back	Mid-low	Rounded	Lax
/ æ /	Front	Low	Unrounded	Lax
/ ɑ /	Back	Low	Unrounded	Tense
/ aI /	Front $\to$ Front	Low $\to$ High	Unrounded	–
/ a℧ /	Front $\to$ Back	Low $\to$ High	Glide to Rounded	–
/ ɔI /	Back $\to$ Front	Mid-low $\to$ High	Rounded $\to$ Unrounded	–