What is vowels clipping? Or just clipping in phonetics?
EVERY detail matters in language especially if you are really trying to sound closer to native speakers of English. One of those details that make a difference in how you sound is “clipping”. Clipping is the process of shortening sounds particularly vowels, and mainly long ones. Today, we’re going to take a look at how clipping actually works with long vowels such as /aɪ/ and /eɪ/.
Here’s what happens: Before voiceless consonants such as /t/ /s/ /k/ etc, vowels /aɪ/ and /eɪ/ are clipped (not only those 2 vowels but these are very good examples). On the other hand, before voiced consonants such as /d/ /z/ and /g/ etc, they’re fully pronounced as long vowels.
Look at the two tables below:
Clipping Long vowels before voiceless consonant /s/
| Normal | IPA | Clipped | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| rise | raɪz | rice | raɪs |
| lose | lu:z | loose | lu：s |
| raise | reɪz | race | reɪs |
| dies | daɪz | dice | daɪs |
| phazed | feɪzd | faced | feɪst |
| close (verb) | kloʊz | close (adj) | kloʊs |
PRACTICE.
Every time I throw the dice he dies twice. Since I don’t care whether I lose or win, I hang loose laughing at that red faced man getting phazed with the race. Okay. Let’s raise the stakes shall we?
Clipping Long vowels before voiceless consonant /t/
| Normal | IPA | Clipped | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| ride | raɪd | right | raɪt |
| fade | feɪd | fate | feɪt |
| made | meɪd | mate | meɪt |
| hide | haɪd | height | haɪt |
| wide | waɪd | white | waɪt |
| side | saɪd | sight | saɪt |
PRACTICE
Given his height, he can’t hide, and you’re right! He can’t even ride the bike. Mate, sorry about the comment I made, I lost sight of the right side and failed to see the wide difference between black and white.
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