Checked and free vowels
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2007-03-26T07:37:54Z
TShilo12
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rm problematic statement. see talk.
In [[phonetics]] and [[phonology]], '''checked vowels''' are those that usually must be followed by a [[consonant]] in a [[lexical stress|stressed]] [[syllable]], while '''free vowels''' are those that may stand in a stressed open syllable with no following consonant.
==Usage of the terms==
The terms ''checked vowel'' and ''free vowel'' originated in [[English language|English]] phonetics and phonology. They are seldom used for the description of other languages, even though a distinction between vowels that usually have to be followed by a consonant and those that do not have to is common in most [[Germanic languages]].
The terms ''checked vowel'' and ''free vowel'' correspond closely to the terms [[tenseness|'''lax vowel''' and '''tense vowel''']] respectively, but many linguists prefer to use the terms ''checked'' and ''free'' as there is no clearcut phonetic definition of vowel tenseness, and since by most attempted definitions of tenseness {{IPA|/ɔ/}} and {{IPA|/ɑ/}} are considered lax, even though they behave in [[American English]] as free vowels.
''Checked vowels'' is also used to refer to a kind of very short glottalized vowels found in some [[Zapotecan languages]] that contrast with [[laryngealisation|laryngealized vowels]]. the term ''checked vowel'' is also used to refer to a short vowel followed by a [[glottal stop]] in [[Mixe languages|Mixe]], where there is a distinction between two kinds of glottalized syllable nuclei: checked ones, with the glottal stop after a short vowel, and nuclei with [[rearticulated vowels]] (a long vowel with a glottal stop in the middle).
==Checked and free vowels in English==
In [[General American]], the checked vowels are:
*{{IPA|/ɪ/}} as in ''bit''
*{{IPA|/ɛ/}} as in ''bet''
*{{IPA|/æ/}} as in ''bat''
*{{IPA|/ʊ/}} as in ''put''
*{{IPA|/ʌ/}} as in ''putt''
The free vowels are:
*{{IPA|/i/}} as in ''bee''
*{{IPA|/e/}} (also transcribed {{IPA|/eɪ/}}) as in ''bay''
*{{IPA|/u/}} as in ''boo''
*{{IPA|/o/}} (also transcribed {{IPA|/oʊ/}}) as in ''toe'', ''no''
*{{IPA|/ɔ/}} as in ''paw'' (doesn't occur in varieties with the [[Phonological history of the low back vowels|low back merger]]).
*{{IPA|/ɑ/}} as in ''bra''
*{{IPA|/ɝ/}} as in ''burr''
*{{IPA|/aɪ/}} as in ''buy''
*{{IPA|/aʊ/}} as in ''cow'', ''now''
*{{IPA|/ɔɪ/}} as in ''boy''
The [[schwa]] {{IPA|/ə/}} and [[r-colored vowel|rhotacized]] schwa {{IPA|/ɚ/}} are usually considered neither free nor checked, since they cannot stand in stressed syllables at all.
==See also==
*[[List of phonetics topics]]
[[Category:Vowels]]<!--Already a subcategory of [[Category:Phonetics]], so no need for this to be there as well-->
[[Category:English phonology]]