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"lower your jaw, opening your mouth much wider than you'd normally do; exaggeratedly wide, and produce the sound in the back of your throat." - I can produce nearly any vowel with widely opened mouth, they just would be somewhat distorted (but if I try to produce /e/ wil an open mouth it will be just like normal /e/, without distortions). Should I try to produce /e/ with an open mouth or /a/ or /o/ or /i/?

Anixx
– Anixx

2014-12-27 13:35:31 +00:00
Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 13:35
"jut your jaw forward, exaggeratedly, and make a breathy sound like zombie. ehhhh..." - what sound the zombies do? If I extend the jaw, I still get clear /e/. In fact whether my mouth is opened or the jaw is put forwars does not affect the /e/ sound at all.

Anixx
– Anixx

2014-12-27 13:37:35 +00:00
Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 13:37
Look I actually can distinguish two variants of the e vowel (and produce them independently or in the word beginning), the one is that follows soft consonants in Russian, the other that follows hard consonants. I do not know whether they correspond to the English wowels, but I can produce them totally independently of whether my mouth is opened widely and where is my jaw. But I cannot produce the "soft" vowel after a hard consonant and a "hard" vowel after a soft consonant. In "then" and "than" the consonant "th" seems to be hard in both cases, so I can produce only one variant in both cases.

Anixx
– Anixx

2014-12-27 13:55:10 +00:00
Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 13:55
It is very difficult to say the -e- in "then" with the jaw dropped far down and retracted. Conversely, it is very difficult to say the -a- in "than" with the mouth almost closed with the jaw jutting forward. Can you distinguish between "man" and "men"?

TimR-gone from here
– TimR-gone from here

2014-12-27 14:00:19 +00:00
Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 14:00
The -a- [æ] vowel is not a variant of the -e- vowel. -a- [æ] is a "back vowel" -e- is a mid-to-front vowel.

TimR-gone from here
– TimR-gone from here

2014-12-27 14:01:24 +00:00
Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 14:01

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