What is the scientific definition of open-midness?

Answer 1

Open-midness refers to a vowel quality in phonetics, specifically the position of the tongue during its articulation. It describes vowels produced with the tongue positioned between an open and a mid vowel, resulting in a relatively relaxed mouth posture. Examples of open-mid vowels include the sounds represented by the IPA symbols [ɛ] as in "bed" and [ɔ] as in "thought." These vowels are characterized by their intermediate height in the vocal tract compared to fully open or fully mid vowels.