Open-mid back rounded vowel

File:Spectrogram of open-mid back rounded vowel (IPA ɔ).png

Spectrogram of

The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back 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. The IPA symbol is a turned letter c and both the symbol and the sound are commonly called "open-o". The name open-o represents the sound, in that it is like the sound represented by Template:Angbr IPA, the close-mid back rounded vowel, except it is more open. It also represents the symbol, which can be remembered as an o which has been "opened" by removing part of the closed circular shape.

In English, the symbol Template:Angbr IPA (or Template:Angbr IPA) is typically associated with the vowel in "thought", but in Received Pronunciation ("RP", standard British English), Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English that vowel is produced with considerably stronger lip rounding and higher tongue position than that of cardinal , i.e. as close-mid Template:IPAblink or somewhat lower. Open-mid or even open Template:IPAblink realizations are found in North American English (where this vowel is often indistinguishable from the open back unrounded vowel in "bra") and Scottish English as well as Hiberno-English, Northern England English and Welsh English, though in the last three accent groups closer, Template:IPAblink-like realizations are also found. In RP, the open-mid realization of has been obsolete since the 1930s. Pronouncing that vowel as such is subject to correction for non-native speakers aiming at RP.

In Received Pronunciation and Australian English, the open-mid back rounded vowel occurs as the main allophone of the Template:Sc2 vowel . The contrast between and is thus strongly maintained, with the former vowel being realized as close-mid Template:IPAblink and the latter as open-mid , similarly to the contrast between and found in German, Italian and Portuguese.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian	Tosk	tortë	[ˈtɔɾtə]	'cake'
Armenian	Eastern	hoġm		'storm'
Assamese		/ kor	[kɔɹ]	'to do'	May also be transcribed as fully low [ɒ] or "over-rounded" [ɒ̹]
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect	wås		'what'	Contrasts close Template:IPAblink, near-close Template:IPAblink, close-mid Template:IPAblink and open-mid back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded Template:IPAblink. Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.
Bengali		ortho		'meaning'	See Bengali phonology
Breton		roll	[ˈrɔlː]	'list'
Bulgarian		rod		'kin'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan				'clog'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	ngo5		'I, me, my'	See Cantonese phonology
	Hokkien	bó͘		'wife'	See Hokkien phonology
Cipu	Tirisino dialectTemplate:Sfnp			'cut down!'	Near-back.Template:Sfnp
Danish	Standard			'map'	Most often transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian		{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Nl-och.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'alas'	'Very tense, with strong lip-rounding', strongly pharyngealized (although less so in standard Belgian) and somewhat fronted. See Dutch phonology
	Standard Northern
English	Australian	not	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "En-uk-not.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'not'	See Australian English phonology
	Estuary
	New Zealand				May be somewhat fronted. Often transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See New Zealand English phonology
	Received Pronunciation				has shifted up in emerging RP.
	General American	thought		'thought'	Mainly in speakers without the cot–caught merger. It may be lower Template:IPAblink. (It is rarely lowered to before liquids , and may thus be more familiar to many North Americans in r-colored form, Template:IPAslink.)
	Scottish				Most Scottish dialects exhibit the cot-caught merger, the outcome of which is a vowel of quality.
	Sheffield	goat		'goat'	Common realization of the Template:Sc2 vowel particularly for males.
	Newfoundland	but		'but'	Less commonly unrounded Template:IPAblink. See English phonology
Faroese				'seal flipper'	See Faroese phonology
French	Parisian		{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "LL-Q150 (fra)-Poslovitch-sotte.wav" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'silly' (f.)	The Parisian realization has been variously described as a back vowel centralized to Template:IPAblink before and central Template:IPAblink. See French phonology
Galician				'man'	See Galician phonology
Georgian		stsori		'correct'
German	Standard		{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "De-at-voll.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'full'	See Standard German phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	कौन /kaun		'who'	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	کَون/kaun
Italian			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "It-parola.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'word'	Near-back. See Italian phonology
Javanese		ꦫꦱ / råså		taste, feeling
Kaingang		pó		'stone'
Kera				'hard earth'	Near-back.
Kokborok				'not'
Korean	North Korean	/		'North Korea'	Both ㅓ /ʌ/ and ㅗ /o/ in South Korean have merged into [ɔ] in North Korean. See Korean phonology
Limburgish				'moon'	Lower Template:IPAblink in the Maastrichtian dialect. The example word is from the Hasselt dialect.
Lower Sorbian				'a request'
Low German	Most dialects			'stick'	May be more open in the Netherlands or more closed in Low Prussian dialects.
	Various dialects			'sleep'	May be as low as and as high as in other dialects.
	Southern Eastphalian			'bread'	Corresponds to in other dialects.
Luxembourgish				'son'	Possible realization of . See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Standard	sotong		'squid'	Possible realization of and in closed final syllables. See Malay phonology
	Negeri Sembilan	كيت / kita		'we' (inclusive)	See Negeri Sembilan Malay
	Kelantan-Pattani	بياسا / biasa		'normal'	See Kelatan-Pattani Malay
Nepali				'far'	Less rounded. Allophone of around labial consonants and in isolation.
				'long'	Uncommon post-nasal allophone of , which is commonly raised to .
Norwegian	Some dialects			'so'	Present e.g. in Telemark; realized as mid Template:IPAblink in other dialects. See Norwegian phonology
Occitan				'ode'	See Occitan phonology
Odia				'meaning'
Polish			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Pl-kot.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Most dialects			'gossip'	Stressed vowel might be lower. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨o⟩ allophones, such as , varies according to dialect.
	Some speakers			'scolding'	Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel . See Portuguese phonology
Russian	Some speakers	sukhoy		'dry'	More commonly realized as mid Template:IPAblink. See Russian phonology
Slovak	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'to stun'	See Slovak phonology
Swedish	Standard			'minor scale'	See Swedish phonology
Tagalog				'lullaby'	See Tagalog phonology
Thai		ngo		'to bend'	See Thai phonology
Temne				'swamp'	Near-back.
UkrainianTemplate:Sfnp		lyubov		'love'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian				'dog'	See Upper Sorbian phonology
Welsh		siop		'shop'	See Welsh phonology
West FrisianTemplate:Sfnp				'rat'	See West Frisian phonology
Yoruba		Template:Example needed			Nasalized; may be near-open Template:IPAblink instead.

See also

• Copyleft symbol
• Index of phonetics articles
• R-colored vowel

References

• Template:SOWL
• Template:Accents of English

External links

• Template:Phoible