midvowels

Midvowels are a class of vowel sounds in phonetics characterized by the position of the tongue. The tongue is raised neither high nor low in the mouth, but to a middle position. This placement distinguishes them from high vowels, where the tongue is raised, and low vowels, where the tongue is lowered. In terms of height, midvowels occupy the middle ground.

Another dimension used to classify vowels is backness, referring to how far forward or backward the tongue is in the mouth. Midvowels can also be further categorized by their backness. For instance, the vowel sound in the English word "bed" is a front-mid vowel, as the tongue is in the middle position and also pushed forward. Conversely, the vowel sound in the English word "boat" (in many accents) is a back-mid vowel, with the tongue in the middle position and retracted towards the back of the mouth.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses specific symbols to represent midvowels. For example, /ɛ/ represents the front-mid unrounded vowel, as in "bed." The symbol /ɔ/ represents the back-mid rounded vowel, as in "caught" (in some accents). The symbol /ə/ represents the mid-central vowel, often called a schwa, found in unstressed syllables like the 'a' in "about." The precise articulation of midvowels can vary between languages and even within different pronunciations of the same language.