The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨u⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.
| Close back rounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| u | |
| IPA Number | 308 |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | u |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0075 |
| X-SAMPA | u |
| Braille |  |
Legend: unrounded • rounded
In most languages, this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips ('endolabial'). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed ('exolabial').
[u] alternates with labio-velar approximant [w] in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, [u̯] with the non-syllabic diacritic and [w] are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.
Close back protruded vowel
The close back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨u⟩ (the convention used in this article). As there is no dedicated IPA diacritic for protrusion, the symbol for the close back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨ ̫⟩, can be used as an ad hoc symbol ⟨u̫⟩. Another possible transcription is ⟨uʷ⟩ or ⟨ɯʷ⟩ (a close back vowel modified by endolabialization), but that could be misread as a diphthong.
Features
- 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.
- Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard[2] | boek | [bu̜k] | 'book' | Only weakly rounded.[3] See Afrikaans phonology |
| Arabic | Standard[4] | جنوب/ǧanuub | [d͡ʒaˈnuːb] | 'south' | See Arabic phonology |
| Armenian | Eastern[5] | դուռ/dur | [dur] | 'door' | |
| Bavarian | Amstetten dialect[6] | und | [und̥] | 'and' | Contrasts close [u], near-close [o̝], close-mid [o] and open-mid [ɔ] back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded [ä].[6] |
| Bulgarian[7] | луд/lud | [ɫut̪] | 'crazy' | See Bulgarian phonology | |
| Catalan[8] | suc | [s̺uk] | 'juice' | See Catalan phonology | |
| Chinese | Mandarin[9][10] | 土 / tǔ | [tʰu˨˩˦] | 'earth' | See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Cantonese[11] | 夫 / fū | ⓘ | 'man' | See Cantonese phonology | |
| Shanghainese[12] | 瓜/ku | [ku˩] | 'melon' | Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel.[12] | |
| Chuvash | урам | [ur'am] | 'street' | ||
| Danish | Standard[13][14] | du | [tu] | 'you' | See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard[15][16] | voet | ⓘ | 'foot' | Somewhat fronted in Belgian Standard Dutch.[16] |
| English | Australian[17][18] | book | [buk] | 'book' | Corresponds to [ʊ] in other accents. See Australian English phonology |
| Cape Flats[19] | May be advanced to [ʉ], or lowered and unrounded to [ɤ].[19] See South African English phonology | ||||
| Cultivated South African[20] | boot | [bu̟ːt] | 'boot' | Typically more front than cardinal [u]. Instead of being back, it may be central [ʉː] in Geordie and RP, and front [yː] in Multicultural London. See English phonology and South African English phonology | |
| General American[21] | |||||
| Geordie[22] | |||||
| Multicultural London[23] | |||||
| Received Pronunciation[24] | |||||
| Welsh[25][26][27] | |||||
| Pakistani[28] | [buːʈ] | ||||
| Greater New York City | [buːt][29] | ||||
| New Zealand[30][31] | treacle | [ˈtɹ̝̊iːku] | '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.[30][31] Corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology | |
| Estonian[32] | sule | [ˈsule̞] | 'feather' (gen. sg.) | See Estonian phonology | |
| Finnish[33][34] | kukka | [ˈkukːɑ] | 'flower' | See Finnish phonology | |
| Faroese[35] | gulur | [ˈkuːlʊɹ] | 'yellow' | See Faroese phonology | |
| French[36][37] | où | ⓘ | 'where' | See French phonology | |
| Georgian[38] | გუდა/guda | [ɡudɑ] | 'leather bag' | ||
| German | Standard[39][40] | Fuß | ⓘ | 'foot' | See Standard German phonology |
| Many speakers[41] | Stunde | [ˈʃtundə] | 'hour' | The usual realization of /ʊ/ in Switzerland, Austria and partially also in Western and Southwestern Germany (Palatinate, Swabia).[41] See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | Modern Standard[42][43] | που / pou | [pu] | 'where' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Hungarian[44] | út | [uːt̪] | 'way' | See Hungarian phonology | |
