æ/ tensing

tongue. In most American and many Canadian English accents, /æ/ raising is specifically /æ/ tensing: a combination of greater raising, fronting, lengthening

English: * May undergo /æ/-tensing. Old English (OE) had an open back vowel /ɑ/, written ⟨a⟩, as well as a front vowel /æ/, written ⟨æ⟩. These had corresponding

phonological split of the Early Modern English short vowel phoneme /æ/ into a short /æ/ and a long /æː/. This split is found in some varieties of English in England

Similar changes took place in words with ⟨a⟩; see trap–bath split and /æ/-tensing. The cot–caught merger, discussed below, has removed the distinction in

especially those with the broad accent, /æː/ and /æ/ will be shifted toward [ɛː] and [ɛ], respectively. There is æ-tensing before a nasal consonant. The nasal