The lesson below expresses the phonological rules are applied for vowel quality and examples for illustration.
(a) Vowel followed with no consonant ( at the end of word ), quality is long
– me /miː/ ( iː is long )
– beer / bɪə / ( ɪə is long )
– tea / tiː / ( iː is long )
(b) vowel followed by voiced ( lenis ) consonant ( b d g v z m n w l r j dʒ ð ʒ ŋ ), quality is short
– mad / mæd / ( æ is short )
– Head / hɛd / ( ɛ is short )
– Good / guːd / ( uː is short )
– Man / mæn / ( æ is short )
– Income / ɪnkʌm / (ʌ is short )
(c) Vowel followed by voiceless consonants (Fortis): [ p t k s h tʃ ʃ f θ ], quality is shorter
– mat/ mæt/ ( æ is shorter )
– keep / kiːp/ ( iː is shorter )
– teach / tiːtʃ / ( iː is shorter )
– look / luːk / ( uː is shorter)
– like / laɪk / ( aɪ is shorter )
– Aloof / ə`luːf / ( uː is shorter)