[æ]→[ɛ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 5/5

Near-open front unrounded vowel to Open-mid front unrounded vowel

The raising of the near-open front unrounded vowel [æ] to the open-mid front vowel [ɛ] is a common step in front vowel chain shifts. This Raising often occurs in modern English dialects, where short front vowels shift upwards in the vowel space.

Phonetic Effects

Vowel Raising

Language Examples

Southern American English Germanic

trap [æ]→trap [ɛ]— Raising of /æ/ is characteristic of the Southern Vowel Shift, often accompanied by diphthongization.

New Zealand English Germanic

bad [bæd]→bed [bɛd]— In the New Zealand short front vowel shift, the TRAP vowel [æ] raises to occupy the DRESS vowel space [ɛ].

South African English Germanic

bat [bæd]→bet [bɛd]— Similar to NZ English, South African English shows Raising of the TRAP vowel.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Raising Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction

Sources & References

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