## vowelcharts_english.png

The image is a phonetic chart used in linguistics to represent vowel sounds. It's called an "articulation diagram" which shows how vowels are formed by varying the position of the tongue and lips.

### Key Features:
1. **Axes**:
   - The horizontal axis represents the front-back dimension, with 'Front' on the left side and 'Back' on the right.
   - The vertical axis represents the high-low dimension, with 'Close' at the top and 'Open' at the bottom.

2. **Vowel Sounds**:
   - Each vowel is represented by a letter or symbol placed within the grid formed by these axes.
   - The vowels are categorized into different positions based on their articulation (front, back, central), and openness (close, open-mid, open).

3. **Examples of Vowels**:
   - **Front Vowels**: These include sounds like /i/, /e/, /æ/ which are placed towards the left side.
     - /i/ is close and front.
     - /e/ is close-mid and front.
     - /æ/ is open-mid and front.
   - **Back Vowels**: These include sounds like /u/, /o/, /ɑː/ which are placed towards the right side.
     - /u/ is close and back.
     - /o/ is close-mid and back.
     - /ɑː/ is open-mid and back.

4. **Central Vowels**:
   - These include sounds like /ɪ/, /ɜː/, which are placed in the middle of the chart, neither front nor back.
     - /ɪ/ is close and central.
     - /ɜː/ is open-mid and central.

5. **Other Symbols**:
   - The symbol '3' represents a neutral vowel sound that can be considered as a central vowel but not strictly classified under any specific category like front, back, or central.

### Detailed Description of the Chart:
- The chart has a grid with horizontal lines representing different positions from front to back and vertical lines representing different positions from close to open.
- Each cell in this grid contains a symbol that represents a particular vowel sound. For example, /i/ is placed at the top left corner (close and front), while /ɑː/ is located at the bottom right corner (open-mid and back).

This chart helps linguists understand how different vowels are produced by varying the position of the tongue and lips in relation to these two dimensions.

This description was generated automatically from image files by a local LLM, and thus, may not be fully accurate. Please feel free to ask questions if you have further questions about the nature of the image or its meaning within the presentation.