Checked and free vowels 2232533 117944559 2007-03-26T07:37:54Z TShilo12 153537 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]]