Open front rounded vowel
Vowel sound represented by ⟨ɶ⟩ in IPA
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The open front rounded vowel, or low front rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound that has not been confirmed to be phonetic in any spoken language,[2] but is occasionally used in phonemic transcriptions for some Germanic languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɶ⟩, a small capital ⟨Œ⟩. It was added to the IPA vowel chart to balance the quadrilateral by filling in the remaining gap for a rounded equivalent of [a].[3]
| Open front rounded vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɶ | |||
| IPA number | 312 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɶ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0276 | ||
| X-SAMPA | & | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
While the IPA chart lists this vowel as the rounded equivalent of [a], studies of formant acoustics suggest it is closer to the rounded equivalent of [æ].[citation needed]
A phoneme transcribed by ⟨ɶ⟩ is reported for the Amstetten dialect of Bavarian; however, it is phonetically open-mid [œ], pairing with unrounded phonemic /æ/ (phonetic [ɛ]).[4] Similarly, certain transcriptions of Danish[5] and Swedish[6] use ⟨ɶ⟩ to transcribe a phoneme that is phonetically open-mid [œ] or near-open [œ̞] (depending on the analysis), where phonemic /œ/ is phonetically raised closer to mid [œ̝].[5][7] In Maastrichtian Limburgish, the vowel transcribed with ⟨ɶː⟩ in the Mestreechter Taol dictionary[8] is phonetically centralized, with a height between open-mid [œ̈ː] and near-open [œ̞̈ː]; phonologically, it is the long counterpart of /œ/.[9]
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 front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Rounded front vowels are often centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-front.
- It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.
Occurrence
| Near-open front rounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| œ̞ | |
| ɶ̝ |
No language has been reported to have a phonetically true open realization. The table below provides examples of near-open realizations, which are phonetically raised compared to cardinal [ɶ], and also often centralized (similar to [ɞ̞], but not as central). In the case of the latter, these may be transcribed as mid-centralized [ɶ̽] (alternatively, [ɶ̝̈] or [œ̞̈]).
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danish | Some speakers[5] | grøn | [ˈkʁɶ̽nˀ] | 'green' | Near-open and centralized;[10] allophone of /ø/ between [ʁ] and /v/ ([w]),[11] and of /œ/ between [ʁ] and a nasal;[12] though becoming [ʌ̞̈] in the latter environments.[13] Historically also an allophone of /ø/ before /j/, but likewise has merged to [ʌ̞̈].[14] May instead be analyzed as open-mid [œ].[5] See Danish phonology |
| Limburgish | Weert dialect[15] | bui | [bɶ̽j] | 'shower' | Near-open and centralized; allophone of /œ/ before /j/ in non-diphthong sequences.[15] See Weert dialect phonology |
| Swedish | Stockholm | öra | [ˈɶ̝̂ːrä] | 'ear' | Near-open; realization of the phoneme /øː/ (which Pelzer & Boersma (2019) recommend transcribing instead as /œː/).[16] Corresponds to [œ̫ː] in Linköping and Lund dialects. An acoustic study by Persson (2024) points instead to a potentially open-mid central realization [œ̈ː].[7] See Swedish phonology |