IPA – number 307
IPA – text o
Entity o
X-SAMPA o
Kirshenbaum o
Sound sample (help·info)

The close-mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is o, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is o.

Features

• Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between close vowel and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its roundedness is exolabial, which means that the lips are pursed and protrude, with the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Catalan[1] sóc [sok] 'I am' See Catalan phonology
Dutch kool [koʊ̯l] 'cabbage' See Dutch phonology
English Australian caught [kʰoːt] 'caught' See Australian English phonology
New Zealand See English phonology
GA row [ɻoː] 'row' Usually diphthongized to [oʊ]
Estonian tool [toːlʲ] 'chair'
Faroese tosa [ˈtoːsa] 'speak'
French[2] réseau [ʀeˈzo] 'net' See French phonology
German Kohl [kʰoːl] 'cabbage' See German phonology
Hungarian kór [koːr] 'disease' See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic bók [bou̯k] 'book'
Italian[3] foro [ˈfoːro] 'hole' See Italian phonology
Korean 보수/bosu [ˈpoːsu] 'salary' See Korean phonology
Norwegian lov [loːʋ] 'law' See Norwegian phonology
Silesian Ślůnsk [ɕlonsk] 'Silesia'
Portuguese[4] sou [so] 'I am' See Portuguese phonology
Swedish åka [ˈoːka] (help·info) 'travel, go' See Swedish phonology
Vietnamese tô [tō] 'soup, bowl' See Vietnamese phonology

Mid back rounded vowel

Many languages, such as Spanish and Japanese, have a mid back rounded vowel, which to speakers is clearly distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and [o] is generally used. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic may be used: [o̞].

Note that just because a language has only one non-close, non-open back vowel, that doesn't mean it's a cardinal mid vowel. The Sulawesian language Tukang Besi, for example, has a close-mid [o], whereas the Moluccan language Taba has an open-mid [ɔ]; in neither language does this contrast with another open/close-mid vowel.

Occurrence

In the following transcriptions, the lowering diacritic has been omitted for the sake of simplicity.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Croatian kolodvor [kolodvoːr] 'railway station'
English Yorkshire[5] coat [ko̟t] 'coat' Corresponds to /əʊ/ in other British dialects. See English phonology
Finnish koloon [ˈkoloːn] 'into hole' See Finnish phonology
Hebrew שלום [ʃalom] 'peace' Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Hebrew phonology
Greek ωκεανός [oˌceaˈnos] 'ocean' See Modern Greek phonology
Japanese 日本/nihon [ɲihːoɴ] 'Japan' See Japanese phonology
Korean 보리/bori [poˈɾi] 'barley' See Korean phonology
Romanian copil [koˈpil] 'child' See Romanian phonology
Russian[6] сухой [sʊˈxoj] 'dry' See Russian phonology
Spanish[7] todo [ˈt̪oð̞o] 'all' See Spanish phonology
Turkish kol [koɫ] 'arm' See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian поїзд [ˈpojizd] 'train' See Ukrainian phonology

References

Bibliography