A near-open vowel or a near-low vowel is any in a class of
vowel sound used in some spoken
languages. The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to an
open vowel
An open vowel is a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels (in U.S. terminology ) in reference to the low position of the tongue.
In the cont ...
, but slightly more constricted.
Other names for a near-open vowel are lowered open-mid vowel and raised open vowel,
though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low as
open; likewise, the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high as
open-mid
An open-mid vowel (also mid-open vowel, low-mid vowel, mid-low vowel or half-open vowel) is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned one third ...
.
Partial list
The near-open vowels with dedicated symbols in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
are:
*
near-open front unrounded vowel
The near-open front unrounded vowel, or near-low front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a lowercase of the ligature. Bot ...
*
near-open central vowel
The near-open central vowel, or near-low central vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a rotated lowercase double-barrelled letter a.
...
without specified rounding (usually used for an unrounded vowel; the distinction can be made as (or ) vs )
Other near-open vowels can be indicated with diacritics of
relative articulation
In phonetics and phonology, relative articulation is description of the manner and place of articulation of a speech sound relative to some reference point. Typically, the comparison is made with a default, unmarked articulation of the same pho ...
applied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as and for near-open near-back rounded and unrounded vowels.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Near-Open Vowel
Vowels by height