Tense and Lax Vowels

  Tense and lax Vowels

Tense Vowels examples Heart Horse  Laugh Water Glue Moon  Bird      Earth Note:  Remember, tense vowels are produced with greater tension in the tongue and may occur at the end of the words. Lax Vowels examples Bet Boy Hat Cup Sit Note:  Remember, in the lax vowels we produce less tension in the tongue and may not occur at the end of the words.

 Length: Lax vowels are shorter than tense vowels of the same height. Tense vowels are longer than lax vowels of the same height. Articulation: The articulation of the lax vowels is different because the tongue and some parts of the vocal apparatus are more tense than tense vowels. The muscles of the vocal apparatus are relatively loose when articulating a lax vowel.  The tongue and other parts of the vocal apparatus are relatively tense when articulating a tense vowel. Tense-Lax Distinction Occurrence:  Lax vowels usually occur in one syllable words that end in consonants. Tense vowels usually occur at the end of one syllable word.

 T enseness is the pronunciation of a vowel  with less centralization  (i.e. either more fronting or more backing), longer duration , and narrower mouth width (with the tongue being perhaps more raised ) compared with another vowel. The tense vowels are longer than lax vowels f or example, /i:/ in we (wi: ) is longer than the /ɪ/ in (‘bɪg). Some of those examples include this vowels i, e, o, u, ɔ, and ɑ. Law :  /lɔ/   Spa:   /spɑ/ Bay:    /beɪ/ Bee: /bi/ Ray: /reɪ/  Too: /tu/

 The length of a vowel is affected by many factors. However, if all other factors including the height of a vowel remain the same, a lax vowel is shorter than a tense vowel. The muscles of the vocal apparatus are relatively loose when articulating lax vowels.  In addition, lax vowels mostly occur in one syllable words that end in consonants /I/ (as i in bit) /e/ (as e in bet) /æ/ (as a in bat) /U/ (as u in put) /ô/ (as au in caught)

How to recognize  Tense and Lax Vowels  The English language has five vowels: a, e, i, o and u. These vowels have the ability to represent a variety of sounds. Traditional phonetics classifies these vowels into types known as lax and tense. The key to difference the lax and tense vowels is that tense vowels are longer than the lax vowels The difference between lax and tense vowels cannot be well defined as a single characteristic, as this distinction is mainly based on phonotactics.Therefore, the best way to remember the difference between lax and tense vowels is to learn which vowels can be called tense and lax