| Icelandic[45][46] | þú | [θ̠u] | 'you' | See Icelandic phonology | |
| Indonesian[47] | Standard Indonesian | unta | [unta] | 'camel' | See Indonesian phonology |
| Italian[48] | tutto | [ˈt̪ut̪t̪o] | 'all', 'everything' | See Italian phonology | |
| Kaingang[49] | [ˈndukːi] | 'in the belly' | |||
| Kazakh | туған/tuğan | [t̪ʰuˈʁɑ̝̃n̪] | 'native' | Transcribed phonemically as ⟨ʊw⟩ | |
| Khmer | ភូមិ / phumĭ | [pʰuːm] | 'village' | See Khmer phonology | |
| Korean | 눈 / nun | [nuːn] | 'snow' | See Korean phonology | |
| Kurdish[50][51][52] | Kurmanji (Northern) | çû | [tʃʰuː] | 'wood' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Sorani (Central) | چوو/çû | ||||
| Palewani (Southern) | |||||
| Latin | Classical[53] | sus | [suːs] | 'pig' | |
| Limburgish[54][55] | sjoen | [ʃu̟n] | 'beautiful' | Back[55] or near-back,[54] depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |
| Lower Sorbian[56] | zub | [z̪up] | 'tooth' | ||
| Luxembourgish[57] | Luucht | [luːχt] | 'air' | See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Malay | ubat | [u.bät] | 'medicine' | See Malay phonology | |
| Malayalam | ഉപ്പ് | upːɨ̆ | 'Salt' | See Malayalam phonology | |
| Mongolian[58] | үүр/üür | [uːɾɘ̆] | 'nest' | ||
| Nogai | сув | [suː] | 'water' | ||
| Persian | دور/dur | [duɾ] | 'far' | See Persian phonology | |
| Polish[59] | buk | ⓘ | 'beech tree' | Also represented orthographically by ⟨ó⟩. See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese[60] | tu | [ˈtu] | 'you' | See Portuguese phonology | |
| Romanian[61] | unu | [ˈun̪u] | 'one' | See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian[62] | узкий/uzkiy/uzkij | ⓘ | 'narrow' | See Russian phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[63] | дуга / duga | [d̪ǔːɡä] | 'rainbow' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Shiwiar[64] | [example needed] | ||||
| Spanish[65] | curable | [kuˈɾäβ̞le̞] | 'curable' | See Spanish phonology | |
| Sotho[66] | tumo | [tʼumɔ] | 'fame' | Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels.[66] See Sotho phonology | |
| Swahili | ubongo | [ubongo] | 'brain' | ||
| Tagalog | utang | [ˈʔutɐŋ] | 'debt' | ||
| Thai | Standard[67] | ชลบุรี/chonburi | ⓘ | 'Chonburi' | |
| Turkish[68][69] | uzak | [uˈz̪äk] | 'far' | See Turkish phonology | |
| Udmurt[70] | урэтэ/urėtė | [urete] | 'to divide' | ||
| Ukrainian[71] | рух/rukh | [rux] | 'motion' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Upper Sorbian[56][72] | žuk | [ʒuk] | 'beetle' | ||
| Urdu | دُور/dur | [duɾ] | 'far' | See Urdu phonology | |
| Welsh | mwg | [muːɡ] | 'smoke' | See Welsh phonology | |
| West Frisian | jûn | [juːn] | 'evening, tonight' | See West Frisian phonology | |
| Yoruba[73] | itọju | [itɔju] | |||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[74] | gdu | [ɡdu] | 'all' | |
Close back compressed vowel
| Close back compressed vowel | |
|---|---|
| u͍ | |
| ɯᵝ | |
| Audio sample | |
Some languages, such as Japanese and Swedish, have a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial.[75] Only Shanghainese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.[12]
There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨ɯ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [ɯ] and labial compression) or ⟨ɯᵝ⟩ ([ɯ] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨ ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨u͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, but 'spread' technically means unrounded.
Features
- 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.
- 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 | Shanghainese[12] | 都/tub | [tɯᵝ˩] | 'capital' | Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel.[12] |
| Japanese[76] | 空気 / kūki | ⓘ | 'air' | Near-back; may be realized as central [ɨᵝ] by younger speakers.[76] See Japanese phonology | |
| Lizu[77] | [Fmɯ̟ᵝ][clarification needed] | 'feather' | Near-back.[77] | ||
| Norwegian[78][79] | mot | [mɯᵝːt] | 'courage' | The example word is from Urban East Norwegian, in which the vowel can be diphthongized to [ɯᵝə̯].[80] See Norwegian phonology | |
| Swedish | Central Standard[81][82] | oro | [²ɯᵝːrɯᵝː] | 'unease' | Often realized as a sequence [ɯᵝβ̞] or [ɯᵝβ][81] (hear the word: ⓘ). See Swedish phonology |