Do any speakers of standard German pronounce Ä differently than E, and in which linguistic contexts and/or regional locations/dialects?

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German has a wide range of variation when it comes to dialect. There are 16 Federal States and 3 city-states in Germany, and almost everywhere, one can find a slight variation in the dialect. So, some of the German may pronounce Ä differently than E. Below is a comment made by a linguistic expert...
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German has a wide range of variation when it comes to dialect. There are 16 Federal States and 3 city-states in Germany, and almost everywhere, one can find a slight variation in the dialect. So, some of the German may pronounce Ä differently than E. Below is a comment made by a linguistic expert on a website: “In standard pronunciation, short "ä" is [ɛ], and short "e" is [ə], [ɛ], or [e], where the last one occurs in foreign words ("Methode" [meˈtoːdə]) but rarely in native ones ("lebendig" [leˈbɛndɪk]). That means that most of the time, there is no audible difference between short "ä" and "e". For instance, the vowels in "nässer" and "besser" are the same, namely [ɛ].” “Long "ä" is [ɛː], long "e" is usually [eː], so the long vowels are clearly distinguished. “Dialects often differ. Many North Germans, for instance, will consistently replace [ɛː] by [eː], and if I remember correctly, there are South German dialects that make a difference between short "ä" and "e". “For non-native speakers: Replacing short [e] by [ɛ] is unproblematic. Short [e] is rare, there is no risk of semantic ambiguities, and many people will simply not notice it. Replacing long [ɛː] by [eː] or vice versa can lead to semantic ambiguities ("ich sehe/ich sähe"). It will be noticed and it's considered as a mistake, but it's a mistake that is also common among native speakers, so I think that you will be understood.” read less
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