The long front close vowel

The long front close vowel (monophthong) is prounced by the front of the tongue being raised towards the hard palate so as to form a closure along the sides of the mouth. The air escapes over the middle of the tongue. The vowel is fairly tense. The sound is quite close to corresponding Norwegian variants, and Norwegians have no difficulties in pronouncing it correctly. Spelling is fairly well related to pronunciation, as it is regularly represented by the letter "e" and combinations. The sound is considerably lengthened when followed by a lenis consonant. The illustration on the right shows the relative position of the tonge as compared to other front vowels.