The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front [a] and back [ɑ], it is normally written ⟨a⟩. If precision is required, it can be specified by using diacritics, such as centralized ⟨ä⟩ or retracted ⟨a̠⟩, but this is not common.
Acoustically, however, [a] is an extra-low central vowel.[2] It is more common to use plain [a] for an open central vowel and, if needed, [æ] (officially near-open front vowel) for an open front vowel. Alternatively, Sinologists may use the letter ⟨ᴀ⟩ (small capital A). The IPA voted against officially adopting this symbol in 2011–2012.[3]
Contrast
The Hamont dialect of Limburgish has been reported to contrast long open front, central and back unrounded vowels,[4] which is extremely unusual.
Features
| IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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- Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth – that is, as low as possible in the mouth.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. This often subsumes open (low) front vowels, because the tongue does not have as much flexibility in positioning as it does for the close (high) vowels; the difference between an open front vowel and an open back vowel is equal to the difference between a close front and a close central vowel, or a close central and a close back vowel.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
Most languages have some form of an unrounded open vowel. Because the IPA uses ⟨a⟩ for both front and central unrounded open vowels, it is not always clear whether a particular language uses the former or the latter.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bavarian | Amstetten dialect[5] | [example needed] | |||
| Burmese[6] | မာ / ma | [mä] | 'hard' | Oral allophone of /a/ in open syllables; realized as near-open [ɐ] in other environments.[6] | |
| Catalan[7] | sac | [s̠äk] | 'sack' | See Catalan phonology | |
| Chinese | Mandarin[8] | 他 / tā |  [tʰä˥] (help·info) |
'he' | See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Cantonese[9] | 返 / fāan | [faːn˥] |
'return' | Allophone of /aː/ in syllable closed by plosives and nasals.[10] See Cantonese phonology | |
| Czech[11][12] | prach | [präx] | 'dust' | See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | Standard[13][14] | barn | [ˈb̥ɑ̈ːˀn] | 'child' | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑː⟩ - the way it is realized in the conservative variety.[15] See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard[16][17] | zaal | [zäːɫ] | 'hall' | Ranges from front to central;[18] in non-standard accents it may be back. See Dutch phonology |
| Amsterdam[19] | bad | [bät] | 'bath' | Also present in many other non-Randstad accents.[19] It corresponds to [ɑ] in Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology | |
| Antwerp[19] | |||||
| Brabant[19] | |||||
| English | Australian[20] | car | [kʰäː] | 'car' | See Australian English phonology |
| Cultivated South African[21] | Some speakers. For other speakers, it is less front [ɑ̟ː][21][22] or, in Estuary English, even more back [ɑː].[22] See South African English phonology | ||||
| Estuary[22] | |||||
| Norfolk[23] | |||||
| General South African[24] |
time | [tʰäːm] | 'time' | Corresponds to the diphthong /aɪ/ in most dialects. General South African speakers may also monophthongize /aʊ/. See English phonology and South African English phonology | |
| Southern American[25] | |||||
| General American[26] | cot | [kʰäʔt̚] | 'cot' | It may be more back [ɑ̟ ~ ɑ], especially for speakers with the cot–caught merger. See English phonology | |
| Southern Michigan[27] | See English phonology | ||||
| Multicultural London[28] | trap | [t̠ɹ̝̊äʔp] | 'trap' | More front [ɛ ~ æ ~ a] for other Southeastern English speakers. See English phonology | |
| Some speakers from Reading[22] | |||||
| Northern England[29] | [t̠ɹ̝̊äp] | Notably prevalent in Yorkshire, mainly around the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. More front [æ ~ a] for some other speakers. See English phonology | |||
| Vancouver[30] | [t̠ɹ̝̊äp̚] | See Canadian Shift and English phonology | |||
| Younger speakers from Ontario[31] | |||||
| Finnish[32] | kana | [ˈkänä] | 'hen' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑ⟩; also described as near-open back [ɑ̝].[33] See Finnish phonology | |
| French | Parisian[34][35] | patte | [pät̪] | 'paw' | Older speakers have two contrastive open vowels: front /a/ and back /ɑ/.[35] See French phonology |
| Galician[36] | macio | [ˈmäθjo̞] | 'soft' | See Galician phonology | |
| German | Standard[37][38] | Katze | [ˈkʰät͡sə] | 'cat' | Backness varies among regional accents.[39] See Standard German phonology |
| Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region[40] | oder | [ˈʔoːdä] | 'or' | Used instead of [ɐ].[41] See Standard German phonology | |
| Many speakers[42] | Haar | [häː] | 'hair' | Used much more often than the closing diphthong [äːɐ̯][42] (hear the word: [häːɐ̯]). The exact backness may vary somewhat; for instance, in the Standard Austrian accent, it is back [ɑː].[43] See Standard German phonology |
|
| Greek | Modern Standard[44] | ακακία / akakía | [äkäˈc̠i.ä] | 'acacia' | Also described as near-open [ɐ].[45][46] See Modern Greek phonology |
| Hebrew[47] | פח | [päχ] (help·info) |
'garbage can' | Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology | |
| Hungarian[48] | láb | [läːb] | 'leg' | See Hungarian phonology | |
