The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-mid back rounded vowel,
is a type of
vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
sound used in some spoken
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
s. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...
that represents this sound is .
Close-mid back protruded vowel
The close-mid back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close-mid back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as , and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
for protrusion in the IPA, the symbol for the close-mid back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, , can be used as an ''ad hoc'' symbol for the close-mid back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is or (a close-mid back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.
In English, the symbol is typically associated with the vowel in the "goat", but in
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...
and
General American
General American English, known in linguistics simply as General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm), is the umbrella accent of American English used by a majority of Americans, encompassing a continuum rather than a single unified accent. ...
, that vowel is a
diphthong
A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
whose starting point may be unrounded and more centered than .
For the close-mid near-back protruded vowel that is usually transcribed with the symbol , see
near-close back protruded vowel. If the usual symbol is , the vowel is listed here.
Features
Occurrence
Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression.
Close-mid back compressed vowel
There is no dedicated
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic may also be used with a rounded vowel letter as an ''ad hoc'' symbol, but 'spread' technically means unrounded.
Only
Wu Chinese
, region = Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces; overseas and migrant communities
, ethnicity = Wu
, speakers = million
, date = 2021
, ref = e27
, fa ...
is known to contrast it with the more typical ''protruded'' (endolabial) close-mid back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.
Features
Occurrence
Notes
References
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External links
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{{IPA navigation
Close-mid vowels
Back vowels
Rounded vowels