Close back unrounded vowel
Vowel sound represented by ⟨ɯ⟩ in IPA
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The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is â¨É¯â©. Typographically, it is a turned letter â¨mâ©.
| Close back unrounded vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɯ | |||
| IPA number | 316 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɯ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+026F | ||
| X-SAMPA | M | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of the voiced velar approximant [É°].
Features
- Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
- 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.
- Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
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Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acehnese[2] | eu | [ɯ] | 'see' | Also described as closer to [ɨ].[3][4] | |
| Arara[5] | îput | [ɯputÌ] | 'my skin' | Frequent realisation of /ɨ/.[5] | |
| Arbëresh | Arbëreshë | [ÉɾbɯɾeÊ] | 'Arbëreshë' | /É/ in standard Albanian. | |
| Azerbaijani | bahalı / باÙاÙÛÙ | [bÉhÉËɫɯ] | 'expensive' | Closer to an [É].[6] | |
| Bashkir | Ò¡ÑÒ / ÙÙÙØ« / qÄ±Ä | [qɯð] | 'girl' | ||
| Chinese | Mandarin | åº / cì | [tÍ¡sʰɯ˥˩] | 'thorn' | |
| Wuhan dialect, Southwestern Mandarin | å» / keu | [kʰɯ] | 'to go' | ||
| Some Wu dialects | ç¶ / vu | [vɯ] | 'father' | ||
| Xiang | ç« / xu | [xɯ] | 'fire' | ||
| Chuvash | ÑÑ Ñа / ıxra | [ɯɣra] | 'garlic' | ||
| Crimean Tatar | джанÑм / canım | [dÊanɯm] | 'my dear' | ||
| English | Some California speakers[7] | goose | [ɡɯËs] | 'goose' | Corresponds to [uË] in other dialects. |
| New Zealand[8][9] | treacle | [ËtɹÌÌiËkɯ] | 'treacle' | Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[8][9] Corresponds to /Él/ in other accents. Develops from dark L; See New Zealand English phonology | |
| Some Philadelphia speakers[10] | plus | [pɫ̥ɯs] | 'plus' | Used by some speakers; the exact height and backness is variable.[10] It corresponds to [Ê] in other accents. See English phonology | |
| South African[11] | pill | [pʰɯÌÉ«] | 'pill' | Near-close; possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/.[11] See South African English phonology | |
| Eastern Khanty | Vakh-Vasyugan[12] | пÓÓк | [pɯÅk] | 'hazel grouse' | See Eastern Khanty phonology |
| Estonian[13] | kõrv | [kɯrv] | 'ear' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨É¤â©; can be close-mid central [É] or close-mid back [ɤ] instead, depending on the speaker.[13] See Estonian phonology | |
| Irish | Ulster | caol | [kʰɯËlÌªË ] | 'narrow' | See Irish phonology |
| Japanese[14] | ç©ºæ° / kÅ«ki | â | 'air' | May be compressed [ɯáµ].[15] See Japanese phonology | |
| Katukina[16] | [babɯËdÊɯ] | 'oscar (fish)' | |||
| Kazakh | ÒÑÑ / qys / ÙÙس | [qɯs] | 'winter' | May be pronounced as qÉs | |
| Korean[17] | ìì é£®é£ / eumsik | [ɯËmÉÍikÌ] | 'food' | See Korean phonology | |
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | tirÅ | [tˤɯɾÊ] | 'sour' | See Kurdish phonology. The "i" after "t" always uses this sound if the "t" is "tˤ". However, it can also appear at other places. |
| Sorani (Central) | ترش / tirŠ| ||||
| Kyrgyz | кÑз / ÙÙز / qyz | [qɯz] | 'girl' | See Kyrgyz phonology | |
| Minangkabau | Some speakers | mandudu | [mändɯdɯ] | 'to push ahead' | Normally [u] in standard Minangkabau language. |
| Panará[18] | [tɯËsÉÊ°] | 'to breathe' | |||
| Romanian | Some speakers | când | [kɯnd] | 'when' | Typically described as â¨É¨â©. See Romanian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | caol | [kʰɯËlÌªË ] | 'thin' | See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Sop | düm | [dɯm] | 'tree' | See Sop language | |
| Tamil | à® à®´à®à¯ / aḻagu | [ÉÉ»Égɯ] | 'beauty' | Normally [u] elsewhere. | |
| Thai | Standard[19] | à¸à¸¶à¹à¸ / khuen/khîn | [kʰɯn˥˩] | 'to go up' | |
| Turkish[20] | sÄ±Ä | â | 'shallow' | Described variously as close back [ɯ],[20] near-close near-back [ɯ̽][21] and close central [ɨ].[22] See Turkish phonology | |
| Turkmen | ýaÅyl / ÛاشÛÙÙ | [jÉËËÊɯl] | 'green' | ||
| Uyghur | تÙÙÙÙ / tılım/tilim | [tɯlɯm] | 'my language' | In complementary distribution with /ɪ/. See Uyghur phonology | |
| Vietnamese | tư | [tɯ] | 'fourth' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
Near-close near-back unrounded vowel
| Near-close back unrounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| É¯Ì | |
| É¤Ì |
Some languages have a near-close near-back unrounded vowel, or near-high near-back unrounded vowel, which is more centralized than a typical [ɯ].
