The open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel ("short" "a", somewhat like the first vowel in the English "batter", ). It usually has a back counterpart ("long" "a", like the "a" in "father", , or even tending to the vowel in "caught", ), and a front counterpart ("short" "e", like the vowel in "head", ). There is much correspondence between these vowels between dialects. There is some evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not distinguish between the short "a" and short "e". In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the long "a" became the "o" sound. The open "e" and back "a" are often indicated in writing by the use of the letters א "alaph" (a glottal stop) or ה "he" (like the English "h").