Tense and Lax vowels examples

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.

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In this blog you will learn the difference between tense vowels and lax vowels

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)

Tense and Lax Vowels

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