Practice question · Select all that apply
Which are true of vowel length in English?
Hints
- Three describe the real behaviour of duration; one is the tidy story that measurement contradicts.
- The vowel of beat can measure shorter than the vowel of bid.
Show the answer
- A. The traditional long and short labels also encode differences in quality
- C. Vowels are longer before voiced consonants than before voiceless ones
- D. The duration difference is a major cue to the identity of the final consonant
Why
The fourth fails on measurement: a following voiceless consonant shortens the preceding vowel so much that a "long" vowel in beat can come out shorter than a "short" one in bid. The labels are names for categories that also differ in quality, not descriptions of duration.
Practise English Vowels I: the Quadrilateral
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More questions on English Vowels I: the Quadrilateral
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