A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also called bright vowels because they are perceived as sounding brighter than the back vowels. The front vowels identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
- close front unrounded vowel
- close front rounded vowel
- close-mid front unrounded vowel
- close-mid front rounded vowel
- open-mid front unrounded vowel
- open-mid front rounded vowel
- near-open front unrounded vowel
- open front unrounded vowel
- open front rounded vowel
Read more about Front Vowel: Effect On Preceding Consonant
Famous quotes containing the words front and/or vowel:
“And into the gulf between cantankerous reality and the male ideal of shaping your world, sail the innocent children. They are right there in front of us—wild, irresponsible symbols of everything else we can’t control.”
—Hugh O’Neill (20th century)
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)