tense vowel

English

Etymology

Compound of tense +‎ vowel.

Noun

tense vowel (plural tense vowels)

1. (phonetics) A vowel produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.
   • 2001, Michael Dobrovolsky, “Phonetics: The Sounds of Language”, in William O'Grady, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, Janie Rees-Miller, editors, Contemporary Linguistics, →ISBN, page 35:

     All of the vowels illustrated [...] are tense vowels; they are produced with a placement of the tongue that results in greater vocal tract constriction than that of nontense vowels...

Antonyms

• lax vowel