Open front unrounded vowel

File:IPA a Sagittal Section.svg

Sagittal section of a vocal tract pronouncing the IPA sound Template:Angbr IPA. A wavy glottis in this diagram indicates a voiced sound.

The open front unrounded vowel, or low front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. It is one of the eight primary cardinal vowels, not directly intended to correspond to a vowel sound of a specific language but rather to serve as a fundamental reference point in a phonetic measuring system.

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA, a double-story lowercase a. In the IPA vowel chart it is positioned at the lower-left corner. However, the accuracy of the quadrilateral vowel chart is disputed, and the sound has been analyzed acoustically as extra-open at a position where the front/back distinction has lost its significance. There are also differing interpretations of the exact quality of the vowel: the classic sound recording of by Daniel Jones is slightly more front but not quite as open as that by John Wells.

In practice, the symbol Template:Angbr IPA is often used to represent an open central unrounded vowel. This is the usual practice, for example, in the historical study of the English language. The loss of separate symbols for open and near-open front vowels is usually considered unproblematic, because the perceptual difference between the two is quite small, and very few languages contrast the two. If there is a need to specify the backness of the vowel as fully front one can use the symbol Template:Angbr IPA, which denotes a lowered near-open front unrounded vowel, or Template:Angbr IPA with the IPA "advanced" diacritic.

Features

Template:Open vowel Template:Front vowel This subsumes central open (central low) vowels because the tongue does not have as much flexibility in positioning as it does in the mid and close (high) vowels; the difference between an open front vowel and an open back vowel is similar to the difference between a close front and a close central vowel, or a close central and a close back vowel. Template:Unrounded vowel

Occurrence

Many languages have some form of an unrounded open vowel. For languages that have only a single open vowel, the symbol for this vowel Template:Angbr may be used because it is the only open vowel whose symbol is part of the basic Latin alphabet. Whenever marked as such, the vowel is closer to a central than to a front . However, there may not actually be much of a difference. (See Vowel#Acoustics.)

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'roof'	Near-front.Template:Sfnp See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic	StandardTemplate:Sfnp	/anā		'I' 1st person singular pronoun	See Arabic phonology
AzerbaijaniTemplate:Sfnp	Standard			'sound'	Typically transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA.
BulgarianTemplate:Sfnp		/nay		'most'	Near-front.Template:Sfnp
Chinese	MandarinTemplate:Sfnp	/	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Zh-ān.oga" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'safe'	Allophone of before .Template:Sfnp See Standard Chinese phonology
Dutch	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'bait'	Ranges from front to central.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
	UtrechtTemplate:Sfnp			'bath'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in Northern Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
English	AustralianTemplate:Sfnp	hat	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "En-uk-hat.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'hat'	Most common pronunciation among younger speakers.Template:Sfnp Older speakers typically use Template:IPAblink. See Australian English phonology
	CaliforniaTemplate:Sfnp				Less open Template:IPAblink in other North American varieties. See English phonology and Canadian Shift
	CanadianTemplate:Sfnp
	Some Central Ohioan speakers
	Some Texan speakers
	Northern Suburbs of JohannesburgTemplate:Sfnp				Closer Template:IPAblink in General South African English. See South African English phonology
	Received Pronunciation				Closer Template:IPAblink in Conservative Received Pronunciation. See English phonology
	Scouse
	East AnglianTemplate:Sfnp			'bra'	Realized as central Template:IPAblink by middle-class speakers.Template:Sfnp
	Inland Northern American				Less front [[[:Template:IPA link]] ~ Template:IPA link] in other American dialects. See Northern cities vowel shift
	New ZealandTemplate:Sfnp				Varies between open near-front , open central Template:IPAblink, near-open near-front Template:IPAblink and near-open central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp May be transcribed in IPA with Template:Angbr IPA. See New Zealand English phonology
French	Conservative ParisianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'paw'	Contrasts with Template:IPAslink, but many speakers have only one open vowel (phonetically central Template:IPAblink).Template:Sfnp See French phonology
	QuebecTemplate:Sfnp			'stopping'	Contrasts with Template:IPAslink.Template:Sfnp See Quebec French phonology
German	Altbayern accentTemplate:Sfnp			'water masses'	Also illustrates the back Template:IPAslink, with which it contrasts.Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
	Many Austrian accentsTemplate:Sfnp			'near'	Less front in other accents.Template:Sfnp See Standard German phonology
IgboTemplate:Sfnp				'kernel'
Khmer		/ Template:Transliteration		'to disappear'	See Khmer phonology
		/ Template:Transliteration		'bottom'
Kurdish	Palewani (Southern)	/gen		'bad'	Equal to Sorani (Central) near-front Template:IPAblink. See Kurdish phonology
Limburgish	Many dialectsTemplate:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'boss'	Near-front;Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp realized as central Template:IPAblink in some other dialects.Template:Sfnp The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Low GermanTemplate:Sfnp		/		'day'	Backness may vary among dialects.Template:Sfnp
LuxembourgishTemplate:Sfnp				'cap'	Near-front; sometimes fronted and raised to Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Kedah	beras		'raw rice'	Considerably more front than in Standard Malay where it is usually central [[[:Template:IPA link]]]. In final syllables that are open ended or end in a glottal stop, it is realised as a back [[[:Template:IPA link]]]. See Kedah Malay
Norwegian	StavangerskTemplate:Sfnp			'hat'	See Norwegian phonology
	TrondheimskTemplate:Sfnp			'leather'
PolishTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Pl-jajo.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'egg'	Allophone of between palatal or palatalized consonants. See Polish phonology
Spanish	Eastern AndalusianTemplate:Sfnp			'the mothers'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology
	MurcianTemplate:Sfnp
Swedish	Central StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'bank'	The backness has been variously described as front ,Template:Sfnp near-front Template:Sfnp and central Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Swedish phonology
West Frisian	AasterskTemplate:Sfnp			'ship's biscuit'	Contrasts with a back Template:IPAslink.Template:Sfnp See West Frisian phonology

References

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• Template:Phoible