The International Phonetic Alphabet has no dedicated symbol for this sound, but it may be represented as [ɯ̽] (mid-centralized â¨É¯â©) or [ɯÌÌ] (lowered and centralized â¨É¯â©). It may also be transcribed as [ÊÌ] (less rounded â¨Êâ©), but because â¨Êâ© is defined by the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association as rounded (whereas â¨Éâ© and â¨Éâ© do not specify rounding),[23] the symbol [ÊÌ] can also signify a weakly rounded [Ê], rather than the fully unrounded vowel that is described in this article. John C. Wells transcribes this vowel with the para-IPA symbol â¨Ïâ© in his Accents of English,[24] though Sinological phonetic notation uses this symbol instead for a near-open back rounded vowel [ÉÌ]. John Esling uses â¨áµ»â© to represent this sound in his iPA Phonetics mobile application,[25] though this is more typically used to represent a near-close central unrounded vowel [ɪÌ].
For precision, a near-close back unrounded vowel, or near-high back unrounded vowel, may also be described, and is attested in a few spoken languages. This sound can be represented in the IPA as [ɯÌ] (lowered â¨É¯â©) or [ɤÌ] (raised â¨É¤â©). However, some phoneticians argue that all lip position inverses of the primary cardinal vowels are centralized (with the exception of â¨Éâ©) based on formant acoustics,[26] so that there may be no substantial difference between a near-close near-back unrounded vowel [ɯ̽] and its fully back counterpart [ɯÌ].
Features
- Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high 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.
- Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | African-American[27] | hook | [hɯ̽k] | 'hook' | Possible realization of /Ê/.[27] |
| California[7] | Often pronounced with spread lips. Corresponds to /Ê/ in other accents.[7] See English phonology | ||||
| Tidewater[28] | May be rounded [Ê] instead.[28] | ||||
| Cardiff[29] | [ɯ̽k] | Also described as close-mid central [É ~ ɵ].[30] | |||
| New Zealand[8][9] | treacle | â | 'treacle' | Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[8][9] It corresponds to /Él/ in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology | |
| Some Philadelphia speakers[10] | plus | [pɫ̥ɯÌs] | 'plus' | Used particularly by male speakers; can be lower [ÊÌ ~ Ê] instead.[10] It corresponds to [Ê] in other accents. See English phonology | |
| South African[11] | pill | [pʰɯ̽ɫ] | 'pill' | Possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/.[11] Also described as close-mid [ɤ].[31] See South African English phonology | |
| Irish | Ulster[32] | ag gail | [É Ëɡɯ̽lË ] | 'boiling' | Allophone of /ɪ/.[32] See Irish phonology |
| Korean[33] | ì´ë¥¸/eoreun | [ÉÌËɾɯÌn] | 'seniors' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨É¯â©. See Korean phonology | |
| Portuguese | European[34] | pegar | â | 'to grab' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨É¨â© or â¨Éâ©. Appears only in unstressed syllables.[34] See Portuguese phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Lewis[35] | gaol | [kɯ̽ËlÌªË ] | 'love' | Allophone of /ɯ/ when adjacent to velarized sonorants. |
| Turkish | Standard[36] | sÄ±Ä | [sɯ̽Ë] | 'shallow' | Also described as close back [ɯ] and close central [ɨ].[37] See Turkish phonology |
| Vietnamese | Hanoi[38] | từ | â | 'word' | Common allophone of /ɯ/.[38] See Vietnamese phonology |
| Yine[39] | [tɯ̽wɯ̽] | 'salt' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨É¯â©.[39] | ||