The (near-)open front rounded vowel, or (near-)low front rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound that has not been confirmed to be phonemic in any spoken language.[citation needed] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɶ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is &. The letter ⟨ɶ⟩ is the small caps rendition of ⟨Œ⟩. ⟨œ⟩, the lowercase version of the ligature, is used for the open-mid front rounded vowel.
| 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 it as a fully open vowel, the rounded equivalent of [a], Ladefoged[2] characterizes it as near-open, the rounded equivalent of [æ].
A phoneme generally transcribed by this symbol is reported from the Bavarian dialect of Amstetten. However, it is phonetically open-mid, [œ].[3]
It occurs allophonically in Weert Limburgish[4] as well as in some speakers of Danish[5] and Swedish.[6] Certain transcriptions of Danish use ⟨ɶ⟩ to denote an open-mid front rounded vowel [œ].[5]
In Maastrichtian Limburgish, the vowel transcribed with ⟨ɶː⟩ in the Mestreechter Taol dictionary is phonetically near-open central [ɐ̹ː]. It is a phonological open-mid front rounded vowel, the long counterpart of /œ/.[7]
Riad (2014) reports that [ɶː] in Stockholm Swedish is sometimes difficult to distinguish from [ɒː], which is the main realization of the /ɑː/ phoneme, a sign that both vowels are phonetically very close.[6]
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
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danish | Some speakers[5] | grøn | [ˈkʁɶ̝nˀ] | 'green' | Near-open;[8] allophone of /ø/ between /ʁ/ and /v/ as well as an allophone of /œ/ between /ʁ/ and a nasal.[9] Other speakers pronounce it the same as [œ].[5] See Danish phonology |
| Limburgish | Weert dialect[4] | bui | [bɶj] | 'shower' | Allophone of /œ/ before /j/.[4] See Weert dialect phonology |
| Swedish | Stockholm[6] | öra | [ˈɶ̂ːra̠] | 'ear' | Pre-/r/ allophone of /øː/ (sometimes also /œ/) for younger speakers.[6] Open-mid [œː, œ] for other speakers.[6] See Swedish phonology |
See also
Notes
References
External links
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