lax vowel

English

Etymology

Compound of lax +‎ vowel.

Noun

lax vowel (plural lax vowels)

1. (phonetics) A vowel produced with relatively little 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:

     Some vowels in English are made with roughly the same tongue position as the tense vowels, but with less constricted articulation; they are called lax vowels.

Antonyms

• tense vowel