Open back rounded vowel

The open back rounded vowel, or low 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. It is called Latin turned alpha being a rotated version of Latin alpha. It seems a "turned script a", being a rotated version of "script (cursive) a", which is the variant of a that lacks the extra stroke on top of a "printed a". Latin turned alpha a Template:Angbr IPA has its linear stroke on the left, whereas Latin alpha a Template:Angbr IPA (for its unrounded counterpart) has its linear stroke on the right.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'there'	Fully back. Used by some speakers, particularly young female speakers of northern accents. Other speakers use an unrounded vowel ].Template:Sfnp See Afrikaans phonology
Assamese		Template:Wikt-lang ()		'to do'	An "over-rounded" , with rounding as strong as that for .Template:Sfnp May also be transcribed .
Bulgarian	Some Rhodopean dialects	(măž)		'man'	Found as the unification of the Proto-Slavic *ǫ, *ę, *ъ and *ь. Standard Bulgarian has Template:IPAslink for *ǫ and *ъ and Template:IPAslink for *ę and *ь.
Dutch	Some dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'bone'	Some non-Randstad dialects,Template:Sfnp for example those of Den Bosch and Groningen. It is open-mid Template:IPAblink in standard Dutch.
English	South AfricanTemplate:Sfnp	not		'not'	Near-back and weakly rounded.Template:Sfnp Some younger speakers of the General variety may actually have a higher and fully unrounded vowel Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See South African English phonology
	Conservative Received PronunciationTemplate:Sfnp				Somewhat raised. Contemporary RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel Template:IPAblink. It is proposed that the Template:IPAslink vowel of Conservative RP, which is normally described as a rounded vowel, is pronounced by some speakers without rounded lips for whom the characteristic quality is rather one of sulcality. See English phonology
	Northern EnglishTemplate:Sfnp				May be somewhat raised and fronted.Template:Sfnp
	CanadianTemplate:Sfnp				Lot and thought have the same vowel in Canadian English; see cot–caught merger.
		thought	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'thought'
	General American				Vowel is lowered (phonetic realization of is much lower in GA than in RP). However, "Short o" before r before a vowel (a short o sound followed by r and then another vowel, as in orange, forest, moral, and warrant) is realized as .
	Inland Northern American				See Northern Cities Vowel Shift
	IndianTemplate:Sfnp				and differ entirely by length in Indian English.
	WelshTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				Open-mid in Cardiff; may merge with Template:IPAslink in northern dialects.
German	Many speakersTemplate:Sfnp			'gourmand'	Nasalized; common phonetic realization of Template:IPAslink.Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
	Many Swiss dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'remind'	The example word is from the Zurich dialect, in which is in free variation with the unrounded Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
Istro-RomanianTemplate:Sfnp				'head'	See Istro-Romanian pronunciation (in Romanian).
Jeju		Template:Wikt-lang ()		'one'	See Jeju phonology
Malay	Kedah			'old'	Northern Kedah subdialect/dialect. Allophone of Template:IPAslink in word-final position in open-ended words and close-ended words that end with a glottal stop Template:IPAslink or a glottal fricative Template:IPAslink.
Mansi	Central/Northern			'me'	The pronunciation of 'a' sometimes varies between and .
Neapolitan	Vastese			'Vasto'
Norwegian	Dialects along the Swedish borderTemplate:Sfnp			'hate'	Weakly rounded and fully back.Template:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology
Persian		()		'Persian'
Brazilian Portuguese	Carioca			'fish roe'	Allophone of . See Portuguese phonology
Slovak	Some speakersTemplate:Sfnp			'and'	Under Hungarian influence, some speakers realize the short as rounded.Template:Sfnp See Slovak phonology
Swedish	GothenburgTemplate:Sfnp			'I'	More rounded than in Central Standard Swedish.Template:Sfnp
Uzbek	Standard			'tea'

Near-open back rounded vowel

In some languages there is the near-open back rounded vowel (a sound between cardinal Template:Angbr IPA and Template:IPAalink), which can be transcribed in IPA with or .

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan	Balearic (except Ibizan)Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'women'	Main realization of  (also represented as ). May be unrounded Template:IPAblink in Majorcan and some Southern Valencian dialects. See Catalan phonology
	Valencian (general pronunciation)Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	Valencian (some speakers)Template:Sfnp			'table'	Can be realized as unrounded and/or fronted.
Dutch	LeidenTemplate:Sfnp			'bath'	Near-open fully back; may be unrounded Template:IPAblink instead.Template:Sfnp It corresponds to Template:IPAblink in standard Dutch.
	RotterdamTemplate:Sfnp
Hungarian	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'Hungarian'	Somewhat fronted and raised, with only slight rounding; sometimes transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. Unrounded Template:IPAblink in some dialects.Template:Sfnp See Hungarian phonology
IbibioTemplate:Sfnp				'marry'	Near-open;Template:Sfnp typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.
Irish	UlsterTemplate:Sfnp			'(he) drinks'	Near-open;Template:Sfnp may be transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.
LehaliTemplate:Sfnp				'yam'	Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of Template:IPAslink in a symmetrical vowel inventory.Template:Sfnp
LemerigTemplate:Sfnp				'person'	Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of Template:IPAslink in a symmetrical vowel inventory.Template:Sfnp
Limburgish	MaastrichtianTemplate:Sfnp			'place'	Near-open fully back; typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.Template:Sfnp Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in other dialects.
Norwegian	Urban EastTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'top'	Near-open,Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp also described as close-mid back Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'be going to'	Near-open fully back weakly rounded vowel.Template:Sfnp Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Swedish phonology
YorubaTemplate:Sfnp				'care'	Near-open; most often transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.

See also

• Turned a
• Index of phonetics articles

References

• Template:SOWL
• Template:Accents of English

External links

• Template:Phoible