Close-mid back rounded vowel
Close-mid back rounded vowel is a topic that has captivated society's interest for decades. Its importance is undeniable, and its impact has been felt in different aspects of daily life. Over the years, it has become an object of debate, research and reflection, generating different points of view and conflicting opinions. In this article, we will take a closer look at Close-mid back rounded vowel and explore its implications in various contexts. From its influence on popular culture to its relevance in politics and the economy, Close-mid back rounded vowel continues to generate a wide spectrum of discussion that leaves no one indifferent.
Spectrogram of o
| Close-mid back rounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| o | |
| IPA Number | 307 |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | o |
| Unicode (hex) | U+006F |
| X-SAMPA | o |
| Braille |  |
| IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
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The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-mid back 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 ⟨o⟩.
Close-mid back protruded vowel
The close-mid back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close-mid back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨o⟩, and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, the symbol for the close-mid back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨ ̫⟩, can be used as an ad hoc symbol ⟨o̫⟩ for the close-mid back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is ⟨oʷ⟩ or ⟨ɤʷ⟩ (a close-mid back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.
For the close-mid near-back protruded vowel that is usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʊ⟩, see near-close back protruded vowel. If the usual symbol is ⟨o⟩, the vowel is listed here.
Features
- Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
- Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.
Occurrence
Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard | bok | 'goat' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. The height varies between close-mid and mid [ɔ̝]. See Afrikaans phonology | |
| Bavarian | Amstetten dialect | [example needed] | Contrasts close [u], near-close [o̝], close-mid and open-mid [ɔ] back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded [ä]. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. | ||
| Bulgarian | уста/usta | 'mouth' | Unstressed allophone of /u/ and /ɔ/. See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Catalan | sóc | 'I am' | See Catalan phonology | ||
| Chinese | Wu | 瓜/kò | 'melon' | Specifically in Shanghainese. Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel. | |
| Czech | Bohemian | oko | 'eye' | Backness varies between back and near-back; may be realized as mid [o̞] instead. See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | Standard | kone | 'wife' | Also described as near-close [o̝ː]. See Danish phonology | |
| Dutch | Standard Belgian | kool | 'cabbage' | In the Netherlands often diphthongized to . See Dutch phonology | |
| English | Estuary | yawn | 'yawn' | May be or instead. | |
| Cockney | |||||
| Received Pronunciation | Typically transcribed with ⟨ɔː⟩. See English phonology | ||||
| South African | General and Broad varieties. Cultivated SAE has a more open vowel. See South African English phonology | ||||
| General Indian | go | 'go' | |||
| General Pakistani | Varies between . | ||||
| Singaporean | |||||
| Birmingham and The Black Country | cut | 'cut' | Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects. | ||
| Estonian | tool | 'chair' | See Estonian phonology | ||
| Faroese | tola | 'to endure' | May be a diphthong instead. See Faroese phonology | ||
| French | réseau | 'network' | See French phonology | ||
| German | Standard | oder | 'or' | See Standard German phonology | |
| Upper Saxon | sondern | 'except' | Pharyngealized; corresponds to [ɐ] in Northern Standard German. The example word is from the Chemnitz dialect. | ||
| Greek | Sfakian | μεταφράζω / metafrázō | 'translate' | Corresponds to mid [o̞] in Modern Standard Greek. See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Hindustani | सोमवार | 'Monday' | See Hindustani phonology | ||
| Hungarian | kór | 'disease' | See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Italian | ombra | 'shade' | See Italian phonology | ||
| Kaingang | pipo | 'toad' | |||
| Khmer | ម៉ូលេគុល / molékŭl | 'molecule' | See Khmer phonology | ||
| Korean | 노래 / norae | 'song' | See Korean phonology | ||
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | roj | 'day' | See Kurdish phonology | |
| Sorani (Central) | رۆژ/roj | ||||
| Latin | Classical | sol | 'sun' | ||
| Limburgish | Most dialects | hoof | 'garden' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |
| Lower Sorbian | wocy | '(two) eyes' | Diphthongized to in slow speech. | ||
| Luxembourgish | Sonn | 'sun' | Sometimes realized as open-mid [ɔ]. See Luxembourgish phonology | ||
| Malay | mampus | 'die' | Allophone of /u/ in closed-final syllables. May be or depending on the speaker. See Malay phonology | ||
| Malayalam | ഒന്ന് | 'one' | See Malayalam phonology | ||
| Marathi | दोन | 'two' | See Marathi phonology | ||
| Minangkabau | sado | 'all' | |||
