Re: Lax counterpart of [&]?

Joe wrote:
> Generally, most foreigner's /&/es sound more [E]ey.  Possibly the RP
> /&/ is a bit more similar to [a], though definitly not identical.
On the subject of /&/, I have terrible trouble distinguishing all
three of Finnish 'a', 'ä' (a-umlaut) and 'e' at the same time
articulatorily, and auditorily particularly the latter two.

The books I've read tend to imply that I shouldn't have this problem,
as my Southern British English 'part' [A:], 'pat' [&] and 'pet' [E]
should model the Finnish vowels well enough (length notwithstanding)
... but for some reason I can't make this work.  My best guess is that
the Finnish a-umlaut actually falls somewhere between my /&/ and /E/.
Can anyone clarify?

Jonathan.

[reply to jonathan underscore knibb at hotmail dot com]
--
'O dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages...'
Auden/Britten, 'Hymn to St. Cecilia'