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In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration.In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, for example in Arabic, Czech, Dravidian languages (such as Tamil), some Finno-Ugric languages (such as Finnish and Estonian), Japanese, Kyrgyz, Samoan ...
The Mixe languages are widely considered to have three distinctive levels of vowel length, [1] as do Estonian, some Low German varieties in the vicinity of Hamburg [2] and some Moselle Franconian [3] and Ripuarian Franconian varieties. Strictly speaking, a pair of a long sound and a short sound should be identical except for their length.
Short vowels are the five single letter vowels, a, e, i, o, and u, when they produce the sounds / æ / as in cat, / ɛ / as in bet, / ɪ / as in sit, / ɒ / as in hot, and / ʌ / as in cup. The term "short vowel" is historical, and meant that at one time (in Middle English ) these vowels were pronounced for a particularly short period of time ...
There are two complementary definitions of vowel, one phonetic and the other phonological.. In the phonetic definition, a vowel is a sound, such as the English "ah" / ɑː / or "oh" / oʊ /, produced with an open vocal tract; it is median (the air escapes along the middle of the tongue), oral (at least some of the airflow must escape through the mouth), frictionless and continuant. [4]
The breve sign indicates a short vowel, as opposed to the macron ( ̄), which indicates long vowels, in academic transcription. It is often used that way in dictionaries and textbooks of Latin, Ancient Greek, Tuareg and other languages. However, there is a frequent convention of indicating only the long vowels.
This chart provides audio examples for phonetic vowel symbols. The symbols shown include those in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and added material. The chart is based on the official IPA vowel chart. [1] The International Phonetic Alphabet is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet.
Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels (in U.S. terminology [1]) in reference to the low position of the tongue. In the context of the phonology of any particular language, a low vowel can be any vowel that is more open than a mid vowel. That is, open-mid vowels, near-open vowels, and open vowels can all be considered low vowels.
Vowel length was indicated only intermittently in classical sources and even then through a variety of means. Later medieval and modern usage tended to omit vowel length altogether. A short-lived convention of spelling long vowels by doubling the vowel letter is associated with the poet Lucius Accius.