Near-open central vowel
Vowel sound represented by ⟨ɐ⟩ in IPA
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The near-open central vowel, or near-low central 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¨Éâ©, a rotated lowercase double-story a.
| Near-open central vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| É | |||
| IPA number | 324 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɐ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0250 | ||
| X-SAMPA | 6 | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol â¨Êâ©, i.e. as if it were open-mid back. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but many speakers use a central vowel like [É] or [É]. To avoid the trapâstrut merger, Standard Southern British English is moving away from the [É] quality towards [Ê] found in RP spoken in the first half of the 20th century (e.g. in Daniel Jones's speech).[2]
Much like â¨Éâ©, â¨Éâ© is a versatile symbol that is not defined for roundedness[3] and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central,[4] near-open near-front,[5] near-open near-back,[6] open-mid central,[7] open central[8] or an (often unstressed) vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area.[9] For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with â¨Éâ©, see open central unrounded vowel.
When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different from â¨Éâ©, they are listed in near-open front unrounded vowel and open back unrounded vowel or open back rounded vowel, respectively.
The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a language[10] and then is typically transcribed with â¨aâ©.
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 â that is, the tongue is positioned similarly to a low vowel, but slightly higher.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- It is undefined for roundedness, which means that it can be either rounded or unrounded. In practice however, the unrounded variant is more common.
Occurrence
In the following list, â¨Éâ© is assumed to be unrounded, though this can also be transcribed as â¨ÉÌâ© or â¨ÉÌâ©. The rounded variant is transcribed as â¨ÉÌâ© or â¨É̹â©. Both latter cases may be somewhat misleading, as like [É], roundedness is not specified for [É]. Some instances of the rounded vowel may actually be fully open.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adyghe | ÑÑ (sÄ) | [sÉ] | 'I' | Varies between near-open and open-mid [É]. See Adyghe phonology | |
| Bengali[11] | দà§à¦à¦¯à¦¼à¦¾ (dewa) | [d̪ewÉ] | 'give' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨aâ©. See Bengali phonology | |
| Bulgarian[7] | паÑа (para) | [pÉËra] | 'coin' | Unstressed allophone of /ɤ/ and /a/.[7] May be transcribed in IPA with â¨Éâ©. See Bulgarian phonology | |
| Burmese[12] | ááẠ(maat) | [mÉÊ] | 'vertical' | Allophone of /a/ in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized; realized as fully open [ä] in open oral syllables.[13] | |
| Catalan | Barcelonan[14][15] | ara | [ËäɾÉ] | 'now' | Corresponds to [É] in other Eastern dialects (except Alguerese). See Catalan phonology |
| Valencian[16] | General pronunciation of unstressed /a/ (also found in Ribagorçan). See Catalan phonology | ||||
| Chinese | Cantonese[17] | å¿ (sam1) | [sÉÌmË¥] | 'heart' | Open-mid.[17] See Cantonese phonology |
| Shanghainese[18] | ç | [kÉÊ˦] | 'to cut' | Appears only in closed syllables; the exact height and backness is somewhat variable.[18] | |
| Danish[19] | fatter | [ËfætÉ] | 'understands' | Typically realized the same as /É/, i.e. [É̽]. Other possible realizations are [É] and [ÉÌ ].[19] See Danish phonology | |
| Dinka | Luanyjang[20] | laÅ | [lÉÌÅ] | 'berry' | Short allophone of /a/; varies between near-open [É] and open-mid [ÉÌ].[20] |
| Emilian | BulÃ¥ggna | [buËlÊɲËÉ] | 'Bologna' | Centralized /a/. | |
| English | California[21] | nut | [nÉt] | 'nut' | See English phonology |
| Cockney[22][23] | [nÉÌÊ] | Near-front.[22] | |||
| East Anglian[24] | [nÉÊ] | Used in some places (e.g. Colchester) instead of the traditional [Ê].[24] | |||
| New Zealand[25] | [nÉÊt] | Varies between near-open near-front [ÉÌ], near-open central [É], open near-front [aÌ ] and open central [ÉÌ].[25] See New Zealand English phonology | |||
| Received Pronunciation[2][4] | Increasingly retracted to [Ê] to avoid the trap-strut merger.[2] See English phonology | ||||
