Mid back rounded vowel

The mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. While there is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the exact mid back rounded vowel between close-mid [o] and open-mid [ɔ], it is normally written o. If precision is desired, diacritics may be used, such as or ɔ̝, the former being more common. There was an alternative IPA symbol for this sound, ⟨ꭥ⟩. A non-IPA letter is also found.

Mid back rounded vowel
ɔ̝
IPA Number307 430
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)o​̞
Unicode (hex)U+006F U+031E
Braille⠕ (braille pattern dots-135)⠠ (braille pattern dots-6)⠣ (braille pattern dots-126)

Legend: unrounded  rounded

Just because a language has only one non-close non-open back vowel, it still may not be a true-mid vowel. Tukang Besi is a language in Sulawesi, Indonesia, with a close-mid [o]. Taba, another language in Indonesia, in the Maluku Islands, has an open-mid [ɔ]. In both languages, there is no contrast with another mid (true-mid or close-mid) vowel.

Kensiu, in Malaysia and Thailand, is highly unusual in that it contrasts true-mid vowels with close-mid and open-mid vowels without any difference in other parameters, such as backness or roundedness.

Features

  • Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open 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

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
AfrikaansStandard[1]bok[bɔ̝k]'goat'Typically transcribed in IPA with ɔ. The height varies between mid [ɔ̝] and close-mid [o].[1] See Afrikaans phonology
ArabicHejazi[2]لـون/lōn[lo̞ːn]'color'See Hejazi Arabic phonology
Breton[3][example needed]Possible realization of unstressed /ɔ/; can be open-mid [ɔ] or close-mid [o] instead.[3]
ChineseTaiwanese Mandarin[4] / 'I'See Standard Chinese phonology
Shanghainese[5]/kò[kö̞¹]'tall'Near-back. Realization of /ɔ/ in open syllables and /ʊ/ in closed syllables.[5]
Czech[6][7]oko[ˈo̞ko̞]'eye'In Bohemian Czech, the backness varies between back and near-back, whereas the height varies between mid [o̞] and close-mid [o].[6] See Czech phonology
DanishStandard[8][9]måle[ˈmɔ̽ːlə]'measure'Near-back;[8][9] typically transcribed in IPA with ɔː. See Danish phonology
DutchAmsterdam[10]och[ɔ̝̈χ]'alas'Near-back;[10] corresponds to open-mid [ɔˤ] in standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect[11]mot[mɔ̝t]'well'Typically transcribed in IPA with ɔ.
EnglishCultivated South African[12]thought[θɔ̝ːt]'thought'Close-mid [] for other speakers. See South African English phonology
Maori[13]Near-close [o̝ː] in General New Zealand English.[13][14]
Scouse[15]Typically transcribed in IPA with ɔː.
Some Cardiff speakers[16]Other speakers use a more open, advanced and unrounded vowel [ʌ̈ː].[16]
General American[17]Cambodia'Cambodia'Near-back; often diphthongal: [ö̞ʊ].[17] Some regional North American varieties use a vowel that is closer to cardinal [o]. See English phonology
Yorkshire[18][kʰamˈbo̞ːdjə]Corresponds to /əʊ/ in other British dialects. See English phonology
Faroese[19]toldi[ˈtʰɔ̝ltɪ̞]'endured'Typically transcribed in IPA with ɔ. See Faroese phonology
Finnish[20][21]kello[ˈke̞lːo̞]'clock'See Finnish phonology
FrenchParisian[22]pont[pɔ̝̃]'bridge'Nasalized; typically transcribed in IPA with ɔ̃. See French phonology
GermanSouthern accents[23]voll[fɔ̝l]'full'Common realization of /ɔ/ in Southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Open-mid [ɔ] in Northern Standard German.[24] See Standard German phonology
Western Swiss accents[25]hoch[ho̞ːχ]'high'Close-mid [] in other accents.[26] See Standard German phonology
GreekModern Standard[27][28]πως / pos[po̞s̠]'how'See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew[29]שלום/shalom/šɔlom[ʃäˈlo̞m]'peace'Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script. See Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology
Ibibio[30]do[dó̞]'there'
Icelandic[31]loft[ˈlɔ̝ft]'air'Typically transcribed in IPA with ɔ. The long allophone is often diphthongized to [oɔ].[32] See Icelandic phonology
InuitWest Greenlandic[33]Maniitsoq[maniːtsːo̞q]'Maniitsoq'Allophone of /u/ before and especially between uvulars.[33] See Greenlandic phonology
ItalianStandard[34]forense[fo̞ˈrɛnse]'forensic'Common realization of the unstressed /o/.[34] See Italian phonology
Northern accents[35]bosco[ˈbo̞sko̞]'forest'Local realization of /ɔ/.[35] See Italian phonology
Japanese[36]/ko[ko̞]'child'See Japanese phonology
Korean[37]보리 / bori[po̞ˈɾi]'barley'See Korean phonology
LimburgishHasselt dialect[38]mok[mɔ̝k]'mug'May be transcribed IPA with ɔ.[38] See Hasselt dialect phonology
MalayStandardڤوكوق / pokok[po̞.ko̞ʔ]'tree'See Malay phonology
Johor-Riau
NorwegianUrban East[39][40]lov[lo̞ːʋ]'law'Also described as close-mid [].[41] See Norwegian phonology
Romanian[42]acolo[äˈko̞lo̞]'there'See Romanian phonology
Russian[43]сухой/sukhoy/sukhoj'dry'Some speakers realize it as open-mid [ɔ].[43] See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[44][45]ко̑д / kd/kõd[kô̞ːd̪]'code'See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Shipibo[46]koni[ˈkö̞ni̞]'eel'Near-back.[46]
Slovene[47]oglas[o̞ˈɡlá̠s̪]'advertisement'Unstressed vowel,[47] as well as an allophone of /o/ before /ʋ/ when a vowel does not follow within the same word.[48] See Slovene phonology
Spanish[49]todo[ˈt̪o̞ð̞o̞]'all'See Spanish phonology
Tera[50]zo[zo̞ː]'rope'
Thaiโต[to̞ː˧]'big'See
Turkish[51][52]kol[kʰo̞ɫ]'arm'See Turkish phonology
ZapotecTilquiapan[53]do[d̪o̞]'corn tassel'

Notes

References

External links