Vowel height
San Duanmu · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2016
This chapter takes a close look at vowel height, which is the only phonetic dimension that has a three-way contrast. It is found that all contrasts among basic vowels in UPSID and P-base can be represented in a two-height system, which uses four binary features [back], [high], [round], and [ATR], giving a total of sixteen basic vowels. In addition, an examination of all sound classes in P-base shows that there is no need for the feature [low]. Two other problems are also discussed: the representation of [tense] in English and step-raising of vowels. It is concluded that a two-height vowel system is a viable and simpler alternative to traditional theories of vowel features.