The environment of " broad " a " " overlaps with that of tensing, in that it occurs before voiceless fricatives in the same syllable and before nasals in certain environments; and both phenomena involve replacement of the short lax vowel with a longer and tenser vowel.
22.
There is no tense contrast with the low vowel . ) The formants of the tense vowels show them to be lower than their non-tense counterparts : the formants of the highest tense vowels overlap the formants of the non-tense mid vowels, but there is visible tension in the lips and throat when these are enunciated carefully.
23.
There is no tense contrast with the low vowel . ) The formants of the tense vowels show them to be lower than their non-tense counterparts : the formants of the highest tense vowels overlap the formants of the non-tense mid vowels, but there is visible tension in the lips and throat when these are enunciated carefully.
24.
Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [ tense ] can be interpreted only relatively, often with a perception of greater tension or pressure in the mouth, which, in a language like English, contrasts between two corresponding vowel types : a "'tense vowel "'and a "'lax vowel " '.
25.
For instance given the importance of derivation of verbs from nouns and adjectives using-Vna-and-ata-, shifted stress allows one to differentiate these morphemes from lexical-ata-( common enough ) and those-na-' s that are part of lexical roots ( also relatively common ) .-Vna itself will often lose stress and reduce to a tense vowel before other suffixes, leaving the shifting as a hint of its underlying presence.
26.
The terms " checked vowel " and " free vowel " correspond closely to the terms " 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 because by most attempted definitions of tenseness and are considered lax even though they behave in American English as free vowels.
