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English makes a distinction between tense and lax vowels, which is a distinction that a lot of other languages don’t have. Tense vowels are made with greater tension in the muscles of the vocal tract than lax vowels. To feel this difference, say the two words sheep and ship. And now make just the vowel sounds, [i], [ɪ].
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- Summary
- Lax U
- Lax I
- Lax A
- Do The Letters A and I Represent Two Vowels Or One?
- How Should I Pronounce The Letters A and I?
- Summary of Lax Vowel Pronunciation
U sounds like lax [ ʊ ] (the vowel in push). It can also sound O-like [ ʊ ̞], and longer [ ʊː ]. (To an English speaker, long [ ʊː ] would a bit sound more like the [ u ] in boot because of its longer duration.) [ ʊ ] is the most common pronunciation of U. See the vowel listening practicepage for more examples. U can also sound like a tense [ u ] (...
I sounds like lax [ ɪ ] (the vowel in fish). [ ɪ ]is the most common pronunciation of I. However, I can also sound like tense [ i ] (the vowel in eat), particularly before Y, and at the beginning of the word before [ h ], [ s ] or [ ʃ ]. I can also sound more indistinct, like the [ ə ] sound in about or the [ ɨ ] sound in dishes. One interesting fa...
In contrast with tense AA, which can sound like [ a(ː) ] or [ æ(ː) ], lax A more often sounds like the vowel [ ɛ ] or [ a ̝] in end, or the vowel [ ɪ ] in begin. It can be difficult to tell whether the sound in question is [ ɪ ] or [ ɛ ]. A often sounds like [ ɛ ] (the vowel in end), or like [ɪ] (the vowel in fish) or like [ ɨ ] (the last vowel sou...
In many cases, the letters A and I are pronounced the same. In addition to the above examples, consider this word in Northern East Cree, where the bolded A and I both sound like [ ɪ ]. Depending on where you come from, the pronunciation of words with A and I can be very different. Northern speakers and Coastal Southern speakers tend to pronounce A ...
Conservatively speaking: 1. The letters A and I both sound like [ ɪ ] or like the indistinct vowels [ ɨ, ə ]. 2. The letter A (but not I) can also sound like [ ɛ ] or [ ʌ ]. 3. The letter I (but not A) can also sound like [ i ] or [ ʊ ].
The lax vowels of East Cree have the following range of pronunciations. 1. I and A can sound like [ ɪ, ɨ, ə ]; the main pronunciation is [ ɪ ]. 2. I can also sound like [ i, ʊ ]. 3. A can also sound like [ ɛ, ʌ ]; it sounds like [ ɛ ]especially at the beginning of the word. 4. U can sound like [ ʊ, ʊ̞, (ə) ]; the main pronunciation is [ ʊ ]. It is ...
Within each of these varieties there are many dialects, and their vowels may also differ greatly. Sometimes people assume that there are five vowel sounds in English: A, E, I, O and U. However, this is a misconception. These are vowel letters, not vowel sounds. Each vowel letter can represent more than one sound.
Mar 10, 2012 · Lax vowels in English are difficult to explain. The two most important of these are the aforementioned ‘oo’ in ‘look’ and the ‘i’ in ‘kit.’*. On a very theoretical level, the lax ‘oo’ is pronounced like the ‘oo’ in ‘goose’ but with the tongue slightly more front and lower, while lax ‘i’ is pronounced like the ...
LAX VOWELS are produced with a more relaxed speech muscle movement. The terms TENSE/LAX do not capture significant phonetic differences. TENSENESS/LAXNESS have to be interpreted as a complex of articulatory characteristics. 1. TONGUE ROOT POSITION: In the articulation of tense vowels the root moves more forward -- advanced tongue root (ATR). 2.
Vowels are conventionally arranged on a two-dimensional diagram, where the vertical dimension indicates the distance of the tongue body from the roof of the mouth, and where the horizontal dimension indicates the forward or backward displacement of the tongue body (with left representing further forward). The four vowels [i], [u], [æ], and [ɑ].
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What is the difference between tense and lax?
6.1 Modifying the speech tract. We can describe the production of vowels in the following ways (keep in mind that these are relative descriptions and not definitions): 1. Nasalization. A vowel can be nasalized by lowering the velum to allow air to escape through the nasal cavity and the oral cavity at the same time.
