Near-open central vowel

The near-open central vowel, or near-low central 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, a rotated lowercase double-story a.

In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol Template:Angbr IPA, i.e. as if it were open-mid back. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but many speakers use a central vowel like or Template:IPAblink. To avoid the trap–strut merger, Standard Southern British English is moving away from the quality towards Template:IPAblink found in RP spoken in the first half of the 20th century (e.g. in Daniel Jones's speech).Template:Sfnp

Much like Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA is a versatile symbol that is not defined for roundednessTemplate:Sfnp and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central,Template:Sfnp near-open near-front,Template:Sfnp near-open near-back,Template:Sfnp open-mid central,Template:Sfnp open centralTemplate:Sfnp or an (often unstressed) vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area.Template:Sfnp For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA, see open central unrounded vowel.

When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different from Template:Angbr IPA, they are listed in near-open front unrounded vowel and open back unrounded vowel or open back rounded vowel, respectively.

The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a languageTemplate:Sfnp and then is typically transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA.

Features

• It is undefined for roundedness, which means that it can be either rounded or unrounded. In practice however, the unrounded variant is more common.

Occurrence

In the following list, Template:Angbr IPA is assumed to be unrounded. The rounded variant ({{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Near-open central rounded vowel.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handler) is transcribed as Template:Angbr IPA. Some instances of the latter may actually be fully open.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		/ să		'I'	Varies between near-open and open-mid . See Adyghe phonology
BengaliTemplate:Sfnp		/ pa		'leg'	Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Bengali phonology
BulgarianTemplate:Sfnp		/para		'coin'	Unstressed allophone of and .Template:Sfnp May be transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Bulgarian phonology
BurmeseTemplate:Sfnp		/maat		'vertical'	Allophone of in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized; realized as fully open Template:IPAblink in open oral syllables.Template:Sfnp
Catalan	Barcelona metropolitan areaTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'yet, still, even'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in other Eastern dialects. See Catalan phonology
Chinese	CantoneseTemplate:Sfnp	/		'heart'	Open-mid.Template:Sfnp See Cantonese phonology
	ShanghaineseTemplate:Sfnp			'to cut'	Appears only in closed syllables; the exact height and backness is somewhat variable.Template:Sfnp
DanishTemplate:Sfnp				'understands'	Typically realized the same as , i.e. Template:IPAblink. Other possible realizations are and Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Danish phonology
Dinka	LuanyjangTemplate:Sfnp	laŋ		'berry'	Short allophone of ; varies between near-open and open-mid .Template:Sfnp
Emilian				'Bologna'	Centralized .
English	CaliforniaTemplate:Sfnp	nut		'nut'	See English phonology
	CockneyTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				Near-front.Template:Sfnp
	East AnglianTemplate:Sfnp				Used in some places (e.g. Colchester) instead of the traditional Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
	New ZealandTemplate:Sfnp				Varies between near-open near-front , near-open central , open near-front Template:IPAblink and open central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See New Zealand English phonology
	Received PronunciationTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				Increasingly retracted to Template:IPAblink to avoid the trap-strut merger.Template:Sfnp See English phonology
	Inland Northern American	bet		'bet'	Variation of used in some places whose accents have undergone the Northern cities vowel shift.
	Middle Class London	lot		'lot'	Rounded; can be back Template:IPAblink instead. See English phonology
	AustralianTemplate:Sfnp	comma		'comma'	Alternatively lowered from word-final Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Australian English phonology
Galician				'done'	Realization of final unstressed . See Galician phonology
German	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "De-Oper.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'opera'	The exact height, backness and roundedness is somewhere between Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, depending on the environment. Sometimes, an opening diphthong of the -type is used instead.Template:Sfnp In Northern Standard German, the short Template:IPAblink is raised to when unstressed, rendering 'grandpa' homophonous with .Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
	Regional northern accentsTemplate:Sfnp			'to come'	Varies between central and back ; corresponds to an open-mid rounded Template:IPAblink in Standard German.Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
Greek	Modern StandardTemplate:Sfnp	/ akakía		'acacia'	Most often transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Modern Greek phonology
HausaTemplate:Sfnp		Template:Example needed			Possible allophone of , which can be as close as Template:IPAblink and as open as Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
HindustaniTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Uninastaliq/das		'ten'	Common realization of .Template:Sfnp See Hindustani phonology
KoreanTemplate:Sfnp		/		'one'	Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Korean phonology
KumzariTemplate:Sfnp		Template:Uninastaliq /		'large'	Near-front.Template:Sfnp
Limburgish	MaastrichtianTemplate:Sfnp			'much'	Rounded; contrasts with the open-mid Template:IPAblink in words with Accent 2 ( itself is always toneless).Template:Sfnp It may be transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA, as it is a phonological front vowel.
	Venlo dialectTemplate:Sfnp			'on'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in other dialects.
Lithuanian				'what'	See Lithuanian phonology
LuxembourgishTemplate:Sfnp				'children'	Near-back.Template:Sfnp See Luxembourgish phonology
Malayalam				'ten'	See Malayalam phonology
MapudungunTemplate:Sfnp				'green'	Open-mid;Template:Sfnp often transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA.
Norwegian	Østfold dialect			'to bathe'	The example word illustrates both the rounded and the unrounded .
Ossetian		ӕвзаг/ævzag		'language'	Very common sound in the Ossetian language.
Piedmontese	Eastern Piedmont			'mud'	Common realization of final unstressed .
PortugueseTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Aja_european_pt.wav" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'act' (subj.)	Closer in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese ().Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		/ Template:Uninastaliq		'sugar'	Common realization of , the inherent vowel of Punjabi. See Punjabi phonology
		/ Template:Uninastaliq		'metric half pint'	Can occur as realization of tense or in some contexts followed by a geminate semi-vowel.
Romanian	Moldavian dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'man'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Russian	Standard MoscowTemplate:Sfnp	/ golova	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Ru-голова.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'head'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in standard Saint Petersburg pronunciation;Template:Sfnp occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. See Russian phonology
Sabiny		Template:Example needed			Contrasts overshort unrounded and overshort rounded near-open central vowels.
UkrainianTemplate:Sfnp		/ slyva		'plum'	See Ukrainian phonology
VietnameseTemplate:Sfnp				'slanted, oblique'	Typically transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See Vietnamese phonology
XumiTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'salt'	Near-open in Lower Xumi, open-mid in Upper Xumi. The latter phone may be transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA. The example word is from Lower Xumi.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

See also

• Turned a
• Index of phonetics articles

References

• Template:Accents of English

External links

• Template:Phoible