View source for Open-mid back unrounded vowel

{{Short description|Vowel sound represented by ⟨ʌ⟩ in IPA}}
{{Infobox IPA
|ipa symbol=ʌ
|ipa number=314
|decimal=652
|xsampa=V
|kirshenbaum=V
|imagefile=IPA Unicode 0x028C.svg
|imagesize=150px
|braille=346
}}
{{IPA vowels|class=floatright}}
[[File:Spectrogram of open-mid back unrounded vowel (IPA ʌ).png|thumb|Spectrogram of {{IPA|[ʌ]}}]]

The '''open-mid back unrounded vowel''' or '''low-mid back unrounded vowel'''<ref>{{Vowel terminology}}</ref> is a type of [[vowel]] sound, used in some [[Speech communication|spoken]] [[language]]s. The symbol in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] that represents this sound is {{angbr IPA|ʌ}}, graphically a rotated lowercase "v" (called a [[Turned v|turned V]] but created as a small-capital {{angbr|ᴀ}} without the crossbar, even though some vendors display it as a real turned [[v]]). Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as a "wedge", "[[caret]]" or "hat". In transcriptions for [[English language|English]], this symbol is commonly used for the [[Near-open central vowel|near-open central unrounded vowel]] and in transcriptions for [[Danish language|Danish]], it is used for the [[open back rounded vowel]].

