Ludzie pragną czasami się rozstawać, żeby móc tęsknić, czekać i cieszyć się z powrotem.
88. and 89 have served to demonstrate that, at least in the upward and backward direction, there is a kind of boundary in the mouth and pharynx beyond which approximant-type vowel sounds become fricatives: this boundary delimits (he 'vowel space' in these two dimensions, as indicated by the broken line in Fig. 37.
It is more difficult to specify, in a precise manner, the forward and downward limits of tongue position. Fig. 37, which is based
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FIG. 37. The vowel ]j
on X-ray photographs of the author's articulations, shows the 'vowel limit', represented by a broken line, continuing clown the prepalatal arch to just behind the postalveolar zone. This is quite in accordance with the findings of Experiment 79, in which the convex anterodorsal surface of the tongu^ wa.s brought as close as possible to the concave prepalatal arch. gut \[ js not so easy to indicate the vowel limit for completely Open vowels in an analogous manner. The problem is that the tongue is a mobile and polymorphous mass: that is to say, a mass that can take up different positions and somewhat different shapes. Since it is difficult to describe and compare the positions of the tongue-mass as a whole it is convenient to select some easily identified reference-point for purposes of comparison. por over a century it has been traditional to define relative tongue-positions in terms of the location of the summit of the convex tongue-mass-the highest point of the tongue. In Fig. 37 the highest point of the tongue for each of the vowels [i] [ui] and \^ is indicated by the tip of a small black triangle. It must always be remembered that the highest point of the tongue is no more than a convenient reference-point; it has no significance other than that. Indeed, as we have already seen, another location on the tongue-surface is more important in defining the vowel limit, and indeed, in other
ways: this is the location of the narrowest linguo-tectal or linguo-pharyngal articulatory channel. Anticipating a little, look at Fig. 38. This shows the tongue-configurations for the Cardinal Vowels that we are about to study. The black dots here show the highest point of the tongue for each vowel, while broken lines round the periphery show the location of the narrowest articulatory channel for some of the approximant-type vowels. This shows that the highest point (a mere reference-point) does not always coincide with the location of the articulatory stricture.
Cardinal Vowels:
-~--~ Front
- - - Back
• = highest point of tongue ----- (i) etc. = narrowest articulatorv channel
FIG. 38. Tongue-configurations for Cardinal Vowels
As we have already pointed out, the underlying idea of the Cardinal Vowels is that of a 'vowel limit' within the mouth, and, consequently, a 'vowel space' inside that limit. In theory, any vowel of any language must have its tongue-position either on the vowel limit itself, or within the vowel space. The problem, then, is to define that space, and to specify a set of reference-points on the vowel limit, in a way that is independent of any particular language.
The key reference-points for the Cardinal Vowels are two that we have already experimented with, namely the closest and most front vowel possible [i], and the openest and most back vowel
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Typical error of learner
\ Y, trying to say i-e-E-a-u
e v \ in one series (see text)
possible [a|. The vowels [i] and |a] represent relatively fixed points, that anyone can locate for himself by following the directions given in Experiments 86, 87. and 88, without ever having heard the sounds.
Between [i], which we will call Cardinal Vowel 1, and |a] which is Cardinal Vowel 5, are three intermediate Cardinal Vowels: 2 [e], 3 [E], and 4 [a], which are sometimes said to represent equidistant points between 1 [i| and 5 [a]. The system is completed by continuing the series of'equidistant' vowels on past |aj up to [u], with Cardinal Vowels [6] [o|, 7 [o], 8 [uj.