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How are high, mid, and low vowels formed?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Diagram of a human head in profile showing the location of vocal organs and possible places of articulation for speech sounds, with labels for lips, teeth, tongue, palate, uvula, pharynx, and vocal cords, and numbered regions corresponding to types of articulation such as bilabial, alveolar, and velar.
phonetics Diagram depicting the location of human vocal organs and possible places of articulation used for speech.

In articulatory phonetics, vowels are classified primarily by the position of the highest point of the tongue within the mouth, which acts as a resonance chamber.12

The formation of these vowels is determined by tongue height:

  • High vowels: These are produced with the tongue arched toward the roof of the mouth, bringing it to its highest position. Examples include the i in "machine" and the u in "rule". They are also referred to as close vowels.123
  • Mid vowels: These are formed with the tongue positioned between the extremes of high and low. Examples include the e in "bed" and the o in "pole".123
  • Low vowels: These are produced with the tongue relatively flat and low in the mouth. The mouth is opened wider than for high vowels. Examples include the a in "father" or "had". These are also known as open vowels.12

While this traditional classification is widely used, some linguists also describe vowel height using binary features, such as high/nonhigh and low/nonlow, to categorize tongue positions.4