Checked vowel

In phonetics and phonology, checked vowels are those that commonly stand in a stressed closed syllable, while free vowels are those that can stand in either a stressed closed syllable or a stressed open syllable.

Usage

The terms ''checked vowel'' and ''free vowel'' originated in 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 other vowels is common in most Germanic languages.

The terms ''checked vowel'' and ''free vowel'' correspond closely to the terms ''lax vowel'' and ''tense vowel'', respectively, but linguists often prefer to use the terms ''checked'' and ''free'', as there is no clear-cut phonetic definition of vowel tenseness, and, because by most given definitions of tenseness, and are considered lax—even though they behave in American English as free vowels.

''Checked vowels'' is also used to refer to the kind of very short glottalized vowels heard in the Zapotecan languages of Oaxaca, Mexico, that contrast with laryngealized vowels. The term ''checked vowel'' is also used to refer to a short vowel followed by a glottal stop in Mixe, which has 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.

In English, the checked vowels are the following:
* as in ''pit''
* as in ''pet''
* as in ''pat''
* as in ''pot'' (in varieties without the ''cot''–''caught'' merger or the ''father''–''bother'' merger)
* as in ''put'' (in varieties without the ''foot''–''goose'' merger)
* as in ''putt''

There are a few exceptions, mostly in interjections: ''eh'' and ''meh'' with ; ''duh'', ''huh'', ''uh'', ''uh-uh'', and ''uh-huh'' with ; ''nah'' with or ; and ''yeah'' with (in accents that lack the diphthong ) or . There are also the onomatopoeia ''baa'' for and the loanword '' pho'' for when pronounced in American English, as well as sometimes ''milieu'' and ''pot-au-feu''. The proper names '' Graham'' and '' Flaherty'' are sometimes pronounced with a prevocalic .

The free vowels are the following:
* as in ''pea''
* as in ''pay''
* as in ''too''
* as in ''Poe''
* as in ''paw''
* as in ''bra''
* as in ''pie''
* as in ''plow''
* as in ''ploy''

The schwa is usually considered neither free nor checked because it cannot stand in stressed syllables.

In non-rhotic dialects, non-prevocalic instances of as in ''purr, burr'' and as in ''letter, banner'' pattern as vowels, with the former often being the long counterpart of the latter and little to no difference in quality: . In rhotic dialects, they pattern as vowel+consonant sequences, following the historical situation, even though they often surface as rhotacized vowels: (or, in other analyses, syllabic postalveolar/retroflex approximants: etc.)

The same applies to , and , which are realized as centering diphthongs or long monophthongs in non-rhotic varieties of English, but as vowel+consonant sequences (alternative analysis: centering diphthongs with a rhotacized offset) in rhotic English.

The term ''checked vowel'' is also useful in the description of English spelling. As free written vowels ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u'' correspond to the spoken vowels , , , , ; as checked vowels ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u'' correspond to , , , , . In spelling free and checked vowels are often called long and short, based on their historical pronunciation, though nowadays some or all of the free vowels are diphthongs, depending on the dialect, not long vowels as such. Written consonant doubling often shows the vowel is checked; the ''i'' of ''dinner'' corresponds to checked because of the double consonants ''nn''; the ''i'' of ''diner'' corresponds to free because of the single consonant ''n''. This, however, interferes with the differences in doubling rules between American and British styles of spelling. Similarly, an "'' e''" following a single consonant at the end of a word often indicates that the preceding vowel is free where it would otherwise be checked; for example, the ''a'' of ''tap'' corresponding to whereas that in ''tape'' corresponds to .

See also

*List of phonetics topics
*Checked tone of Chinese

References

{{reflist

Vowels
English phonology