| Norwegian | Most dialects | lov | 'law' | The quality varies among dialects; in Urban East Norwegian, it has been variously described as close-mid back and mid [o̞ː], in Stavangersk it is a close-mid near-back , whereas in Telemark it is a back open-mid vowel [ɔː]. In some dialects it is replaced by the diphthong . See Norwegian phonology | |
| Persian | لاکپشت/lakpošt | 'turtle' | |||
| Portuguese | dodô | 'dodo' | See Portuguese phonology | ||
| Polish | wiośnie | 'spring' | Allophone of /ɔ/ between palatal or palatalized consonants. See Polish phonology | ||
| Romanian | acolo | 'there' | See Romanian phonology | ||
| Saterland Frisian | doalje | 'to calm' | Near-back; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩. Phonetically, it is nearly identical to /ʊ/ ([ʊ̞]). The vowel typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨oː⟩ is actually near-close [o̝ː]. | ||
| Shiwiar | [example needed] | Allophone of /a/. | |||
| Slovak | Some speakers | telefón | 'telephone' | Realization of /ɔː/ reported to occur in dialects spoken near the river Ipeľ, as well as - under Hungarian influence - in some other speakers. Corresponds to mid [ɔ̝ː] in standard Slovak. See Slovak phonology | |
| Slovene | moj | 'my' | See Slovene phonology | ||
| Sotho | pontsho | 'proof' | Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels. See Sotho phonology | ||
| Spanish | camión | 'truck' | See Spanish phonology | ||
| Swedish | Central Standard | åka | 'travel' | Often diphthongized to . See Swedish phonology | |
| Ukrainian | молодь/molod' | 'youth' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Upper Sorbian | Bóh | 'god' | Diphthongized to in slow speech. | ||
| Welsh | nos | 'night' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| West Frisian | bok | 'billy-goat' | See West Frisian phonology | ||
| Yoruba | egba mi o | 'help' | |||
Close-mid back compressed vowel
| Close-mid back compressed vowel | |
|---|---|
| o͍ | |
| ɤᵝ |
There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨ɤ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous and labial compression) or ⟨ɤᵝ⟩ ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨ ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨o͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, but 'spread' technically means unrounded.
Only Wu Chinese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close-mid back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.
Features
- Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
- Its roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | Wu | 都/tè | 'capital' | Specifically in Shanghainese. Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel. | |
Notes
- ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
- ^ a b Wissing (2016), section "The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/".
- ^ a b Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
- ^ a b Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999), p. 56.
- ^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e Chen & Gussenhoven (2015), pp. 328–329.
- ^ a b Dankovičová (1999), p. 72.
- ^ Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
- ^ Ladefoged & Johnson (2010), p. 227.
- ^ Uldall (1933), p. ?.
- ^ Basbøll (2005), p. 47.
- ^ Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
- ^ Wells (1982), p. 310.
- ^ Roach (2004), p. 242.
- ^ Lass (2002), p. 116.
- ^ Wells (1982), p. 626.
- ^ Mahboob & Ahmar (2004), p. 1009.
- ^ Deterding (2000).
- ^ Clark, Urszula (2013). West Midlands English: Birmingham and the Black Country. p. 1005. ISBN 9780748641697. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt5hh397.
- ^ Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.
- ^ Árnason (2011), pp. 68, 74–75.
- ^ Árnason (2011), pp. 68, 75.
- ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2013), p. 225.
- ^ Hall (2003), pp. 90, 107.
- ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 34.
- ^ a b Khan & Weise (2013), p. 237.
- ^ Trudgill (2009), pp. 83–84.
- ^ Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
- ^ Szende (1994), p. 94.
- ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 119.
- ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
- ^ Thackston (2006a), p. 1.
- ^ Khan & Lescot (1970), pp. 8–16.
- ^ Wheelock's Latin (1956).
- ^ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
- ^ Peters (2006), p. 119.
- ^ Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
- ^ a b c d Stone (2002), p. 600.
- ^ a b Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
- ^ a b Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 17.
- ^ a b Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b c Popperwell (2010), p. 26.
- ^ a b Vanvik (1979), p. 17.
- ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
- ^ a b Peters (2017), p. ?.
- ^ a b Fast Mowitz (1975), p. 2.
- ^ a b Kráľ (1988), p. 92.
- ^ a b Doke & Mofokeng (1974), p. ?.
- ^ Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
- ^ Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.
- ^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
- ^ Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 20.
- ^ Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 32–33.
- ^ Tiersma (1999), p. 10.
- ^ Bamgboṣe (1966), p. 166.
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