Checked and free vowels
In phonetics and phonology, checked vowels are those that commonly stand only in stressed closed syllables, while free vowels are those that can stand in either a stressed closed syllable or a stressed open syllable. == Terminology == The terms checked vowel and free vowel originated in English phonetics and phonology; they are seldom used for the description of other languages, even though a distinction between vowels that usually have to be followed by a consonant and other vowels is common in most Germanic languages.