Close-mid back rounded vowel

Close-mid back rounded vowel
o
Image
IPA number	307
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	o
Unicode (hex)	U+006F
X-SAMPA	o
Kirshenbaum	o
Sound

The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-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 ⟨o⟩.

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low", and these are the only terms found in introductory textbooks on phonetics such as those by Peter Ladefoged.

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ ɐ •aɶ •ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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• Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Egyptian	بؤ	[boʔ]	'mouth'
Bulgarian		уста	[osˈta]	'mouth'	See Bulgarian language
Catalan		sóc	[ˈsok]	'I am'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	高/gou1	[kou]	'tall'	See Cantonese phonology
	Wu	花	[ho]	'flower'
Czech		oko	[oko]	'eye'	See Czech phonology
Dutch	Standard	kool	[koːɫ]	'cabbage'	In the north of the Netherlands usually diphthongized to [oʊ]. See Dutch phonology
	Southern				See Dutch phonology
English	Australian	caught	[kʰoːt]	'caught'	See Australian English phonology
	New Zealand				See English phonology
	North Central American	row	[ɹoː]	'row'	Usually diphthongized to [oʊ]
Estonian		tool	[toːlʲ]	'chair'
Faroese		tosa	[ˈtoːsa]	'speak'
French		réseau	[ʁeˈzo]	'net'	See French phonology
German		Kohl	[kʰoːl]	'cabbage'	See German phonology
Hungarian		kór	[koːr]	'disease'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian		foro	[ˈfoːro]	'hole'	See Italian phonology
Korean		보수/bosu	[ˈpoːsu]	'salary'	See Korean phonology
Norwegian		lov	[loːʋ]	'law'	See Norwegian phonology
Silesian		Ślůnsk	[ɕlonsk]	'Silesia'
Portuguese		dois	[d̪ojʃ]	'two'	See Portuguese phonology
Swedish		åka	[ˈoːka]	'travel'	See Swedish phonology
Urdu		کھولو	[kʰolo]	'open'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Vietnamese		tô	[toː]	'bowl'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		bok	[bok]	'billy-goat'

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76 
• Jones, Daniel; Dennis, Ward (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press 
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (1): 107–114 
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768 
• Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628