During the articulation of this vowel, the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate to a position between the half-close and half-open positions. The lips are neutral. Thus it is a front unrounded vowel between the half-close and half-open positions. It is a short vowel. It is represented in spelling by e, ea, a, u, ie, ai, ay, as in red, head, any, bury, friend, leisure, said, says. this vowel sound occurs initially and medially as in end, bell etc. It does not occur finally. Some more examples:
a – any, many, ferry, merry, Jerry
ai – said, again
ay – says
e – end, send, let, get, betbed, mess, egg, kettle
ea – dead, head, read, spread, health, leant, jealous, pleasant
