See also: IPA, Consonants
Front
Near- front
Central
Near- back
Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents
a rounded vowel. Vowel length is indicated by appending ː
a rounded vowel. Vowel length is indicated by appending ː
IPA – text ɞ
IPA – image
Entity ɞ
X-SAMPA 3\
Kirshenbaum O"
Sound sample (help·info)
The open-mid central 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 ɞ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3\. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon.
Due to either typographic or design error, IPA charts were published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, <ʚ>, and this graphic variant made its way into Unicode. The form <ɞ> is considered correct.
Features
- Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.
Occurrence
Language Word IPA Meaning NotesIrish tomhail [tɞ̜ːlʲ] 'consume!' See Irish phonology
Navajo[1][2] tsosts’id [tsʰɞstsʼɪt] 'seven' See Navajo phonology
Somali Example Needed -- -- See Somali phonology
References
- ^ Joyce McDonough, Peter Ladefoged, & Helen George. (1993). "Navajo Vowels and Phonetic Universal Tendencies". UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics 84: Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages.
- ^ Note that they transcribed the short mid back vowel /o/ as broadly [ɔ] or more narrowly [ɵ]. However, at the time the IPA had only this one symbol for a mid central rounded vowel, and it is clear from the discussion and formant charts that /o/ is a centralized open mid vowel, which after 1993 was written [ɞ].