The feature of vowel length explained

Vowel length. English has a number of short and long vowels. The contrast between long and short vowels like /ɪ/ and /iː/ is meaningful as in “ship” versus “sheep”. Other languages may not make such a contrast or have different long and short vowels. The situation is complicated by the fact that in English, vowels are additionally lengthened before voiced consonants. Thus while /ɪ/ is an inherently short vowel, it is pronounced relatively short before a voiceless consonant like /p/ as in “rip” and somewhat longer before voice consonants like /b/ as in “rib”. “Rip”. “Rib”.

In a similar manner, while /iː/ is an inherently long vowel, it is pronounced relatively short before a voiceless consonant like /k/ as in “leak” and somewhat longer before voiced consonants like /g/ as in “league”. “Leak”. “League”.