mid vowel
- noun
- Specialized
:
vocal media
- The mid vowel in 'bed' is pronounced differently than in 'bad'.
Examples
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In many languages, the distinction between high, mid vowel, and low vowels is important.
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The word contains a mid vowel between two consonants.
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A mid vowel is articulated with the tongue halfway between its highest and lowest positions.
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Can you identify the mid vowels in these words?
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A mid vowel is articulated with the tongue halfway between its highest and lowest positions.
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The mid vowel in 'bed' is pronounced differently than in 'bad'.
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In many languages, the distinction between high, mid vowel, and low vowels is important.
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
mid + vowel
The noun meaning ('a vowel positioned midway between high and low') is directly derived from combining 'mid' (middle/intermediate) with 'vowel' (a speech sound). Even though the 'mid' entry is missing here, the prefix/morpheme 'mid-' is productive and semantically transparent in English (and parallels exist in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Mid vowel comes from a simple picture: mid means 'middle' and vowel means a 'vowel sound'. A mid vowel is a sound made with the tongue halfway between high and low positions, so the name clearly describes that kind of vowel.
