The close central unrounded vowel, or high central unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɨ, namely the lower-case letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as barred i.

Quick Facts ɨ, IPA number ...
Close central unrounded vowel
ɨ
IPA number317
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɨ
Unicode (hex)U+0268
X-SAMPA1
Braille⠴ (braille pattern dots-356) ⠊ (braille pattern dots-24)
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More information IPA: Vowels, Front ...
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A spectrogram of /ɨ/.

Occasionally, this vowel is transcribed ï (centralized i) or ɯ̈ (centralized ɯ).[2]

The close central unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare post-palatal approximant [j̈].[3]

Some languages feature the near-close central unrounded vowel (listen), which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with ɨ̞ and ɪ̈, but other transcriptions such as ɪ̠ and ɘ̝ are also possible. In many British dictionaries, this vowel has been transcribed ɪ, which captures its height; in the American tradition it is more often ɨ, which captures its centrality, or ,[4] which captures both. is also used in a number of other publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells. In the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, represents variation between /ɪ/ and /ə/.[5]

Features

Occurrence

/ɨ/ is uncommon as a phoneme in Indo-European languages, occurring most commonly in some Slavic languages, such as Belarusian and Russian (see ы). However, it is very common as a separate phoneme in the indigenous languages of the Americas and is often in phonemic contrast with other close vowels such as /i/ and /u/ both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (such as Proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark identify the presence of this vowel phoneme as an areal feature of a Mesoamerican Sprachbund (although that is not a defining feature of the entire area).[6]

