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Close back unrounded vowel

(Redirected from Near-close back unrounded vowel)
For the Latin letter, see Ɯ. Not to be confused with the Armenian letter ա (U+0561), the Cyrillic letter ш (U+0448), or the Tamil letter ய (U+0BAF).

The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɯ⟩. Typographically, it is a turned letter ⟨m⟩.

Close back unrounded vowel
ɯ
IPA number316
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɯ
Unicode (hex)U+026F
X-SAMPAM
Braille⠲ (braille pattern dots-256) ⠥ (braille pattern dots-136)

The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of the voiced velar approximant [ɰ].

Features

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  • Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
  • 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. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
  • Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
  • It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Spectrogram of [ɯ]

Occurrence

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LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Acehnese[2]eu[ɯ]'see'Also described as closer to [ɨ].[3][4]
Arara[5]îput[ɯput̚]'my skin'Frequent realisation of /ɨ/.[5]
ArbëreshArbëreshë[ɑɾbɯɾeʃ]'Arbëreshë'/ə/ in standard Albanian.
Azerbaijanibahalı / باهالیٛ[bɑhɑˈɫɯ]'expensive'Closer to an [ɘ].[6]
Bashkirҡыҙ / قىُث / qıđ[qɯð]'girl'
ChineseMandarin刺 / cì[t͡sʰɯ˥˩]'thorn'
Wuhan dialect, Southwestern Mandarin去 / keu[kʰɯ]'to go'
Some Wu dialects父 / vu[vɯ]'father'
Xiang火 / xu[xɯ]'fire'
Chuvashыхра / ıxra[ɯɣra]'garlic'
Crimean Tatarджаным / canım[dʒanɯm]'my dear'
EnglishSome California speakers[7]goose[ɡɯˑs]'goose'Corresponds to [uː] in other dialects.
New Zealand[8][9]treacle[ˈtɹ̝̊iːkɯ]'treacle'Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[8][9] Corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. Develops from dark L; See New Zealand English phonology
Some Philadelphia speakers[10]plus[pɫ̥ɯs]'plus'Used by some speakers; the exact height and backness is variable.[10] It corresponds to [ʌ] in other accents. See English phonology
South African[11]pill[pʰɯ̞ɫ]'pill'Near-close; possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/.[11] See South African English phonology
Eastern KhantyVakh-Vasyugan[12]пӛӈк[pɯŋk]'hazel grouse'See Eastern Khanty phonology
Estonian[13]kõrv[kɯrv]'ear'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩; can be close-mid central [ɘ] or close-mid back [ɤ] instead, depending on the speaker.[13] See Estonian phonology
IrishUlstercaol[kʰɯːl̪ˠ]'narrow'See Irish phonology
Japanese[14]空気 / kūki[kɯːkʲi]ⓘ'air'May be compressed [ɯᵝ].[15] See Japanese phonology
Katukina[16][babɯˈdʒɯ]'oscar (fish)'
Kazakhқыс / qys / قىس[qɯs]'winter'May be pronounced as qəs
Korean[17]음식 飮食 / eumsik[ɯːmɕ͈ik̚]'food'See Korean phonology
KurdishKurmanji (Northern)tirş[tˤɯɾʃ]'sour'See Kurdish phonology. The "i" after "t" always uses this sound if the "t" is "tˤ". However, it can also appear at other places.
Sorani (Central)ترش / tirş
Kyrgyzкыз / قىز / qyz[qɯz]'girl'See Kyrgyz phonology
MinangkabauSome speakersmandudu[mändɯdɯ]'to push ahead'Normally [u] in standard Minangkabau language.
Panará[18][tɯˈsəʰ]'to breathe'
RomanianSome speakerscând[kɯnd]'when'Typically described as ⟨ɨ⟩. See Romanian phonology
Scottish Gaeliccaol[kʰɯːl̪ˠ]'thin'See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Sopdüm[dɯm]'tree'See Sop language
Tamilஅழகு / aḻagu[əɻəgɯ]'beauty'Normally [u] elsewhere.
ThaiStandard[19]ขึ้น / khuen/khîn[kʰɯn˥˩]'to go up'
Turkish[20]sığ[sɯː]ⓘ'shallow'Described variously as close back [ɯ],[20] near-close near-back [ɯ̽][21] and close central [ɨ].[22] See Turkish phonology
Turkmenýaşyl / یاشیٛل[jɑːˈʃɯl]'green'
Uyghurتىلىم / tılım/tilim[tɯlɯm]'my language'In complementary distribution with /ɪ/. See Uyghur phonology
Vietnamesetư[tɯ]'fourth'See Vietnamese phonology

Near-close near-back unrounded vowel

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Near-close near-back unrounded vowel
ɯ̽
Audio sample
Near-close back unrounded vowel
ɯ̞
ɤ̝

Some languages have a near-close near-back unrounded vowel, or near-high near-back unrounded vowel, which is more centralized than a typical [ɯ].

The International Phonetic Alphabet has no dedicated symbol for this sound, but it may be represented as [ɯ̽] (mid-centralized ⟨ɯ⟩) or [ɯ̞̈] (lowered and centralized ⟨ɯ⟩). It may also be transcribed as [ʊ̜] (less rounded ⟨ʊ⟩), but because ⟨ʊ⟩ is defined by the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association as rounded (whereas ⟨ə⟩ and ⟨ɐ⟩ do not specify rounding),[23] the symbol [ʊ̜] can also signify a weakly rounded [ʊ], rather than the fully unrounded vowel that is described in this article. John C. Wells transcribes this vowel with the para-IPA symbol ⟨ω⟩ in his Accents of English,[24] though Sinological phonetic notation uses this symbol instead for a near-open back rounded vowel [ɒ̝]. John Esling uses ⟨ᵻ⟩ to represent this sound in his iPA Phonetics mobile application,[25] though this is more typically used to represent a near-close central unrounded vowel [ɪ̈].