==Features==
{{open-mid vowel}}
{{back vowel}}
{{unrounded vowel}}

==Occurrence==
{| class="wikitable" style="clear: both;"
! colspan="2" | Language || Word || [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] || Meaning || Notes
|-
|colspan=2|[[Ajië language|Ajië]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zetterberg |first1=William |title=So close and yet so different: Reconstructing the phonological history of three Southern New Caledonian languages {{!}} Lund University |url=https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/lup/publication/9068921 |website=Lund University |access-date=9 July 2023}}</ref>
|{{lang|aji|k'''ë'''}}
|[{{IPA|kʌˀ}}]
|'pot'
|Distinct from {{IPA|/ə/}}
|-
| [[Catalan language|Catalan]]
| [[Solsonès]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://prezi.com/kyxx1qdiuopl/analisi-dialectologica-duns-parlars-del-solsones/|title=Anàlisi dialectològica d'uns parlars del Solsonès|website=prezi.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-29}}</ref>
| {{lang|ca|[[Catalan phonology|tard'''a''']]}}
| {{IPA|[ˈtaɾð̞ʌ̃ː]}}
| 'afternoon'
| Realization of final unstressed {{IPA|/ə/}}
|-
|colspan=2|[[Danish language|Danish]]
| {{lang|da|sl'''o'''t}}
| {{IPA|[ˈslʌt]}}
| 'castle'
| Usually transcribed as {{IPA|/ɒ/}} but more mid-centralized {{IPA|[ɒ̽]}}.
|-
| [[Emilian dialects|Emilian]]
| most Emilian dialects<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bulgnais.com/grafia.html/|title=Scrîver al bulgnaiṡ cum và|website=bulgnais.com|language=egl|access-date=2020-04-21|archive-date=2020-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026045803/https://www.bulgnais.com/grafia.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| ''Bul'''å'''ggna''
| {{IPA|[buˈlʌɲːɐ]}}
| '[[Bologna]]'
| It corresponds to a sound between {{IPA|/ɔ/}} to {{IPA|/ä/}}; written ''ò'' in some spellings
|-
| rowspan="13" | [[English language|English]] || [[South African English|Cape Town]]{{sfnp|Lass|2002|p=115}} || rowspan="2" | ''[[English orthography|l'''o'''t]]'' || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[lʌt]}} || rowspan="2" | 'lot' || rowspan="2" | It corresponds to a weakly rounded {{IPAblink|ɒ|ɒ̈}} in all other South African dialects. See [[South African English phonology]]
|-
| [[South African English|Natal]]{{sfnp|Lass|2002|p=115}}
|-
| [[Cardiff dialect|Cardiff]]{{sfnp|Collins|Mees|1990|p=95}} || ''[[English orthography|th'''ough'''t]]'' || {{IPA|[θʌːt]}} || 'thought' || For some speakers it may be rounded and closer. See [[English phonology]]
|-
| General [[South African English|South African]]{{sfnp|Wells|1982|pp=614, 621}} || ''[[English orthography|n'''o''']]'' || {{IPA|[nʌː]}} || 'no' || May be a diphthong {{IPA|[ʌʊ̯]}} instead.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=614}} See [[South African English phonology]]
|-
| [[General American]]{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=485}} || rowspan="9" | ''[[English orthography|g'''u'''t]]'' || rowspan="9" | {{Audio-IPA|En-us-inlandnorth-gut.ogg|[ɡʌt]}} || rowspan="9" | 'gut' || rowspan="9" | In some dialects, fronted to {{IPAblink|ɜ}}, or fronted and lowered to {{IPAblink|ɐ}}. In Standard Southern British English, {{IPA|[ʌ]}} is increasingly heard in place of {{IPAblink|ɐ}} to avoid the [[trap-strut merger]].{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=122}} See [[English phonology]] and [[Northern Cities Vowel Shift]]
|-
| [[Inland Northern American English|Inland Northern American]]<ref>{{citation |author=W. Labov, S. Ash and C. Boberg|year=1997|title=A national map of the regional dialects of American English|publisher=Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania|url=http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html|access-date=May 27, 2013}}</ref>
|-
| [[Multicultural London English|Multicultural London]]{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=91}}
|-
| [[Newfoundland English|Newfoundland]]{{sfnp|Thomas|2001|pp=27–28, 61–63}}
|-
| Northern [[East Anglian English|East Anglian]]{{sfnp|Trudgill|2004|p=167}}
|-
| [[Philadelphia dialect|Philadelphia]]{{sfnp|Thomas|2001|pp=27–28, 73–74}}
|-
| [[Scottish English|Scottish]]{{sfnp|Scobbie|Gordeeva|Matthews|2006|p=7}}
|-
| Some [[Estuary English]] speakers{{sfnp|Altendorf|Watt|2004|p=188}}
|-
| Some Standard Southern [[British English|British]] speakers{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=122}}
|-
| [[French language|French]] || [[Picardy]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Picardie : phonétique|url=http://accentsdefrance.free.fr/picardie/picardiephonetique.html|access-date=29 January 2015}}</ref>|| {{lang|fr|[[French orthography|al'''o'''rs]]}} || {{IPA|[aˈlʌʀ̥]}} || 'so' || Corresponding to {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in [[standard French]].
|-
| [[German language|German]] || [[Chemnitz dialect]]{{sfnp|Khan|Weise|2013|pp=235, 238}} || {{lang|de|[[German orthography|m'''a'''chen]]}} || {{IPA|[ˈmʌχɴ̩]}} || 'to do' || Allophone of {{IPA|/ʌ, ʌː/}} (which phonetically are central {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɜ}}, {{IPAplink|ɜː}}]}}){{sfnp|Khan|Weise|2013|p=236}} before and after {{IPA|/ŋ, kʰ, k, χ, ʁ/}}. Exact backness varies; it is most posterior before {{IPA|/χ, ʁ/}}.{{sfnp|Khan|Weise|2013|p=238}}
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Haida language|Haida]]{{sfnp|Lawrence|1977|pp=32–33}} || {{lang|hai|ḵw'''a'''áay}} || {{IPA|[qʷʰʌʔáːj]}}|| 'the rock' || Allophone of {{IPA|/a/}} (sometimes also {{IPA|/aː/}}) after uvular and epiglottal consonants.{{sfnp|Lawrence|1977|pp=32–33, 36}}
|-
| [[Irish language|Irish]] || [[Ulster Irish|Ulster dialect]]{{sfnp|Ní Chasaide|1999|pp=114–115}} || {{lang|ga|[[Irish orthography|'''o'''la]]}} || {{IPA|[ʌl̪ˠə]}} || 'oil' || See [[Irish phonology]]
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Kaingang language|Kaingang]]{{sfnp|Jolkesky|2009|pp=676–677, 682}} || colspan=2 align=center | {{IPA|[ˈɾʌ]}} || 'mark' || Varies between back {{IPA|[ʌ]}} and central {{IPAblink|ɜ}}.{{sfnp|Jolkesky|2009|pp=676, 682}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]]
|{{Lang|ks|از}}
|{{IPA|[ʌz]}}
|'today'
|Allophone of {{IPAblink|ɐ}}. Used only in monosyllables. Typical of the [[Srinagar]] variety.
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Kensiu language|Kensiu]]{{sfnp|Bishop|1996|p=230}} || colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA|[hʌʎ]}} || 'stream' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Korean language|Korean]]{{sfnp|Lee|1999}} || {{lang|ko|[[Korean orthography|너]]}} / ''n'''eo''''' || {{IPA|[nʌ̹]}}|| 'you' || See [[Korean phonology]]
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Lillooet language|Lillooet]] || {{example needed|date=November 2015}} || || || Retracted counterpart of {{IPA|/ə/}}.
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Mah Meri language|Mah Meri]]{{sfnp|Kruspe|Hajek|2009|p=245}} || {{example needed|date=February 2017}} || || || Allophone of {{IPA|/ə/}}; can be mid central {{IPAblink|ə}} or close-mid back {{IPAblink|ɤ}} instead.{{sfnp|Kruspe|Hajek|2009|p=245}}
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Nepali language|Nepali]] || असल/'''''a'''s'''a'''l'' || {{IPA|[ʌsʌl]}} || 'good' || See [[Nepali phonology]]
|-
| [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] || [[Solør]]{{sfnp|Borg|1987|p=10}} || fäss || {{IPA|[fʌs]}} || 'waterfall' || In traditional dialect transcriptions, this vowel is written consequently as ⟨ä⟩, and has existed as a separate vowel in addition to ⟨æ⟩, {{IPA|[æ]}}. This is because ⟨ä⟩ has evolved from an unrounding of short ⟨o⟩. ⟨ä⟩ has morphed to {{IPA|[æ]}} with younger speakers.
|-
| [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] || [[Grande Lisboa|Greater Lisbon area]]{{sfnp|Cruz-Ferreira|1995|pp=91–2}} || {{lang|pt|[[Portuguese orthography|l'''e'''ite]]}} || {{IPA|[ˈɫ̪ʌjt̪ɨ̞]}} || 'milk' || Allophone of {{IPA|/ɐ/}} before {{IPA|/i/}} (forming a phonetic diphthong {{IPA|[ʌj]}}). Corresponds to {{IPAblink|e}} in other accents.{{sfnp|Cruz-Ferreira|1995|pp=91–2}} See [[Portuguese phonology]]
|-
| [[Russian language|Russian]] || Standard [[Saint Petersburg]]{{sfnp|Yanushevskaya|Bunčić|2015|p=225}} || {{lang|ru|[[Russian orthography|гол'''о'''ва]]}}/golová ||{{IPA|[ɡəɫ̪ʌˈvä]}} || 'head' || Corresponds to {{IPAblink|ɐ}} in standard [[Moscow]] pronunciation;{{sfnp|Yanushevskaya|Bunčić|2015|p=225}} occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. See [[Russian phonology]]
|-
| [[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]] || [[Barra]]{{sfnp|Borgstrøm|1937|p=76}} || {{lang|gd|[[Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography|duin'''e''']]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈt̪ɯɲʌ]}} || 'person' || Dialectal allophone of {{IPAblink|ə}} in word-final position.
|-
| colspan="2" | [[Tamil language|Tamil]]{{sfnp|Keane|2004|p=114}} || {{example needed|date=January 2016}} || || || Nasalized. Phonetic realization of the sequence {{IPA|/am/}}, may be {{IPAblink|o̞|õ}} or {{IPAblink|ä|ã}} instead.{{sfnp|Keane|2004|p=114}} See [[Tamil phonology]]
|-
| colspan="2" |[[Xavante language|Xavante]]{{Sfnp|Nikulin|Carvalho|2019|p=263}}
|
|{{IPA|[jʌm]}}
|'seed'
|The nasal version {{IPA|[ʌ̃]}} also occurs.{{Sfnp|Nikulin|Carvalho|2019|p=263}}
|}