| Icelandic[49][50] | fara | [ˈfäːrä] | 'go' | See Icelandic phonology | |
| Italian[51] | casa | [ˈkäːzä] | 'home' | See Italian phonology | |
| Japanese[52] | 蚊 ka | [kä] (help·info) |
'mosquito' | See Japanese phonology | |
| Limburgish | Hamont dialect[4] | zaak | [²zäːk] | 'business' | Contrasts with front [aː] and back [ɑː].[4] See Hamont dialect phonology |
| Lower Sorbian[53] | glažk | [ɡläʂk] | 'glass' | ||
| Norwegian | Sognamål[54] | dag | [däːɡ] | 'day' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Polish[55] | kat | [kät̪] (help·info) |
'executioner' | See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese[56] | vá | [vä] | 'go' | See Portuguese phonology | |
| Romanian[57] | cal | [käl] | 'horse' | See Romanian phonology | |
| Sema[58] | ala | [à̠là̠] | 'path' | Also described as near-open [ɐ].[59] | |
| Serbo-Croatian[60] | патка / patka | [pâ̠t̪ka̠] | 'female duck' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Shiwiar[61] | [example needed] | ||||
| Slovak[62][63] | a | [ʔä] | 'and' | See Slovak phonology | |
| Spanish[64] | rata | [ˈrät̪ä] | 'rat' | See Spanish phonology | |
| Swedish | Central Standard[65][66] | bank | [bäŋk] | 'bank' | The backness has been variously described as central [ä],[65][66] near-front [a̠][67] and front [a].[68] See Swedish phonology |
| Turkish[69] | at | [ät̪] | 'horse' | Also described as back [ɑ].[70] See Turkish phonology | |
| Upper Sorbian[53][71] | ale | [ˈälɛ] | 'but' | See Upper Sorbian phonology | |
| West Frisian[72] | laad | [ɫäːt] | 'drawer' | See West Frisian phonology | |
| Yoruba[73] | [example needed] | ||||
References
- ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
- ^ Geoff Lindsey (2013) The vowel space, Speech Talk
- ^ Keating (2012), p. 245.
- ^ a b c Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
- ^ Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
- ^ a b Watkins (2001), pp. 292–293.
- ^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 54.
- ^ Lee & Zee (2003), pp. 110–111.
- ^ Zee (1999), pp. 59–60.
- ^ Zee (1999), p. 60.
- ^ Dankovičová (1999), p. 72.
- ^ Šimáčková, Podlipský & Chládková (2012), p. 228.
- ^ Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
- ^ Basbøll (2005), p. 46.
- ^ Ladefoged & Johnson (2010), p. 227.
- ^ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
- ^ Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 104.
- ^ a b c d Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
- ^ Cox & Palethorpe (2007), p. 344.
- ^ a b Lass (2002), pp. 116–117.
- ^ a b c d Altendorf & Watt (2004), p. 188.
- ^ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
- ^ Lass (2002), p. 117.
- ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. ?.
- ^ Wells (1982), p. 476.
- ^ Hillenbrand (2003), p. 122.
- ^ Kerswill, Torgerson & Fox (2006), p. 30.
- ^ Boberg (2004), p. 361.
- ^ Esling & Warkentyne (1993), p. ?.
- ^ Boberg (2004), pp. 361–362.
- ^ Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
- ^ Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
- ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
- ^ a b Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
- ^ Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
- ^ Kohler (1999), p. 87.
- ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 34.
- ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
- ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), pp. 34, 37, 40.
- ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 40.
- ^ a b Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 52.
- ^ Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), p. 342.
- ^ Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
- ^ Arvaniti (2007), p. 25.
- ^ Lodge (2009), p. 89.
- ^ Laufer (1999), p. 98.
- ^ Szende (1994), p. 92.
- ^ Árnason (2011), p. 60.
- ^ Einarsson (1945:10), cited in Gussmann (2011:73)
- ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 119.
- ^ Okada (1991), p. 94.
- ^ a b Stone (2002), p. 600.
- ^ Haugen (2004), p. 30.
- ^ Jassem (2003), p. 105.
- ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
- ^ Sarlin (2014), p. 18.
- ^ Teo (2014), p. 28.
- ^ Teo (2012), p. 368.
- ^ Landau et al. (1999), p. 67.
- ^ Fast Mowitz (1975), p. 2.
- ^ Pavlík (2004), pp. 94–95.
- ^ Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 375.
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 256.
- ^ a b Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
- ^ a b Riad (2014), p. 35.
- ^ Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.
- ^ Bolander (2001), p. 55.
- ^ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
- ^ Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
- ^ Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 20.
- ^ de Haan (2010), p. 333.
- ^ Bamgboṣe (1969), p. 166.
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with only 15 of 30 members voting [by email], the vote was 8 in favor, 7 against. [...] With all 30 members of the Council voting [again six months later], the resolution was defeated: 17 no, 12 yes, 1 abstention. The IPA will therefore not be adding a symbol for this vowel to the alphabet or chart.
- Kerswill, Paul; Torgerson, Eivind; Fox, Sue (2006), "Innovation in inner‐London teenage speech", NWAV35, Columbus
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Further reading
- Barry, William; Trouvain, Jürgen (2008), "Do we need a symbol for a central open vowel?", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (3): 349–357, doi:10.1017/s0025100308003587