Quote:
Originally Posted by VVVACCPLPNLY
Not really much difference in sound. Except è ís softer than é.
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That's not true.
é is much closer to an english long A sound. However, the american english long A is actually a diphthong that starts at short e and ends at long E. é is the pure vowel between these two endpoints.
è is the pure vowel that is identical to the english short e.
PS I really wish I could type in the international phonetic alphabet here. Then I could be exact with which sounds I'm talking about.
Edit: This will have to do (the vowel chart from teh international phonetic alphabet)...
é is the non-rounded, close mid, front vowel (looks like 'e')
è is the non-rounded, open mid, front vowel (looks like epsilon, or backwards 3 if you don't know greek)
american english long A is a vowel sound that starts at non-rounded, open mid, front (epsilon on chart), and 'slides' while being pronounced to non-rounded, close (or near close), front (looks like 'i' on chart but in casual pronunciation usually doesn't make it 100% to that end point. So that's why it's close to é ('e' on chart), the long A in american english slides right through its territory). Other dialects of english preserve the pure vowel that is identical to the french é, but not so much with standard american english.