Near-close near-back rounded vowel

File:Spectrogram near-close near-back rounded vowel (IPA ʊ).png

Spectrogram of

File:IPA Ʊ Sagittal Section.svg

Sagittal section of a vocal tract pronouncing the IPA sound . Note that a wavy glottis in this diagram indicates a voiced sound.

The near-close near-back rounded vowel, or near-high near-back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The IPA symbol that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA. It is informally called "horseshoe u". Prior to 1989, there was an alternative IPA symbol for this sound, Template:Angbr IPA, called "closed omega"; use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA.Template:Sfnp In Americanist phonetic notation, the symbol Template:Angbr IPA (a small capital U) is used. Sometimes, especially in broad transcription, this vowel is transcribed with a simpler symbol Template:Angbr IPA, which technically represents the close back rounded vowel.

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralized (lowered and centralized) close back rounded vowel (transcribed or ), and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol Template:Angbr IPA is near-close near-back rounded vowel.Template:Sfnp However, some languages have the close-mid near-back rounded vowel, a vowel that is somewhat lower than the canonical value of , though it still fits the definition of a mid-centralized Template:IPAblink. It occurs in some dialects of English (such as General American and Geordie)Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp as well as some other languages (such as Maastrichtian Limburgish).Template:Sfnp It can be transcribed with the symbol Template:Angbr IPA (a lowered Template:Angbr IPA) in narrow transcription. For the close-mid (near-)back rounded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol Template:Angbr IPA (or Template:Angbr IPA), see close-mid back rounded vowel.

In some other languages (such as Bengali and Luxembourgish)Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp as well as some dialects of English (such as Scottish)Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp there is a fully back near-close rounded vowel (a sound between cardinal Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink), which can be transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA.

Near-close back protruded vowel

The near-close back protruded vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as Template:Angbr IPA, and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, symbol for the near-close back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, Template:Angbr IPA, can be used as an ad hoc symbol Template:Angbr IPA for the near-close back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA (a near-close back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.

The close-mid near-back protruded vowel can be transcribed Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA, whereas the fully back near-close protruded vowel can be transcribed Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA.

Features

Template:Near-close vowel Template:Back vowel The prototypical is somewhat further front (near-back) than the neighboring cardinal vowels. Template:Protruded vowel The prototypical has a weak protruded rounding, more like Template:IPAblink than the neighboring cardinal vowels.

