Close front rounded vowel

File:Spectrogram of close front rounded vowel (IPA y).png

A spectrogram of

The close front rounded vowel, or high front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y. Across many languages, it is most commonly represented orthographically as Template:Angbr (in German, Turkish, Estonian and Hungarian) or Template:Angbr (in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Albanian) but also as Template:Angbr (in French and Dutch and the Kernewek Kemmyn standard of Cornish); Template:Angbr/Template:Angbr (in the romanization of various Asian languages); Template:Angbr (in Cyrillic-based writing systems such as that for Chechen); or Template:Angbr (in Cyrillic-based writing systems such as that for Tatar).

Short and long occurred in pre-Modern Greek. In the Attic and Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, front developed by fronting from back around the 6th to 7th century BC. A little later, the diphthong when not before another vowel monophthongized and merged with long . In Koine Greek, the diphthong changed to , likely through the intermediate stages and . Through vowel shortening in Koine Greek, long merged with short . Later, unrounded to , yielding the pronunciation of Modern Greek. For more information, see the articles on Ancient Greek and Koine Greek phonology.

The close front rounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the labialized palatal approximant . alternates with in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, Template:Angbr IPA with the non-syllabic diacritic and Template:Angbr IPA are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.

In most languages, this rounded vowel is pronounced with compressed lips ('exolabial'). However, in a few cases the lips are protruded ('endolabial').

Close front compressed vowel

The close front compressed vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as Template:Angbr IPA, and that is the convention used in this article. There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter Template:IPAalink as Template:Angbr IPA (simultaneous and labial compression) or Template:Angbr IPA ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic Template:Angbr IPA may also be used with a rounded vowel letter Template:Angbr IPA as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.

Occurrence

Because front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have protrusion.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'you' (formal)	Merges with in younger speakers. See Afrikaans phonology
Albanian	Standard			'rainbow'	Merges with in many dialects. See Albanian phonology
AzerbaijaniTemplate:Sfnp				'bullet'
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect	Template:Example needed			Contrasts close , near-close Template:IPAblink, close-mid Template:IPAblink and open-mid Template:IPAblink front rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded Template:IPAblink.
BretonTemplate:Sfnp				'noise'
Catalan	NorthernTemplate:Sfnp			'aim'	Found in Occitan and French loanwords. See Catalan phonology
Chechen		/		'yard'
Chinese	MandarinTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	/	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Zh-nǚ.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'woman'	See Standard Chinese phonology and Cantonese phonology
	CantoneseTemplate:Sfnp	/	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Yue-syu1.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'book'
	ShanghaineseTemplate:Sfnp			'donkey'
Chuvash		тӳме	[tyme]	'button'
Danish	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'visible'	See Danish phonology
Dutch	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'now'	Also described as near-close Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp The Standard Northern realization has also been described as close central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
English	General South AfricanTemplate:Sfnp	few		'few'	Some younger speakers, especially females. Others pronounce a more central vowel Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See South African English phonology
	Multicultural LondonTemplate:Sfnp				May be back Template:IPAblink instead.Template:Sfnp
	ScouseTemplate:Sfnp				May be central Template:IPAblink instead.
	Ulster				Long allophone of ; occurs only after . See English phonology
EstonianTemplate:Sfnp				'one'	See Estonian phonology
FaroeseTemplate:Sfnp				'mythological'	Appears only in loanwords.Template:Sfnp See Faroese phonology
FinnishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'one'	See Finnish phonology
FrenchTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Fr-tu.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'you'	The Parisian realization has been also described as near-close Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See French phonology
German	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "De-über.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'over'	See Standard German phonology
	Many speakersTemplate:Sfnp			'protect'	The usual realization of in Switzerland, Austria and partially also in Western and Southwestern Germany (Palatinate, Swabia).Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
Greek	TyrnavosTemplate:Sfnp	/		'saliva'	Corresponds to in Standard Modern Greek.Template:Sfnp
	VelvendosTemplate:Sfnp
HungarianTemplate:Sfnp				'pin'	See Hungarian phonology
IaaiTemplate:Sfnp				'quarrel'
Korean		/		'back'	Now usually a diphthong , especially in Seoul and surrounding dialects. See Korean phonology
KurdishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	Kurmanji (Northern)			'mountain'	Equal to Palewani (Southern) Template:IPAblink. See Kurdish phonology
LimburgishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'sees'	Central Template:IPAblink in Maastricht.Template:Sfnp The example word is from the Weert dialect.
Lombard	Most dialects			'laughed'
Low GermanTemplate:Sfnp		/		'fire'
LuxembourgishTemplate:Sfnp				'envelope'	Occurs only in loanwords.Template:Sfnp See Luxembourgish phonology
MongolianTemplate:Sfnp	Inner Mongolia	/		'prairie fire'	Diphthong in Khalkha.
NorwegianTemplate:Sfnp				'south'	The example word is from Urban East Norwegian, in which the vowel varies in rounding between compressed and protruded Template:IPAblink. It can be diphthongized to .Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology.
Occitan				'Town of Besalú'	See Occitan phonology
Plautdietsch	Canadian Old ColonyTemplate:Sfnp			'builds'	Corresponds to back Template:IPAblink in other varieties.Template:Sfnp
Portuguese	Azorean			'figure'	Stressed vowel, fronting of original in some dialects. See Portuguese phonology
	Algarve			'all'
	Brazilian			'déjà vu'	Found in French and German loanwords. Speakers may instead use or . See Portuguese phonology
Saterland FrisianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'wanted' (v.)
Scottish Gaelic	younger Lewis speakersTemplate:Sfnp	cù		'dog'	Normal allophone of Template:IPAblink. More central as Template:IPAblink among older speakers. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Swedish	Central StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'out'	Often realized as a sequence or .Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The height has been variously described as close Template:Sfnp and near-close Template:IPAblink.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA; it is central Template:IPAblink in other dialects. See Swedish phonology
TurkishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Tr-güneş.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'sun'	See Turkish phonology
West FrisianTemplate:Sfnp				'out'	See West Frisian phonology

Close front protruded vowel

Template:Infobox IPA/core1 Catford notesTemplate:Full citation needed that most languages with rounded front and back vowels use distinct types of labialization, protruded back vowels and compressed front vowels. However, a few languages, such as Scandinavian ones, have protruded front vowels. One of these, Swedish, even contrasts the two types of rounding in front vowels (see near-close near-front rounded vowel, with Swedish examples of both types of rounding).

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, Template:Angbr IPA, will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for protruded front vowels. Another possible transcription is Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA (a close front vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.

Acoustically, this sound is "between" the more typical compressed close front vowel and the unrounded close front vowel Template:IPAblink.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
KurdishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	Palewani (Southern)			'mountain'	Allophone of Template:IPAblink in regional dialects. See Kurdish phonology
NorwegianTemplate:Sfnp				'south'	The example word is from Urban East Norwegian, in which the vowel varies in rounding between protruded and compressed Template:IPAblink. It can be diphthongized to .Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology.
Swedish	Central StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'howl'	Often realized as a sequence or Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp (hear the word: {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "sv-yla.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler); it may also be fricated or, in some regions, fricated and centralized (Template:IPAblink).Template:Sfnp See Swedish phonology

See also

• Near-close near-front protruded vowel
• Close central protruded vowel
• Index of phonetics articles

References

• Template:SOWL
• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• Template:Phoible