Open back unrounded vowel
Vowel sound represented by ⟨ɑ⟩ in IPA
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The open back unrounded vowel, or low 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 ⟨ɑ⟩. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script a or handwritten a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ⟨ɒ⟩, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.
| Open back unrounded vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɑ | |||
| IPA number | 305 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɑ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0251 | ||
| X-SAMPA | A | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
The open back unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the pharyngeal approximant [ʕ̞].[2][3]
Features
- Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
- 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 pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard[4] | daar | ⓘ | 'there' | The quality varies between open near-back unrounded [ɑ̟ː], open back unrounded [ɑː] and even open back rounded [ɒː].[4] See Afrikaans phonology |
| Äiwoo[5] | kânongä | [kɑnoŋæ] | 'I want' | Roundedness varies between [ɑ] and [ɒ]. Contrasts with [æ] and [a]. | |
| Arabic | Standard[6] | طويل (ṭawīl) | ⓘ | 'tall' | Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology |
| Essaouira[7] | قال (qāl) | [qɑːl] | 'he said' | One of the possible realisations of /ā/.[7] | |
| Armenian | Eastern[6] | հաց (hacʿ) | [hɑt͡sʰ] | 'bread' | |
| Bashkir | ҡаҙ (qađ) | ⓘ | 'goose' | ||
| Catalan | Most dialects[8] | pal | [ˈpɑɫ] | 'stick' | Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[8] See Catalan phonology |
| Some dialects[9][10] | mà | [ˈmɑ] | 'hand' | More central ([ä] and/or [ɐ]) in other dialects; fully front [a] (or even [æ]) in Majorcan Catalan.[10] See Catalan phonology | |
| Chinese | Mandarin[11] | 棒 (bàng) | ⓘ | 'stick' | Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/.[11] See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Dutch | Standard[12][13] | bad | ⓘ | 'bath' | Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back.[14][12] In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈].[13] See Dutch phonology |
| Amsterdam[15] | aap | [ɑːp] | 'monkey' | Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch. | |
| Antwerp[16] | |||||
| Utrecht[16] | |||||
| The Hague[17] | nauw | [nɑː] | 'narrow' | Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch. | |
| English | General American[18] | on | [ɑn] | 'on' | May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot–caught merger.[clarification needed] See English phonology |
| Cockney[19] | palm | [pɑːm] | 'palm' | Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead. | |
| General South African[20] | Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. See South African English phonology | ||||
| Cultivated South African[21] | [pɑ̟ːm] | Typically more front than cardinal [ɑ]. It may be as front as [äː] in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology | |||
| Received Pronunciation[22] | |||||
| Non-local Dublin[23] | back | [bɑq] | 'back' | Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers.[23] | |
| Faroese | Some dialects[24] | vátur | [ˈvɑːtʊɹ] | 'wet' | Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language.[24] See Faroese phonology |
| French | Conservative Parisian[25][26] | pas | [pɑ] | 'not' | Contrasts with /a/, but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä].[27] See French phonology |
| Quebec[28] | pâte | ⓘ | 'paste' | Contrasts with /a/.[28] See Quebec French phonology | |
| Galician[29][30] | irmán | [iɾˈmɑŋ] | 'brother' | Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[29][30] See Galician phonology | |
| Georgian[31] | გუდა (guda) | [k̬ud̪ɑ] | 'leather bag' | Usually not fully back [ɑ], typically [ɑ̟] to [ä].[32] Sometimes transcribed as /a/. | |
| German | Standard[33] | Gourmand | [ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː] | 'gourmand' | Nasalized; often realized as rounded [ɒ̃ː].[34] See Standard German phonology |
| Many speakers[35] | nah | [nɑː] | 'near' | Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland.[35] Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent.[36] More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | Sfakian[37] | μπύρα (býra) | [ˈbirɑ] | "beer" | Corresponds to central [ä ~ ɐ] in Modern Standard Greek.[38][39] See Modern Greek phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | ख़ास/khas | ⓘ | 'special' | Allophone of [aː ~ ä]. More likely to be heard in serious speech or poetry. See Hindustani phonology. |
| Urdu | خاص/khas | ||||
