Open back unrounded vowel

The open back unrounded vowel, or low back unrounded 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 letter Template:Angbr IPA is called script a or handwritten a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, Template:Angbr IPA, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

The open back unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the pharyngeal approximant .Template:Sfnp

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	StandardTemplate:Sfnp		Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'there'	The quality varies between open near-back unrounded , open back unrounded and even open back rounded Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Afrikaans phonology
Äiwoo				'I want'
Arabic	StandardTemplate:Sfnp	(ṭawīl)	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'tall'	Allophone of long and short near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology
	EssaouiraTemplate:Sfnp	(qāl)		'he said'	One of the possible realisations of .Template:Sfnp
Armenian	EasternTemplate:Sfnp	(hacʿ)		'bread'
Bashkir		()	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'goose'
Catalan	Many dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'stick'	Allophone of in contact with velar consonants.Template:Sfnp See Catalan phonology
	Some dialectsTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'hand'	More central (Template:IPAblink or ) in other dialects; fully front Template:IPAblink in Majorcan Catalan.Template:Sfnp See Catalan phonology
	Majorcan and Valencian (some speakers)Template:Sfnp			'place'	Unrounded allophone of in some accents.Template:Sfnp It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
	Southern ValencianTemplate:Sfnp			'bull'	Pronunciation of the vowel before .Template:Sfnp It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
Chinese	MandarinTemplate:Sfnp	()	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'stick'	Allophone of before .Template:Sfnp See Standard Chinese phonology
Dutch	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'bath'	Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to .Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
	AmsterdamTemplate:Sfnp			'monkey'	Corresponds to in standard Dutch.
	AntwerpTemplate:Sfnp
	UtrechtTemplate:Sfnp
	The HagueTemplate:Sfnp			'narrow'	Corresponds to in standard Dutch.
English	General AmericanTemplate:Sfnp	hot		'hot'	May be more front [ ~ Template:IPA link], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger.Template:Clarification needed See English phonology
	CockneyTemplate:Sfnp	palm		'palm'	Fully back. It can be more front instead.
	General South AfricanTemplate:Sfnp				Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [[[:Template:IPA link]] ~ Template:IPA link] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel . See South African English phonology
	Cultivated South AfricanTemplate:Sfnp				Typically more front than cardinal . It may be as front as Template:IPAblink in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology
	Received PronunciationTemplate:Sfnp
	Non-local Dublin	back		'back'	Allophone of before velars for some speakers.
Faroese	Some dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'wet'	Corresponds to in standard language.Template:Sfnp See Faroese phonology
French	Conservative ParisianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'not'	Contrasts with Template:IPAslink, but many speakers have only one open vowel Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See French phonology
	QuebecTemplate:Sfnp		Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'paste'	Contrasts with Template:IPAslink.Template:Sfnp See Quebec French phonology
GalicianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'brother'	Allophone of in contact with velar consonants.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Galician phonology
GeorgianTemplate:Sfnp		()		'leather bag'	Usually not fully back , typically to . Sometimes transcribed as .
German	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'gourmand'	Nasalized; often realized as rounded Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
	Many speakersTemplate:Sfnp			'near'	Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland.Template:Sfnp Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent.Template:Sfnp More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology
Greek	SfakianTemplate:Sfnp	(býra)		"beer"	Corresponds to central in Modern Standard Greek.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Modern Greek phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	ख़ास/khas	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'special'	Allophone of . More likely to be heard in serious speech or poetry. See Hindustani phonology.
	Urdu	خاص/khas
Hungarian	Some dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'Hungarian'	Weakly rounded Template:IPAblink in standard Hungarian.Template:Sfnp See Hungarian phonology
Inuit	West GreenlandicTemplate:Sfnp			'he says'	Allophone of before and especially between uvulars.Template:Sfnp See Inuit phonology
Italian	Some Piedmont dialects			'house'	Allophone of which in Italian is largely realised as central .
Irish	Munster Dialect			'place'	See Irish phonology
KaingangTemplate:Sfnp				'land, soil'	Varies between back and central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
Khmer		()		'sugar'	See Khmer phonology
Low GermanTemplate:Sfnp		/		'all'	Backness may vary among dialects.Template:Sfnp
Malay	KedahTemplate:Sfnp			'eye'	See Malay phonology
	Kelantan-Pattani				Allophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
	Standard	qari		'qari'	Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [[[:Template:IPA link]]]. See Malay phonology
NorwegianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'hate'	The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central Template:IPAblink in some other dialects.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology
Portuguese	Some Azorean dialects			'nothing'	See Portuguese phonology
	PaulistaTemplate:Sfnp			'vegetable'	Only immediately before .Template:Sfnp
RussianTemplate:Sfnp		(palka)		'stick'	Occurs only before the hard , but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic	LewisTemplate:Sfnp			'boy'	Allophone of Template:IPAblink in proximity to broad sonorants.
SemaTemplate:Sfnp				'lower back'	Possible realization of after uvular stops.Template:Sfnp
Swedish	Some dialects			'I'	Weakly rounded Template:IPAblink in Central Standard Swedish.Template:Sfnp See Swedish phonology
TurkishTemplate:Sfnp			Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'horse'	Also described as central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Turkish phonology
UkrainianTemplate:Sfnp		(maty)		'mother'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese	Some dialects in North Central and Central			'chicken'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'long'	Also described as central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See West Frisian phonology
	AasterskTemplate:Sfnp			'mate'	Contrasts with a front Template:IPAslink.Template:Sfnp See West Frisian phonology

Near-open back unrounded vowel

In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda)Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp there is the near-open back unrounded 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
AzerbaijaniTemplate:Sfnp				'brother'	Near-open.Template:Sfnp
Dutch	LeidenTemplate:Sfnp			'bath'	Near-open fully back; can be rounded Template:IPAblink instead.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
	RotterdamTemplate:Sfnp
English	CardiffTemplate:Sfnp	hot		'hot'	Somewhat raised and fronted.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	NorfolkTemplate:Sfnp
EstonianTemplate:Sfnp				'lie'	Near-open.Template:Sfnp See Estonian phonology
FinnishTemplate:Sfnp			Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'hen'	Near-open,Template:Sfnp also described as open central Template:IPAblink. See Finnish phonology
Kazakh				'apple'	Can be realised as near-open.
Limburgish	MaastrichtianTemplate:Sfnp			'buttock'	The quality varies between open back ,Template:Sfnp open near-back ,Template:Sfnp and near-open near-back ,Template:Sfnp depending on the dialect.
LuxembourgishTemplate:Sfnp				'head'	Near-open fully back.Template:Sfnp See Luxembourgish phonology
TodaTemplate:Sfnp				'elephant'	Near-open.Template:Sfnp

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Latin alpha

References

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis
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External links

• Template:Phoible