F 2 is primarily determined by the front cavity - the cavity in front of the tongue hump. Front vowels have small front cavity and, therefore, lower F 2 . Lip rounding results in a larger front cavity and consequently lower F 2 . Low vowels result in greater coupling between the two cavities and therefore, lower F 3 . Formant bandwidth correlates with formant frequency, increasing from F 1 to F 2 to F 3 .
Tense vowels have longer duration and higher intensity than corresponding lax vowels.
Nasalization reduces formant amplitude and increases formant bandwidth. Dipthongs have longer duration, longer steady state and longer formant transitions than simple vowels. Vowel Formant Structure High vowels have low F 1 and low vowels have high F 1 . Front vowels have high F 2 and back vowels have low F 2 . F 2 is primarily determined by front-back difference.