Close front unrounded vowel

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IPA – number 301
IPA – text i
IPA – image
Entity i
X-SAMPA i
Kirshenbaum i
Sound sample (help·info)

The close front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is i, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is i.

Languages that use the Latin alphabet commonly use ‹i› to represent this sound, though there are some notable exceptions: in English orthography this letter is more commonly associated with /aɪ/ (as in bite) or /ɪ/ (as in bit) and /iː/ is represented with ‹e›, ‹ea›, ‹ee›, and even ‹ei›. Irish orthography is similar in that its spelling system is both etymological and used to indicate whether preceding consonants are broad or slender so that such combinations as ‹aí›, ‹ei›, and ‹aío› all represent /iː/.

Features

• Its vowel height is close, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are spread.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Abkhaz ажьырныҳәа [aʑirnuħʷo] 'January' See Abkhaz phonology
Afrikaans dankie [daŋki] 'thank you'
Albanian mali [mali] 'the mountain'
Arabic Standard[1] دين [d̪iːn] 'religion' See Arabic phonology
Armenian իմ [im] 'my'
Azerbaijani dili [dili] 'tree'
Basque bizar [bis̻ar] 'beard'
Bengali আমি [ami] 'I'
Burmese ? [sə sá bjì] 'I am eating now'
Catalan[2] sis [sis] 'six' See Catalan phonology
Chickasaw lhinko [ɬinko] 'to be fat'
Chinese Cantonese 詩/si1 [siː˥] 'poem' See Cantonese phonology
Mandarin 北京/Běijīng [peɪ˨˩ tɕiŋ˥˥] 'Beijing' See Mandarin phonology
Croatian vino [viːno̞] 'wine'
Czech bílý [ˈbiːliː] 'white' See Czech phonology
Dahalo [ʡáɬi] 'fat'
Danish bilist [b̥iˈlisd] 'car driver' See Danish phonology
Dutch[3] biet [bit] 'beet' See Dutch phonology
English[4] free [fɹiː] 'free' See English phonology
Estonian tiik [tiːk] 'pond'
Faroese il [iːl] 'sole'
Finnish[5] viisi [viːsi] 'five' See Finnish phonology
French[6] fini [fini] 'finished' See French phonology
Georgian[7] სამი [ˈsɑmi] 'three'
German Ziel [tsiːl] 'goal' See German phonology
Greek υγιεινή [iˌʝiiˈni] 'hygiene' Also represented by <οι> and <υι>. See Modern Greek phonology
Guaraní ha’ukuri [haʔukuri] 'Guaraní'
Haida gii [?] '?'
Hawaiian makani [makani] 'breeze' See Hawaiian phonology
Hebrew דיר [diʁ] 'pen' (enclosure) Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Hebrew phonology
Hindi तीन [t̪iːn] 'three' See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian[8] ív [iːv] 'arch' See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic líka [liːka] 'also' See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian ini [ini] 'this'
Irish sí [ʃiː] 'she' See Irish phonology
Italian[9] bile [ˈbile] 'rage' See Italian phonology
Japanese[10] 銀/gin [ɡiɴ] 'silver' See Japanese phonology
Korean 시장/sijang [ɕiˈd͡ʑaŋ] 'hunger' See Korean phonology
Kurdish zîndu [ziːndu] 'alive'
Macedonian јазик [jazik] 'tongue'
Malay biru [biru] 'blue'
Maltese bieb [biːb] 'door'
Navajo biwosh [biɣʷoʃ] 'his cactus'
Norwegian is [iːs] 'ice' See Norwegian phonology
Occitan Northern and Southern miralhar [miraˈʎa] 'to reflect'
Gascon polida [?] 'pretty'
Pashto پانير [pɑˈnir] 'cheese'
Persian کی [kiː] 'who' See Persian phonology
Pirahã baíxi [màíʔì] 'parent'
Polish[11] miś [ˈmiɕ] (help·info) 'teddy bear' See Polish phonology
Portuguese[12] li [liː] 'I read' See Portuguese phonology
Quechua allin [ˈaʎin] 'good'
Romanian insulă [ˈinsulə] 'island' See Romanian phonology
Russian[13] лист [lʲist] 'list' Only occurs word-initially or after palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic chì [xiː] 'shall see'
Serbian милина/milina [milina] 'enjoyment'
Seri cmiique [ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ] 'person'
Sindhi سنڌي [sɪndʱiː] 'Sindhi'
Sioux Lakota[14][15] ǧí [ʀí] 'it's brown'
Slovak chlapi [xlapi] 'men'
Spanish[16] tipo [ˈt̪ipo̞] 'type' May also be represented by <y>. See Spanish phonology
Swahili miti [miti] 'trees'
Swedish is [iːs] (help·info) 'ice' See Swedish phonology
Tagalog silya [ˈsiljɐ] 'chair'
Tajik бинӣ [biˈniː] 'nose'
Thai[17] กริช [krìt] 'dagger'
Turkish ip [ip] 'rope' See Turkish phonology
Ubykh [ɡʲi] 'heart' Allophone of /ə/ after palatalized consonants. See Ubykh phonology
Udmurt[18] ? [ovorte] 'to inform'
Ukrainian кіт [kit] 'cat' See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese ty [tī] 'bureau' See Vietnamese phonology
Võro kirotas [kʲirotas] 'he writes'
Welsh hir [hiːr] 'long'
Zapotec Tilquiapan[19] diza [d̪iza] 'Zapotec'
Zulu umuzi [uˈmuːzi] 'village'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References