front vowel

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 forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. The front vowels identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

• close front unrounded vowel [i]
• close front rounded vowel [y]
• close-mid front unrounded vowel [e]
• close-mid front rounded vowel [ø]
• open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ]
• open-mid front rounded vowel [œ]
• near-open front unrounded vowel [æ]
• open front unrounded vowel [a]
• open front rounded vowel [ɶ]

In some languages, the open front vowels do not pattern or group with the other front vowels in their phonologies.

Effect on preceding consonant

In the history of many Indo-European languages, front vowels altered preceding velar consonants, bringing them forward to a palatal, postalveolar, or alveolar place of articulation. Similar changes, or sometimes ongoing allophonic variation, have occurred in many other languages, including Japanese. See palatalization.

This historical palatalization is reflected in the orthographies of several European languages, including the "c" and "g" of Italian, Spanish, and French, the "k" in Norwegian and Swedish, and the "γ" in Greek. English follows the French pattern, but without as much regularity. However, for native or early borrowed words affected by palatization, English has generally altered the spelling after the pronunciation (Examples include cheap, church, cheese, churn from *[k] yell, yarn, yearn, yeast from *[g].)

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