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LAX-AND-TENSE-VOWEL-SOUNDS

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77 views

LAX-AND-TENSE-VOWEL-SOUNDS

Uploaded by

raraxia.xy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LAX AND TENSE VOWEL SOUNDS

TENSE VOWELS
- Tense vowels are enunciated with more prominent strong exertion, marginally
higher tongue positions, and longer terms than careless vowels. Also called the long
vowel sounds.

Examples of Tense Vowel Words


Beet Sweat Repeat Rim

Bit Treat Team Stem

Heat Meat Grim Brood

Hit Sweat Threat Brim

Hat Steel Channel Bread

Lap Kneel Read Knot

Root Speed Reed Rot

Shoot Real Trim Bead

Bait Meet Steam Hot

Great Sweet Steal Mood

Team Wheel Raid Pot

Reel Knead Bite Dread

Hair Lit Void Stop

Head Knit Good But

Pair Tweed Read Lead

LAX VOWELS
- Lax vowels are likewise called short vowels: as a rule, they are more limited than
tense (long) vowels. They don’t happen alone at the closures of words, however
consistently need an after a consonant.

Examples of Lax Vowel Words


Bee Pit Sit Stay

Bay Day That Rope

Delay Live Rat Drone

Low Bet Ray Joy

Boo Boy Boar Tray


Buy Swift Mud Fat

Toy Swap Bat Soy

Straw Mat Lift Dear

Draw Tea Bid Drift

Bore Hit Knit Fray

Put Rift See Dive

Hat Hut Breeze Fear

Knee Fit Free Doe

Sea Freeze Stone Hoe

Tree Robe Flat Rear

Difference Between Tense and Lax Vowels

 Lax vowels end with a consonant, or we can say that they only occur in closed syllables.
Tense vowels do not have such restrictions.
 Lax vowels are more centralized, and they are pronounced closer than tense vowels.
 Lax vowels are monophthongal and tense vowels are diphthongal.
 Lax vowels are pronounced with more or less stationary tongue and lip position. Tense
vowels are pronounced with the movement of the tongue, with or without a change in
lip position.
 There is the closing movement of the front of the tongue and lips are kept unrounded
while pronouncing lax vowels. The pronunciation of tense vowels involves the closing
movement of the back of the tongue with a simultaneous change from unrounded to
rounded lips.
 Lax vowels are shorter than tense vowels in length.
 Many monosyllabic words have tense vowels as their nucleus, but there is no
monosyllabic word without a final consonant having a lax vowel as the nucleus.
 The pronunciation of tense vowels requires greater tension in the muscles of the vocal
tract than lax vowels.

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