The mid back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the exact mid back unrounded vowel between close-mid [ɤ] and open-mid [ʌ], because no language is known to distinguish all three, but ⟨ɤ⟩ is normally used. If more precision is desired, diacritics can be used, such as ⟨ɤ̞⟩ or ⟨ʌ̝⟩.
Some of the vowels listed in the table below may phonetically be more front than typical back vowels, as near-back vowels. If precision is required, this may instead be called a mid near-back unrounded vowel.
Features
- Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian[1] | път | [pɤ̞t̪] | 'path' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩ in broad transcriptions. See Bulgarian phonology | |
| Chinese | Shanghainese[2] | 渠 | [kɤ̞˩] | 'ditch' | Tends to be diphthongized to [ɤ̞ɯ̞] by younger speakers.[2] |
| English | Cardiff[3] | plus | [pl̥ʌ̝s] | 'plus' | May be [ə], [ɜ], [ɜ̟] or [ë̞] instead.[3] It corresponds to [ʌ] in other dialects. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩. |
| Norfolk[4] | Corresponds to [ʌ] in other dialects. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩. See English phonology | ||||
| Philadelphia[5] | [pɫ̥ʌ̝s] | May be either open-mid [ʌ] or a lowered and unrounded /uː/ ([ɯ̽]) instead.[5] It corresponds to [ʌ] in other dialects. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩. See English phonology | |||
| Gayo[6] | kule | [kuˈlɤ̞ː] | 'tiger' | One of the possible allophones of /ə/.[6] | |
| German | Chemnitz dialect[7] | Schirm | [ʃʌ̝ˤːm] | 'umbrella' | Pharyngealized; may be an opening diphthong [ɪːɒ̯] instead.[7] |
| Ibibio[8] | [dʌ̝k˦] | 'enter' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[8] | ||
| Vietnamese | Hanoi[9] | tờ | [t̻ɤ̞˧˨] | 'sheet' | Realization of /ɤ/ (also transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩) according to Kirby (2011). See Vietnamese phonology |
See also
Notes
- ↑ Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999), p. 56.
- 1 2 Chen & Gussenhoven (2015), p. 328.
- 1 2 Collins & Mees (1990), p. 93.
- ↑ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
- 1 2 Gordon (2004), p. 290.
- 1 2 Eades & Hajek (2006), p. 111.
- 1 2 Khan & Weise (2013), p. 236.
- 1 2 Urua (2004), p. 106.
- ↑ Kirby (2011), p. 384.
References
- Chen, Yiya; Gussenhoven, Carlos (2015), "Shanghai Chinese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (3): 321–327, doi:10.1017/S0025100315000043
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (1990), "The Phonetics of Cardiff English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 87–103, ISBN 1-85359-032-0
- Eades, Domenyk; Hajek, John (2006), "Gayo" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 107–115, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002416
- Gordon, Matthew J. (2004), "New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 282–299, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013), "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145
- Kirby, James P. (2011), "Vietnamese (Hanoi Vietnamese)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 41 (3): 381–392, doi:10.1017/S0025100311000181
- Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
- Ternes, Elmer; Vladimirova-Buhtz, Tatjana (1999), "Bulgarian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 55–57, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001550