Before [[World War II]], the {{IPA|/ʌ/}} of [[Received Pronunciation]] was phonetically close to a back vowel {{IPA|[ʌ]}}, which has since shifted forward towards {{IPAblink|ɐ}} (a near-open central unrounded vowel). [[Daniel Jones (phonetician)|Daniel Jones]] reported his speech (southern British) as having an advanced back vowel {{IPA|[ʌ̟]}} between his central {{IPA|/ə/}} and back {{IPA|/ɔ/}}; however, he also reported that other southern speakers had a lower and even more advanced vowel that approached cardinal {{IPAblink|a}}.{{sfnp|Jones|1972|pp=86–88}} In [[American English]] varieties, such as in the West, the Midwest, and the urban South, the typical phonetic realization of the phoneme {{IPA|/ʌ/}} is an open-mid central {{IPAblink|ɜ}}.{{sfnp|Gordon|2004b|p=340}}{{sfnp|Tillery|Bailey|2004|p=333}} Truly backed variants of {{IPA|/ʌ/}} that are phonetically {{IPA|[ʌ]}} can occur in [[Inland Northern American English]], Newfoundland English, [[Philadelphia dialect|Philadelphia English]], some of [[African-American English]], and (old-fashioned) white [[Southern American English]] in coastal plain and Piedmont areas.{{sfnp|Thomas|2001|pp=27–28, 112–115, 121, 134, 174}}{{sfnp|Gordon|2004a|pp=294–296}} However, the letter {{angbr IPA|ʌ}} is still commonly used to indicate this phoneme, even in the more common varieties with central variants {{IPAblink|ɐ}} or {{IPAblink|ɜ}}. That may be because of both tradition and some other dialects retaining the older pronunciation.{{sfnp|Roca|Johnson|1999|p=135}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

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*{{cite journal|last=Nikulin|first=Andrey|first2=Fernando O. de|last2=Carvalho|volume=8|issue=2|title=Estudos diacrônicos de línguas indígenas brasileiras: um panorama|journal=Macabéa - Revista Eletrônica do NETLLI|doi-access=free|doi=10.47295/MREN.V8I2.1910|year=2019|place=[[Crato, Ceará|Crato]]|language=pt-BR}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{phoible|ʌ}}

{{IPA navigation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Open-Mid Back Unrounded Vowel}}
[[Category:Open-mid vowels]]
[[Category:Back vowels]]
[[Category:Unrounded vowels]]