Vowel № 1 [ı:] In pronouncing the English [ı:] the front of the tongue is raised to the hard palate. The air passage between the tongue and the hard palate is narrow. The sides of the tongue are pressed to the upper teeth. The lips are spread, revealing the teeth (phonetic smile).Thus the English [ı:] may be defined as a long, tense, close, front, vowel phoneme.
Proverbs:
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Extremes meet.
Learn to creep before you leap.
Seeing is believing.
Greek meets Greek.
A new broom sweeps clean.
Vowel № 2 [ı] In pronouncing the English [ı] the front of the tongue is raised to the hard palate but not so high as in [ı:]. The air passage between the tongue and the hard palate is a bit wider. The sides of the tongue only touch the upper teeth. The lips are neutral. Thus, the English [ı] may be defined as a short, lax, front, close vowel phoneme.