Mid front vowels

The difference between the mid front vowels /e/ and /ε/ is similar to that between the high front vowels /i/ and /ɪ/; /e/ is longer, higher, and tense, and /ε/ is lower, shorter, and lax. The diphthongal nature of the tense one, however, is more pronounced; this is more obvious in open stressed syllables, such as say, or before voiced consonants (e.g. game, grade) than before voiceless consonants (e.g. gate) or in weak syllables (e.g. create). A more monophthongal (or very narrow) diphthong can be found in the northernmost Midwest region (e.g. Wisconsin, Minnesota).

Parallel to the tensing of /ɪ/ to [i], the vowel /ε/ may be realized as diphthongal [e] before /ʃ, Z/ (e.g. special [speʃəl], cf. spatial) in the South. This is also extended to contexts before voiced stops (e.g. bed, dead), and as a result the contrast between /e/ and /ε/ is lost, and egg rhymes with vague. Besides the free variation that exists before a tautosyllabic [ɹ̣], there is also a free variation between /e/ and /æ/ (e.g. apricot, matrix); this exists as well in the negative prefix, as in amoral, asymmetric. Similar to the southern variety, /ε/ may be raised to /ɪ/ before a nasal in AAVE (e.g. pen [pεn] → [pɪn]).