Close-mid front unrounded vowel

Close-mid front unrounded vowel

The close-mid front unrounded vowel, or high-mid front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨e⟩.

For the close-mid front unrounded vowel that is usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ɪ⟩ or ⟨i⟩, see near-close front unrounded vowel. If the usual symbol is ⟨e⟩, the vowel is listed here.

Features

Close-mid front unrounded vowel

• Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel. • Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. • It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Spectrogram of [e]

Occurrence

Close-mid front unrounded vowel

<table><thead><tr><th>Language</th><th>Word</th><th>IPA</th><th>Meaning</th><th>Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Afrikaans</td><td>Standard</td><td>bed</td><td>[bet]</td><td>'bed'</td><td>Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. The height varies between close-mid [e] and mid [ɛ̝]. See Afrikaans phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Arabic</td><td>Standard</td><td>مَجۡر۪ىٰهَا/majrēhā</td><td>[mad͡ʒ.reː.haː]</td><td></td><td>See imalah</td></tr><tr><td>Azerbaijani</td><td>gecə</td><td>[ɟeˈd͡ʒæ]</td><td>'night'</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Bengali</td><td>ভেজা</td><td>[bʱdʒɐ]</td><td>'wet'</td><td>See Bengali phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Bavarian</td><td>Amstetten dialect</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Breton</td><td>eget</td><td>[eˈɡet]</td><td>'than'</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Catalan</td><td>séc</td><td>[ˈsek]</td><td>'fold'</td><td>See Catalan phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Chinese</td><td>Shanghainese</td><td>该/kè</td><td>[ke̠ʔ˩]</td><td>'should'</td><td>Near-front; realization of /ɛ/, which appears only in open syllables. Phonetically, it is nearly identical to /ɪ/ ([ɪ̞]), which appears only in closed syllables.</td></tr><tr><td>Chuvash</td><td>эрешмен/ereşmen</td><td>[erɛʃ'mɛnʲ]</td><td>'spider'</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Danish</td><td>Standard</td><td>hæl</td><td>[ˈheːˀl]</td><td>'heel'</td><td>Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛː⟩. See Danish phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Dutch</td><td>Belgian</td><td>vreemd</td><td>[vreːmt]</td><td>'strange'</td><td>In the Netherlands often diphthongized to [eɪ]. See Dutch phonology</td></tr><tr><td>English</td><td>Australian</td><td>bed</td><td>[bed]</td><td>'bed'</td><td>See Australian English phonology</td></tr><tr><td>New Zealand</td><td>The height varies from near-close in broad varieties to mid in the Cultivated variety. See New Zealand English phonology</td></tr><tr><td>General American</td><td>may</td><td>[meː]</td><td>'may'</td><td>Most often a closing diphthong [eɪ].</td></tr><tr><td>General Indian</td><td>Realized closer to [j̚e].</td></tr><tr><td>General Pakistani</td><td>Can be a diphthong [eɪ] instead, depending on speaker.</td></tr><tr><td>Geordie</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Scottish</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Singaporean</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Ulster</td><td>Pronounced [ɛː~iə] in Belfast.</td></tr><tr><td>Some Cardiff speakers</td><td>square</td><td>[skweː]</td><td>'square'</td><td>More often open-mid [ɛː].</td></tr><tr><td>Scouse</td><td>May (less commonly) be less open [ɪː] or more open [ɛː] instead</td></tr><tr><td>Scottish</td><td>bit</td><td>[bë̞ʔ]</td><td>'bit'</td><td>Near-front, may be [ɪ] (also [ə]) instead for other speakers.</td></tr><tr><td>Cockney</td><td>bird</td><td>[bɛ̝̈ːd]</td><td>'bird'</td><td>Near-front; occasional realization of /ɜː/. It can be rounded [œ̝ː] or, more often, unrounded central [ɜ̝ː] instead. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩.</td></tr><tr><td>Estonian</td><td>keha</td><td>[ˈkeɦɑ̝ˑ]</td><td>'body'</td><td>See Estonian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>French</td><td>beauté</td><td>[bot̪e]</td><td>'beauty'</td><td>See French phonology</td></tr><tr><td>German</td><td>Standard</td><td>Seele</td><td></td><td>'soul'</td><td>See Standard German phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Many speakers</td><td>Jäger</td><td>[ˈjeːɡɐ]</td><td>'hunter'</td><td>Outcome of the /ɛː–eː/ merger found universally in Northern Germany, Eastern Germany and Eastern Austria (often even in formal speech) and in some other regions. See Standard German phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Southern accents</td><td>Bett</td><td>[b̥et]</td><td>'bed'</td><td>Common realization of /ɛ/ in Southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. See Standard German phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Swabian accent</td><td>Contrasts with the open-mid [ɛ]. See Standard German phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Greek</td><td>Sfakian</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Corresponds to mid [e̞] in Modern Standard Greek. See Modern Greek phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Hebrew</td><td>כן/ken</td><td>[ke̞n]</td><td>'yes'</td><td>Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Hindustani</td><td>Hindi</td><td>तेज़/tez</td><td>[t̪eːz]</td><td>'fast', 'sharp'</td><td>See Hindustani phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Urdu</td><td>تیز/tez</td></tr><tr><td>Hungarian</td><td>hét</td><td>[heːt̪]</td><td>'seven'</td><td>Also described as mid [e̞ː]. See Hungarian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Italian</td><td>Standard</td><td>stelle</td><td>[ˈs̪t̪elle]</td><td>'stars'</td><td>See Italian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Khmer</td><td>ទុរេន / turen</td><td>[tureːn]</td><td>'durian'</td><td>See Khmer phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Korean</td><td>메아리 / meari</td><td>[meɐɾi]</td><td>'echo'</td><td>See Korean phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Limburgish</td><td>Most dialects</td><td>leef</td><td>[leːf]</td><td>'dear'</td><td>The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.</td></tr><tr><td>Lithuanian</td><td>tėtė</td><td>[t̪eːt̪eː]</td><td>'father'</td><td>'Tete' and 'tėtis' are more commonly used than 'tėtė.'</td></tr><tr><td>Malay</td><td>Standard</td><td>kecil</td><td>[kə.t͡ʃel]</td><td>'small'</td><td>Allophone of /i/ in closed-final syllables. May be [ɪ] or [e̞] depending on the speaker. See Malay phonology</td></tr><tr><td>habis</td><td>[ha.bes]</td><td>'run out'</td><td>Allophone of [ɪ]. See Malay phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Malayalam</td><td>ചെവി/čevi</td><td>[ȶ͡ɕeʋi]</td><td>'ear'</td><td>See Malayalam phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Marathi</td><td>एक/ek</td><td>[e:k]</td><td>'one'</td><td>See Marathi phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Norwegian</td><td>le</td><td>[leː]</td><td>'laugh'</td><td>The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. See Norwegian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Mpade</td><td>faɗe</td><td>[faɗe]</td><td>'night'</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Persian</td><td>سه/se</td><td>[se]</td><td>'three'</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Polish</td><td>dzień</td><td></td><td>'day'</td><td>Allophone of /ɛ/ between palatal or palatalized consonants. See Polish phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Portuguese</td><td>mesa</td><td>[ˈmezɐ]</td><td>'table'</td><td>See Portuguese phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Romanian</td><td>umple</td><td>[ˈumple]</td><td>'to fill'</td><td>See Romanian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Russian</td><td>шея/šeja</td><td></td><td>'neck'</td><td>Close-mid [e] before and between soft consonants, mid [e̞] after soft consonants. See Russian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Saterland Frisian</td><td>tään</td><td>[te̠ːn]</td><td>'thin'</td><td>Near-front; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛː⟩. Phonetically, it is nearly identical to /ɪ/ ([ɪ̞]). The vowel typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨eː⟩ is actually near-close [e̝ː].</td></tr><tr><td>Slovene</td><td>sedem</td><td>[ˈsèːdəm]</td><td>'seven'</td><td>See Slovene phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Sotho</td><td>ho jwetsa</td><td>[hʊ̠ʒʷet͡sʼɑ̈]</td><td>'to tell'</td><td>Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid front unrounded vowels. See Sotho phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Swedish</td><td>Central Standard</td><td>se</td><td>[s̪eː]</td><td>'see'</td><td>Often diphthongized to [eə̯] (hear the word: ). See Swedish phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Tahitian</td><td>vahine</td><td>[vahine]</td><td>'woman'</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Tamil</td><td>செவி/čevi</td><td>[ȶ͡ɕeʋi]</td><td>'ear'</td><td>See Tamil phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Ukrainian</td><td>ефі́рний efirný</td><td>[eˈfirnɪj]</td><td>'ethereal'</td><td>See Ukrainian phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Welsh</td><td>chwech</td><td>[χweːχ]</td><td>'six'</td><td>See Welsh phonology</td></tr><tr><td>Yoruba</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>