Close-mid central unrounded vowel

Close-mid central unrounded vowel
ɘ
IPA number397
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɘ
Unicode (hex)U+0258
X-SAMPA@\
Braille⠲ (braille pattern dots-256) ⠑ (braille pattern dots-15)
Front Central Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Legend: unrounded • rounded

The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-mid central 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 ⟨ɘ⟩. This is a mirrored letter e and should not be confused with the schwa ⟨ə⟩, which is a turned e. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ë⟩. Certain older sources[2] transcribe this vowel ⟨ɤ̈⟩.

The letter ⟨ɘ⟩ may be used with a lowering diacritic ⟨ɘ̞⟩, to denote the mid central unrounded vowel.

Features

Spectrogram of [ɘ]

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Chuvashпӗррехинче[pɘrrɛχint͡ɕɛ]'once'
Cotabato Manobo[3]May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩.
DinkaLuanyjang[4]ŋeŋ[ŋɘ́ŋ]'jawbone'Short allophone of /e/.[4]
EnglishAustralian[5][6]bird[bɘːd]'bird'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Optionally rounded. See Australian English phonology
Cardiff[7]foot[fɘt]'foot'Less often rounded [ɵ];[8] corresponds to [ʊ] in other dialects. See English phonology
New Zealand[9]bit[bɘt]'bit'Merger of /ə/ and /ɪ/ found in other dialects. See New Zealand English phonology
Southern American[10]nut[nɘt]'nut'Some dialects.[10] Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
Estonian[11]kõrv[kɘrv]'ear'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩; can be close-mid back [ɤ] or close back [ɯ] instead, depending on the speaker.[11] See Estonian phonology
IrishMunster[12]sáile[ˈsˠɰaːlʲə̝]'salt water'Usually transcribed in IPA with [ɪ̽]. It is an allophone of /ə/ next to non-palatal slender consonants.[12] See Irish phonology
Jebero[13]ɨx[e/ï][k/c/q] [ˈiʃɘk] 'bat'
Kaingang[14]me [ˈᵐbɘ]'tail'Varies between central [ɘ] and back [ɤ].[15]
Kalagan Kaagan[16][miˈwə̝ːʔ]'lost'Allophone of /ɨ/ in word-final stressed syllables before /ʔ/; can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩.[16]
Katë[17]Katë[kaˈt̪ɘ]'Katë'Can also be realized as /ɨ/.
Kazakh[18]тілі[tʰɘˈlɘ]]'language'
Kensiu[19][ɟɚ̝h]'to trim'Rhotacized; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɚ⟩.[19]
Kera[20][t͡ʃə̝̄wā̠a̠]'fire'Allophone of /a/; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩.[20]
Korean[21]어른/eoreun[ə̝ːɾɯ̽n]'adult'May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨əː⟩. See Korean phonology
Kurdish Kurmanji dil/دل [dɘl] 'heart' Allophone of /ɪ/. Sorani alphabet does not transcribe this vowel phoneme in text.
Sorani
Lizu[22][Fkə̝]'eagle'Allophone of /ə/ after velar stops.[22]
Mapudungun[23]elün[ë̝ˈlɘn]'to give (something)'
Mongolian[24]үсэр[usɘɾɘ̆]'jump'
Mono[25]dœ[də̝]'be (equative)'May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩.[25]
Polish[26]mysz[mɘ̟ʂ]ⓘ'mouse'Somewhat fronted;[26] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɨ⟩. See Polish phonology
RomanianMoldavian dialect[27]casă[ˈkäsɘ]'house'Corresponds to [ə] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Scottish GaelicHarrisbhuaipe[ˈvuɘhpə]'from her'Allophone of /e/ in the diphthong /ue/, which in other dialects is /uə/ or /uæ/. May be closer as [ɨ̞].
Uist
Shiwiar[28]
Temne[29]pər[pə̝́r]'incite'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩.[29]
Vietnamese[30]vợ[vɘ˨˩ˀ]'wife'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩. See Vietnamese phonology
XumiUpper[31][LPmɘ̃dɐ]'upstairs'Nasalized; occurs only in this word.[31] It is realized as mid [ə̃] in Lower Xumi.[32]
ZapotecTilquiapan[33]ne[nɘ]'and'Most common realization of /e/.[33]

Notes

  1. ↑ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ↑ For example Collins & Mees (1990).
  3. ↑ Kerr (1988:110)
  4. 1 2 Remijsen & Manyang (2009:117, 119)
  5. ↑ Cox (2006:?)
  6. ↑ Durie & Hajek (1994:?)
  7. ↑ Collins & Mees (1990:93)
  8. ↑ Collins & Mees (1990:92)
  9. ↑ Bauer et al. (2007)
  10. 1 2 Roca & Johnson (1999:186)
  11. 1 2 Asu & Teras (2009), pp. 368–369.
  12. 1 2 Ó Sé (2000)
  13. ↑ Valenzuela & Gussenhoven (2013:101)
  14. ↑ Jolkesky (2009:676–677 and 682)
  15. ↑ Jolkesky (2009:676 and 682)
  16. 1 2 Wendel & Wendel (1978:198)
  17. ↑ Halfmann, Jakob (2024). A Grammatical Description of the Katë Language (Nuristani) (PhD thesis). Köln: Universität zu Köln.
  18. ↑ Vajda, Edward (1994), "Kazakh phonology", in Kaplan, E.; Whisenhunt, D. (eds.), Essays presented in honor of Henry Schwarz, Washington: Western Washington, pp. 603–650
  19. 1 2 Bishop (1996:230)
  20. 1 2 Pearce (2011:251)
  21. ↑ Lee (1999:121)
  22. 1 2 Chirkova & Chen (2013a:79)
  23. ↑ Sadowsky et al. (2013:92)
  24. ↑ Iivonen & Harnud (2005:62, 66–67)
  25. 1 2 Olson (2004:235)
  26. 1 2 Jassem (2003:105) The source transcribes this sound with the symbol ⟨ɨ⟩ but one can see from the vowel chart at pag. 105 that the Polish sound is closer to [ɘ] than to [ɨ].
  27. ↑ Pop (1938), p. 29.
  28. ↑ Fast Mowitz (1975:2)
  29. 1 2 Kanu & Tucker (2010:249)
  30. ↑ Hoang (1965:24)
  31. 1 2 Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013:389)
  32. ↑ Chirkova & Chen (2013b:370)
  33. 1 2 Merrill (2008:109–110)

References