More information Language, Word ...
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Acehnesetupeue[tupɨə]'to know'Asyik[7] and Al-Ahmadi Al-Harbi[8] describe this sound as such while Durie[9] describes it as closer to [ɯ]
Aikanã[10] tɨi [ˈtɨi] 'aunt' It also happens as allophone of /a/ before [i].[10]
Amharic[11]ሥር/sûr[sɨ̞r]'root'Near-close.[11]
AngamiKhonoma[12]prü[pɻɨ˨]'hail stone'The height varies between close [ɨ] and mid [ə].[12] Typically transcribed in IPA with ə.
Arhuaco ikʉ [ɪk'ɨ] 'Arhuaco language'
BantawaIlam, Nepalküma[kɨma]'afraid'
BerberCentral Atlas Tamazight[13]ⵅⴷ/khdim[χdɨ̞m]'to work'Epenthetically inserted into consonant clusters before labial and coronal consonants.
Chinese Hokkien/tir[tɨ˥]'pig'
Mandarin /shí [ʂɨ˧˥] 'ten'
EnglishInland Southern American[14]good[ɡɨ̞d]'good'Corresponds to [ʊ] in other dialects. See English phonology
Southeastern English[15][ɡɪ̈d]May be rounded [ʊ̈] instead;[15] it corresponds to [ʊ] in other dialects. See English phonology
London[16][17]lip[lɪ̈ʔp]'lip'Possible realization of /ɪ/.[16][17]
South African[18][lɨ̞p]For some speakers it can be equal to [ə]. General and Broad varieties of SAE have an allophonic variation, with [ɪ] ([i] in Broad) occurring near velar and palatal consonants, and [ɨ̞~ə] elsewhere. See South African English phonology
Southern American[19][lɪ̈p]Allophone of /ɪ/ before labial consonants, sometimes also in other environments.[19]
Southeastern English[20]rude[ɹɨːd]'rude'May be rounded [ʉː], or a diphthong [ʊʉ̯~əʉ̯] instead.
Guaraní[21]yvy[ɨʋɨ]'earth'
Hausa[22]cin abinci[t̠ʃin abɨnt̠ʃi] 'to eat'Allophone of /i/.[22]
Irishgoirt[ɡɨ̞ɾˠtʲ]'salty'Allophone of /i/ between broad consonants. See Irish phonology
Munster[23] caora [kɨːɾˠə] 'sheep' Allophone of /i/ between broad consonants.[23] See Irish phonology
Ulster[24][example needed]Allophone of /ɪ/. Near-close.[24]
Kalagan[25][pɨˈnɨt̪]'beard'
Kashmiri[26]ژٕنُن/cûnun[t͡sɨnʊn]'peach'
Kera[27][ɡɨ̀ɡɨ̀r]'knee'
Khmerគិត/kīt[kɨt]'to think'See Khmer phonology
Kurdish[28][29] Palewani (Southern) کرماشان/kirmaşan [cʰɨɾmäːʃäːn] 'kermanshah' Equal to Kurmanji and Sorani [ɪ]. See Kurdish phonology
Latgalian[30]dyžan[ˈd̪ɨʒän̪]'very much'See Latgalian phonology
Mah Meri[31][d͡ʑäbɨ̞ʔ͡k̚]'to be drunk'
Malay Kelantan-Pattani ngecat [ŋɨ.caʔ] 'to paint' See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Mapudungun[32]müṉa[mɘ̝ˈn̪ɐ̝]'male cousin on father's side'Unstressed allophone of /ɘ/.[32]
Mongolian[33]хүчир/hučir[xutʃʰɨɾɘ̆]'difficult'
Matis[34] [kɨˈnɨ] 'wall'
Mono[35]dɨ[dɨ]'count'
Mpade[36]sɨm[sɨm]'to eat'
Paicî[37][example needed]May be transcribed in IPA with ɯ.
Romanian[38]înot[ɨˈn̪o̞t̪]'I swim'See Romanian phonology
Russian[39]ты/ty [t̪ɨ]'you' (singular/informal)Occurs only after unpalatalized consonants. Near-close when unstressed.[39] See Russian phonology
Sahaptin[40]kʼsit [kʼsɨt] 'cold'Epenthetic. No lengthened equivalent
Sanumá[41] [taˈaɨ] 'to see' The nasal version [ɨ̃] also occurs.[42]
Scottish GaelicLewis[43]tuilleadh[ˈt̪ʰɨʎəɣ]'more'Allophone of /ɯ/ when short and in proximity to slender consonants.
Shipibo[44]tenaitianronki[ˈt̪ɨnɐi̞ti̞ɐ̃ɽõ̞ɣi̞][translation needed]Possible realization of /ɯ/ after coronal consonants.[44]
Sirionó[45][eˈsɨ]'dry wood'
Sundaneseanjeun[and͡ʒɨn]'you'Occasionally, sometimes as [ɯ], [ɤ] or [ɘ] by younger speakers.
Sümi[46]sü[ʃɨ̀]'to hurt'Described variously as close [ɨ][46] and near-close [ɨ̞].[47]
SwedishBohuslän[48]bli[blɨᶻː]'to become'A fricated vowel that corresponds to [] in Central Standard Swedish.[48] See Swedish phonology
Närke[48]
TajikBukharan[49]cižciž ғижғиж[ʁɨʑʁɨʑ]'the sound of wood sawing'Allophone of /i/ in the environment of uvular consonants.[49]
Tamil[50]vály (வால்)[väːlɨ]'tail'Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be rounded [ʉ] instead.[50] See Tamil phonology
Tera[51]z[zɨ]'said'
vr[vɨ̞r]'to give'Allophone of /ɨ/ in closed syllables.[52]
Tsou[53] hahocngx, hahocngʉ [ha.ˈho.t͡sŋɨ] 'man' /ɨ/, with free variant [ʉ]. Used to be written as ʉ, but changed to x for more convenient typing.[53]
Tupi ybytyra [ɨβɨ'tɨɾa] 'mountain' See Tupian Phonology
TurkishStandard[54]sığ[sɨː]'shallow'Also described as close back [ɯ][55] and near-close near-back [ɯ̽][56] Typically transcribed in IPA with ɯ. See Turkish phonology
Balkans[57][example needed]Word-final merger of standard Turkish sounds /i/ and /ɯ/, shift of /y/ and /u/ into single phoneme due to interactions caused by Balkan sprachbund. Dombrowski[57] transcribes this phoneme as /i/.
Udmurt[58]yrgete/ыргетэ[59][ɨrɡete]'it growls'
Vietnamese[60] bưng [ʔɓɨŋ˧˧] 'to carry'
Wayuu paanüküin [pa:nɨkɨinː] 'your mouth'
WelshNorthern dialects[61]llun[ɬɨːn]'picture'Close when long, near-close when short.[61] Merges with /ɪ/ in southern dialects. See Welsh phonology
pump[pɨ̞mp]'five'
Yaeyamapïtu[pɨtu]'person'
ZapotecTilquiapan[62]nɨ[nɨ]'be sour'
Close

The sound of Polish y is often represented as /ɨ/, but actually it is a close-mid advanced central unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed [ɘ̟].[63] Similarly, European Portuguese unstressed e, often represented as /ɨ/, is actually a near-close near-back unrounded vowel,[64] more narrowly transcribed using ad hoc symbols such as [ɯ̽] (mid-centralized), [ɯ̟] (fronted) and [ʊ̜] (less rounded, i.e. unrounded).

See also

Notes

References

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