* Minimal Pair: Two words that differ by only one sound (phoneme) in the same position, creating a difference in meaning.
* Contrastive: Meaning that the sounds are distinct and create a difference in meaning.
* Height: The vertical position of the tongue in the mouth when producing a vowel sound (high, mid, low).
* Front Vowels: Vowels produced with the tongue positioned towards the front of the mouth (e.g., /i/, /ɪ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /æ/).
Here are some examples of minimal pairs demonstrating the contrastive nature of vowel height for front vowels in English:
* "bit" /bɪt/ vs. "bet" /bɛt/
* The difference is in the vowel height. /ɪ/ is high, while /ɛ/ is mid.
* "heat" /hiːt/ vs. "hat" /hæt/
* /iː/ is high, while /æ/ is low.
* "beet" /biːt/ vs. "bait" /beɪt/
* /iː/ is high, while /eɪ/ is mid.
These examples clearly show that changing the height of a front vowel in English results in a change in the meaning of the word, proving that height is contrastive for these vowels.