IPA – number 326
IPA – text ɜ
IPA – image
Entity ɜ
X-SAMPA 3
Kirshenbaum V"
Sound sample (help·info)

The open-mid central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɜ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3. Note that the IPA symbol is not the number "3", but a reversed epsilon.

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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
English RP[1] bird [bɜːd] 'bird' In (non-RP) rhotic dialects, [ɜː] occurs in a rhotacized form in stressed syllables.
Ohio[2] bust [bɜst] 'bust' The most common realization of the vowel transcribed as < ʌ > in American English.[2][1]
most of Texas[2]
Paicĩ [mbʷɜ̄] 'remainder'

Notes

Bibliography

• Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A course in phonetics (3rd ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers.
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 239-245 
• Thomas, Erik R. (2001), An acoustic analysis of vowel variation in New World English, Publication of the American Dialect Society, 85, Duke University Press for the American Dialect Society, ISSN 0002-8207