| Hungarian | Some dialects[40] | magyar | [ˈmɑɟɑr] | 'Hungarian' | Weakly rounded [ɒ] in standard Hungarian.[41] See Hungarian phonology |
| Inuit | West Greenlandic[42] | oqarpoq | [ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚] | 'he says' | Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars.[42] See Inuit phonology |
| Italian | Some Piedmont dialects | casa | [ˈkɑːzɑ] | 'house' | Allophone of /a/ which in Italian is largely realised as central [ä]. |
| Irish | Munster Dialect | áit | [ɑːtʲ] | 'place' | See Irish phonology |
| Kaingang[43] | ga | [ᵑɡɑ] | 'land, soil' | Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].[44] | |
| Khmer | ស្ករ (skâr) | [skɑː] | 'sugar' | See Khmer phonology | |
| Low German[45] | al / aal | [ɑːl] | 'all' | Backness may vary among dialects.[45] | |
| Malay | Kedah[46] | mata | [ma.tɑ] | 'eye' | See Malay phonology |
| Kelantan-Pattani | Allophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay | ||||
| Standard | qari | [qɑ.ri] | 'qari' | Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [ä]. See Malay phonology | |
| Norwegian[47][48] | hat | [hɑːt] | 'hate' | The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central [äː] in some other dialects.[47][48][49] See Norwegian phonology | |
| Portuguese | Some Azorean dialects | nada | [ˈnɑðɐ] | 'nothing' | See Portuguese phonology |
| Paulista[50] | vegetal | [veʒeˈtɑw] | 'vegetable' | Only immediately before [w].[50] | |
| Russian[51] | палка (palka) | [ˈpɑɫkə] | 'stick' | Occurs only before the hard /l/, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Lewis[52] | balach | [ˈpɑl̪ˠəx] | 'boy' | Allophone of [a] in proximity to broad sonorants. |
| Sema[53] | amqa | [à̠mqɑ̀] | 'lower back' | Possible realization of /a/ after uvular stops.[53] | |
| Swedish | Some dialects | jag | [jɑːɡ] | 'I' | Weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː] in Central Standard Swedish.[54] See Swedish phonology |
| Turkish[55] | at | ⓘ | 'horse' | Also described as central [ä].[56] See Turkish phonology | |
| Ukrainian[57] | мати (maty) | [ˈmɑtɪ] | 'mother' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Vietnamese | Some dialects in North Central and Central | gà | [ɣɑ˨˩] | 'chicken' | See Vietnamese phonology[58][59] |
| West Frisian | Standard[60] | lang | [ɫɑŋ] | 'long' | Also described as central [ä].[61] See West Frisian phonology |
| Aastersk[62] | maat | [mɑːt] | 'mate' | Contrasts with a front /aː/.[62] See West Frisian phonology | |
Near-open back unrounded vowel
| Near-open back unrounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| ɑ̝ | |
| ʌ̞ |
In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda)[63][64][65][66] there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨ɑ⟩ and ⟨ʌ⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with [ɑ̝] or [ʌ̞].
Features
- Its vowel height is near-open, also known as near-low, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but is slightly more constricted – that is, the tongue is positioned similarly to a low vowel, but slightly higher.
- 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 pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijani[63] | qardaş | [ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ] | 'brother' | Near-open.[63] | |
| Catalan | Mallorcan (some accents)[8] | lloc | [ˈʎ̟ɑ̝k] | 'place' | Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ ([ɒ̝]) in some accents.[8] It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology |
| Valencian (some accents)[8] | |||||
| Southern Valencian (Alacantí)[67] | bou | [ˈbɑ̝w] | 'bull' | Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ ([ɒ̝]) before [w].[67] It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology | |
| Dutch | Leiden[14] | bad | [bɑ̝t] | 'bath' | Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead.[14] See Dutch phonology |
| Rotterdam[14] | |||||
| English | Cardiff[68] | hot | [hɑ̽t] | 'hot' | Somewhat raised and fronted.[68][69] |
| Norfolk[69] | |||||
| Estonian[64] | vale | [ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ] | 'lie' | Near-open.[64] See Estonian phonology | |
| Finnish[70] | kana | ⓘ | 'hen' | Near-open,[70] also described as open central [ä].[71] See Finnish phonology | |
| Kazakh | alma | [ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝] | 'apple' | Can be realised as near-open.[citation needed] | |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian[72] | bats | [bɑ̽ts] | 'buttock' | The quality varies between open back [ɑ],[73] open near-back [ɑ̟],[74] and near-open near-back [ɑ̽],[72] depending on the dialect. |
| Luxembourgish[65] | Kapp | [kʰɑ̝p] | 'head' | Near-open fully back.[65] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Toda[66] | [ɑ̝ːn] | 'elephant' | Near-open.[66] | ||