Vowel diagram

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A vowel diagram or vowel chart is a schematic arrangement of vowels within a phonetic system (though also often used in phonemic descriptions). Vowels do not differ in place, manner, or voicing in the same way that consonants do. Instead, vowels are distinguished primarily based on their height (vertical position), backness (horizontal position), and roundedness (lip articulation). The degrees of height and backness may be used to describe either tongue articulation or acoustic quality, depending on the method of analysis. The former is the more traditional method, while the latter is the more modern method. The vowel systems of all languages can be represented by vowel diagrams. Usually, there is a pattern of even distribution of vowel placement on the diagram, a phenomenon that is known as vowel dispersion. Most languages have a vowel system with three extreme points, forming a vowel triangle. Only 10% of languages, including English, have a vowel system with four extremes. Such a diagram...

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