Middle vowels

The defining characteristic of a middle vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel. The only mid vowel with a dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the mid central vowel [ə], a symbol which is also used for the vowel schwa.

/e/: middle, front, simple, spread, unlengthened

Egg, left, said,head, red, instead, any, leopard

/ə/: middle, central, neutral, simple, unlengthened

About, paper, banana, nation, the