Occurrence

Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression. In the table below, vowels transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA have a considerably stronger rounding than the prototypical value of Template:Angbr IPA.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'Botha'	Close-mid. Allophone of in less stressed words, in stressed syllables of polysyllabic words and word-finally when unstressed. In the second case, it is in free variation with the diphthongal realization .Template:Sfnp See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic	Hejazi	/		'I said'	Allophone of in medial and initial positions. See Hejazi phonology
AssameseTemplate:Sfnp		/		'hoe'	Close-mid;Template:Sfnp also described as open Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
BengaliTemplate:Sfnp		/		'you'	Fully back;Template:Sfnp typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Bengali phonology
BurmeseTemplate:Sfnp		/		'smooth'	Allophone of in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized.Template:Sfnp
Chinese	MandarinTemplate:Sfnp	/	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'red'	Fully back; height varies between mid and close depending on the speaker. See Standard Chinese phonology
	ShanghaineseTemplate:Sfnp	/		'melon'	The height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel.Template:Sfnp
Danish	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'stomach'	Phonetic realization of the sequence .Template:Sfnp See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard NorthernTemplate:Sfnp			'ears'	Allophone of before . Can be a centering diphthong instead, especially before coda . See Dutch phonology
	RandstadTemplate:Sfnp
	Some speakersTemplate:Sfnp			'den'	Contrasts with Template:IPAslink in certain words, but many speakers have only one vowel Template:IPAslink.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
English	IrishTemplate:Sfnp	hook		'hook'
	WelshTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				In Cardiff, it is advanced and lowered to Template:IPAblink, often also with unrounding to Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
	CockneyTemplate:Sfnp				Sometimes fronted to Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
	Conservative New ZealandTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				The height varies from near-close to close-mid. The innovative General New Zealand variant is fronted and unrounded to .Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See New Zealand English phonology
	Conservative Received PronunciationTemplate:Sfnp				Often lowered and advanced to Template:IPAblink, or unrounded to Template:IPAblink. See English phonology
	Multicultural LondonTemplate:Sfnp				May be front Template:IPAblink instead.Template:Sfnp
	NorfolkTemplate:Sfnp
	Some Estuary speakersTemplate:Sfnp				Often advanced to , or advanced and lowered to .Template:Sfnp
	General AmericanTemplate:Sfnp				Close-mid.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	GeordieTemplate:Sfnp
	Southern MichiganTemplate:Sfnp
	Northern England	cut		'cut'	Phonetic realization of /ʌ/ in most dialects without the foot–strut split.Template:Sfnp
	Local Dublin
	AustralianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	thought		'thought'	Fully back.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp In New Zealand English, the height varies from near-close (a typical value in General NZE) to mid Template:IPAblink (a typical value in Maori English).Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp It corresponds to Template:IPAblink in other dialects. See Australian English phonology and New Zealand English phonology
	General New ZealandTemplate:Sfnp
	ScottishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	go		'go'	Fully back.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Corresponds to in other dialects.
Faroese				'yellow'	See Faroese phonology
French	QuebecTemplate:Sfnp			'crowd'	Allophone of in closed syllables.Template:Sfnp See Quebec French phonology
German	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'hour'	The quality has been variously described as near-close back Template:Sfnp and close-mid near-back .Template:Sfnp For some speakers, it may be as high as Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
HindustaniTemplate:Sfnp	Hindi	/		'rose'	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	/
HungarianTemplate:Sfnp				'finger'	Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Hungarian phonology
Irish	MunsterTemplate:Sfnp			'black'	Allophone of between broad consonants.Template:Sfnp See Irish phonology
Italian	Central-Southern accentsTemplate:Sfnp			'shade'	Fully back; local realization of .Template:Sfnp See Italian phonology
KurdishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	Kurmanji (Northern)			'flower'	See Kurdish phonology
	Sorani (Central)	/
	Palewani (Southern)
Leonese		butiellu	[buˈtjeʎʊ]	'Botillo'	Allophone position of /u/ and /o/ in neutral position.
Limburgish	Some dialectsTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'doll'	Close-mid in the Maastrichtian dialect.Template:Sfnp The example word is from that dialect.
Lombard		nox	[nʊs̠]	'walnut'	Most common realization of /u/.
LuxembourgishTemplate:Sfnp				'language'	Fully back.Template:Sfnp Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay				'die'	Allophone of /u/ in closed-final syllables. May be [[[:Template:IPA link]]] or [[[:Template:IPA link]]] depending on the speaker. See Malay phonology
Pashayi	Lower Darai Nur dialectTemplate:Sfnp	/		'sun'	Close-mid.Template:Sfnp
Portuguese	BrazilianTemplate:Sfnp			'leap'	Reduction and neutralization of unstressed ; can be voiceless. See Portuguese phonology
RussianTemplate:Sfnp			Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'dry'	Unstressed allophone of .Template:Sfnp See Russian phonology
Saterland FrisianTemplate:Sfnp				'rope'	Phonetic realization of and . Near-close back in the former case, close-mid near-back in the latter. Phonetically, the latter is nearly identical to (Template:IPAblink).Template:Sfnp
Scots	Glenoe dialectTemplate:Sfnp			'go'	Fully back.Template:Sfnp
	Rathlin dialectTemplate:Sfnp
Scottish Gaelic	Some dialects			'land'	Reduction of word-final ; a similar phenomenon is seen in Ulster Irish.
SinhaleseTemplate:Sfnp		/		'much'	Only weakly rounded;Template:Sfnp typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.
SlovakTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'arm'	Typically fully back.Template:Sfnp See Slovak phonology
SothoTemplate:Sfnp				'query'	Fully back; contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels.Template:Sfnp See Sotho phonology
Spanish	Eastern AndalusianTemplate:Sfnp			'your' (pl.)	Fully back. Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology
	MurcianTemplate:Sfnp
TurkishTemplate:Sfnp				'icy'	Allophone of described variously as "word-final"Template:Sfnp and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase".Template:Sfnp See Turkish phonology
UkrainianTemplate:Sfnp				'Musiy' (name)	See Ukrainian phonology
Welsh				'manly'	See Welsh phonology
YorubaTemplate:Sfnp				'to sleep'	Near-back or back; typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. It is nasalized, and may be close instead.Template:Sfnp

Near-close back compressed vowel

Some languages, such as Norwegian, are found with a near-close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial.

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.

Only the Shanghainese dialect is known to contrast this with the more typical protruded (endolabial) near-close back vowel, although the height of both of these vowels varies from close to close-mid.Template:Sfnp

The fully back variant of the near-close compressed vowel can be transcribed Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA.

Features

Template:Near-close vowel Template:Back vowel Template:Compressed vowel The prototypical has a weak rounding (though it is protruded, rather than compressed), more like Template:IPAblink than the neighboring cardinal vowels.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Chinese	ShanghaineseTemplate:Sfnp			'capital'	The height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel.Template:Sfnp
NorwegianTemplate:Sfnp				'evil'	Backness varies among dialects; it is a back vowel in Urban East Norwegian, whereas in Stavangersk it is near-back .Template:Sfnp The UEN vowel has also been described as close back Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'locality'	The quality has been variously described as near-close near-back ,Template:Sfnp near-close back Template:Sfnp and close back Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Swedish phonology

References

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Accents of English

External links

• Template:Phoible
• Template:Phoible