The distinction between vowels and consonants

The distinction between vowels and consonants

The distinction between vowels and consonants is based upon their
articulatory and acoustic characteristics. Unlike consonants vowels are produced
with no obstruction to the stream of the air and on the perception level their
integral characteristics is a musical sound or tone formed by means of periodic
vibrations of the vocal cords in the larynx. The resulting sound waves are
transmitted to the supra-laryngeal cavities (the pharynx and the mouth cavity)
where vowels receive their characteristic timbre. It is known from acoustics that
the quality of the sound depends mainly on the shape and size of the resonance
chamber. In the case of vowels the resonance chamber is always the same but the
shape and size of it can vary. It depends on the different positions of a tongue in
the mouth cavity, slight changes in the position of the pharynx, the position of the
soft palate and the lips. In producing vowels the muscular tension is equally spread
over all speech organs. Yet the tension may be stronger or weaker, hence the
distinct or indistinct quality of vowels. As vowels have no special place of
articulation because the whole speech apparatus takes part in their production, their
classification and articulation description are based on the work of all organs of
speech. English vowel phonemes are mutually dependent and form a system which
is determined by phonetic and phonologic causes. Each vowel phoneme possesses
some specific features which distinguish it from any other vowel phoneme. The
system of vowel phonemes has become stabilized in accordance with the linguistic
roles of the phonemes and questions such as:
a) the role of vowel phonemes in syllable formation;
b) the phoneme distribution in words;
c) the role of vowel phonemes in phoneme alternations.