| Inland Northern American[26] | bet | [bÉt] | 'bet' | Variation of /É/ used in some places whose accents have undergone the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. | |
| Middle Class London[27] | lot | [lÉ̹Êt] | 'lot' | Rounded; can be back [É] instead.[27] See English phonology | |
| Australian[28] | comma | [ËkÉmÉ] | 'comma' | Alternatively lowered from word-final [É].[29] See Australian English phonology | |
| Galician | feita | [Ëfejt̪É] | 'done' | Realization of final unstressed /a/. See Galician phonology | |
| German | Standard[9][30] | Oper | â | 'opera' | The exact height, backness and roundedness is somewhere between [ä] and [É], depending on the environment. Sometimes, an opening diphthong of the [ÉÉ̯]-type is used instead.[9] In Northern Standard German, the short [ä] is raised to [É] when unstressed, rendering Opa 'grandpa' homophonous with Oper.[30] See Standard German phonology |
| Regional northern accents[31] | kommen | [ËkÊ°ÉmÉn] | 'to come' | Varies between central [É] and back [É]; corresponds to an open-mid rounded [É] in Standard German.[31] See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | Modern Standard[10] | ακακία (akakÃa) | [ÉkÉËcÌ i.É] | 'acacia' | Most often transcribed in IPA with â¨aâ©. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Hausa[32] | [example needed] | Possible allophone of /a/, which can be as close as [É] and as open as [ä].[32] | |||
| Hindustani[33] | दस / دÙس (das) | [Ëd̪És] | 'ten' | Common realization of /É/.[33] See Hindustani phonology | |
| Korean[34] | íë (hana) | [hÉnÉ] | 'one' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨aâ©. See Korean phonology | |
| Kumzari[5] | Ú¯Ù¾ (gap) | [É¡ÉÌp] | 'large' | Near-front.[5] | |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian[35] | väöl | [vÉ̹Ël] | 'much' | Rounded; contrasts with the open-mid [ÉË] in words with Accent 2 ([É̹Ë] itself is always toneless).[36] It may be transcribed in IPA with â¨É¶Ëâ©, as it is a phonological front vowel. |
| Venlo dialect[37] | aan | [ËÉËn] | 'on' | Corresponds to [aË] in other dialects. | |
| Lithuanian | kas | [kÉs̪] | 'what' | See Lithuanian phonology | |
| Luxembourgish[6] | Kanner | [ËkÊ°ÉnÉÌ ] | 'children' | Near-back.[38] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Malayalam | പതàµà´¤àµ | [pÉt̪ËɨÌ] | 'ten' | See Malayalam phonology | |
| Mapudungun[39] | karü | [ËkÉÌÊÉÌ] | 'green' | Open-mid;[39] often transcribed in IPA with â¨aâ©. | |
| Norwegian | Ãstfold dialect[40] | bada | [ËbÉ̹ÌËdÉ] | 'to bathe' | Occurs with both rounded [É̹] and unrounded [É] variants, as shown in the example word. |
| Ossetian | Iron | Óвзаг / ævzag | [ÉvËzÌ Ã¤k] | 'language' | Common sound in the Iron dialect. In the Digor dialect, this sound is replaced by an open-mid back unrounded vowel. |
| Piedmontese | Eastern Piedmont | pauta | [ËpÉwtÉ] | 'mud' | Common realization of final unstressed /a/. |
| Portuguese[41][42] | aja | â | 'act' (subj.) | Closer [ÉÌ] in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese ([É]).[41][42] See Portuguese phonology | |
| Punjabi[43] | à¨à©°à¨¡ / Ú©Ú¾ÙÚ | [ËkÊ°ÉÌɳÉáµ] | 'sugar' | Common realization of /É/, the inherent vowel of Punjabi. See Punjabi phonology | |
| ਪà¨à¨ / Ù¾ÙÙا | [pÉwËä] | 'metric half pint' | Can occur as realization of tense /i/ or /u/ in some contexts followed by a geminate semi-vowel. | ||
| Romanian | Moldavian dialects[44] | bÄrbat | [bÉrËbat] | 'man' | Corresponds to [É] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Standard Moscow[45] | голова (golova) | â | 'head' | Corresponds to [Ê] in standard Saint Petersburg pronunciation;[45] occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. See Russian phonology |
| Sabiny[46] | [example needed] | Contrasts overshort unrounded and overshort rounded near-open central vowels.[47] | |||
| Sanskrit | दिवसठ(divasaḥ) | [d̪iÊÉsÉh] | 'day' | See Sanskrit phonology | |
| Ukrainian[48] | Ñлива (slyva) | [ËslɪwÉ] | 'plum' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Vietnamese[49] | chếch | [cÉÌjkÌ] | 'slanted, oblique' | Typically transcribed in IPA with â¨ÉÌâ©. See Vietnamese phonology | |
| Xumi[50][51] | [tsÊ°É˦] | 'salt' | Near-open [É] in Lower Xumi, open-mid [ÉÌ] in Upper Xumi. The latter phone may be transcribed with â¨Éâ©. The example word is from Lower Xumi.[51][52] | ||