For precision, a near-close back unrounded vowel, or near-high back unrounded vowel, may also be described, and is attested in a few spoken languages. This sound can be represented in the IPA as [ɯ̞] (lowered ⟨ɯ⟩) or [ɤ̝] (raised ⟨ɤ⟩). However, some phoneticians argue that all lip position inverses of the primary cardinal vowels are centralized (with the exception of ⟨ɒ⟩) based on formant acoustics,[26] so that there may be no substantial difference between a near-close near-back unrounded vowel [ɯ̽] and its fully back counterpart [ɯ̞].

Features

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Occurrence

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LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
EnglishAfrican-American[27]hook[hɯ̽k]'hook'Possible realization of /ʊ/.[27]
California[7]Often pronounced with spread lips. Corresponds to /ʊ/ in other accents.[7] See English phonology
Tidewater[28]May be rounded [ʊ] instead.[28]
Cardiff[29][ɯ̽k]Also described as close-mid central [ɘ ~ ɵ].[30]
New Zealand[8][9]treacle[ˈtɹ̝̊iːkɯ̞]ⓘ'treacle'Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[8][9] It corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology
Some Philadelphia speakers[10]plus[pɫ̥ɯ̞s]'plus'Used particularly by male speakers; can be lower [ʌ̝ ~ ʌ] instead.[10] It corresponds to [ʌ] in other accents. See English phonology
South African[11]pill[pʰɯ̽ɫ]'pill'Possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/.[11] Also described as close-mid [ɤ].[31] See South African English phonology
IrishUlster[32]ag gail[ə ˈɡɯ̽lˠ]'boiling'Allophone of /ɪ/.[32] See Irish phonology
Korean[33]어른/eoreun[ə̝ːɾɯ̞n]'seniors'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɯ⟩. See Korean phonology
PortugueseEuropean[34]pegar[pɯ̽ˈɣäɾ]ⓘ'to grab'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɨ⟩ or ⟨ə⟩. Appears only in unstressed syllables.[34] See Portuguese phonology
Scottish GaelicLewis[35]gaol[kɯ̽ːl̪ˠ]'love'Allophone of /ɯ/ when adjacent to velarized sonorants.
TurkishStandard[36]sığ[sɯ̽ː]'shallow'Also described as close back [ɯ] and close central [ɨ].[37] See Turkish phonology
VietnameseHanoi[38]từ[t̻ɯ̽˧˨]ⓘ'word'Common allophone of /ɯ/.[38] See Vietnamese phonology
Yine[39][tɯ̽wɯ̽]'salt'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɯ⟩.[39]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ↑ Durie, Mark (1990). "Proto-Chamic and Acehnese Mid Vowels: Towards Proto-Aceh-Chamic" (PDF). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. LII, Part 1: 100–111. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00021297. S2CID 162224060. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2010.
  3. ↑ Asyik, Abdul Gani. "The Agreement System in Acehnese" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. XI: 1–33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Al-Harbi, Awwad Ahmad Al-Ahmadi (January 2003). "Acehnese Coda Condition: An Optimality-Theoretic Account" (PDF). Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational and Social Sciences and Humanities. 15 (1): 9–28.
  5. 1 2 Alves (2013), p. 269.
  6. ↑ Ghaffarvand-Mokari & Werner 2016, p. 514.
  7. 1 2 3 Ladefoged (1999), pp. 42–43.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Warren, Paul. NZE Phonology (PDF) (Report). Victoria University of Wellington. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Bauer & Warren (2004), p. 585.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Gordon (2004), p. 290.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Bowerman (2004), p. 936.
  12. ↑ V.N. Solovar; G.L. Nakhracheva; A.A. Shiyanova (2016), Диалекты хантыйского языка., Khanty-Mansiysk{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. 1 2 Asu & Teras (2009), p. 369.
  14. ↑ Labrune (2012), p. 25.
  15. ↑ Okada (1999), p. 118.
  16. ↑ dos Anjos (2012), p. 129.
  17. ↑ Lee (1999), p. 122.
  18. ↑ Vasconcelos (2013), p. 182.
  19. ↑ Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993), p. 24.
  20. 1 2 Göksel & Kerslake (2005:10)
  21. ↑ Kılıç & Öğüt (2004)
  22. ↑ Zimmer & Orgun (1999:155)
  23. ↑ International Phonetic Association (1999), p. 180.
  24. ↑ Wells (1982:xvii)
  25. ↑ Esling, John H.; Moisik, Scott R.; Coey, Christopher (2015). iPA Phonetics: Multimodal iOS application for phonetics instruction and practice (PDF). 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVIII). ISSN 2412-0669.
  26. ↑ Geoff Lindsey (2013) The vowel space, Speech Talk
  27. 1 2 Wells (1982), p. 557.
  28. 1 2 Wells (1982), p. 536.
  29. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 386.
  30. ↑ Collins & Mees (1990), pp. 92, 94.
  31. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 617.
  32. 1 2 Ní Chasaide (1999), p. 114.
  33. ↑ Lee (1999), p. 121.
  34. 1 2 Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
  35. ↑ Oftedal (1956), p. 81.
  36. ↑ Kılıç & Öğüt (2004)
  37. ↑ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
  38. 1 2 Kirby (2011), p. 384.
  39. 1 2 Urquía Sebastián & Marlett (2008), p. 366.

References

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