phonetics

Question

how to distinguish tense vowels from lax vowels?

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenseness , and come back if you have any questions.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous how to distinguish tense vowels from lax vowels?

For most practical purposes, the tense vowels are the ones you use when you say the name of the vowel letter, so when you say "A, E, I, O, U", you're saying the five tense vowels.

Say "A" (sounds like 'ay' in 'say'). That's a tense A.
Say "E" (sounds like 'ee' in 'bee'). That's a tense E.
Say "I" (sounds like 'i' in 'pine'). That's a tense I.
Say "O" (sounds like 'oa' in 'boat'). That's a tense O.
Say "U" (sound like the word 'you'). That's a tense U.

Those are the tense vowels. Most of the other pronunciations of those letters are the lax vowels.

CJ

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