Close front rounded vowel

Close front rounded vowel
y
Image
IPA number	309
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	y
Unicode (hex)	U+0079
X-SAMPA	y
Kirshenbaum	y
Sound

The close front rounded vowel, or high front 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 ⟨y⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y. Across many languages, it is most commonly represented orthographically as ⟨ü⟩ (in German and Turkish) or ⟨y⟩, but also as ⟨u⟩ (in French and a few other Romance languages and in Dutch); ⟨iu⟩/⟨yu⟩ (in the romanization of various Asian languages); ⟨uu⟩ (in Dutch); ⟨ű⟩ (in Hungarian); ⟨уь⟩ (in Cyrillic-based writing systems such as that for Chechen); or ⟨ㅟ⟩ (in Hangul, used for Korean).

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.

In most languages, this rounded vowel is pronounced with compressed lips ('exolabial'). However, in a few cases the lips are protruded ('endolabial').

Close front compressed vowel

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
This table contains phonetic symbols. They may not display correctly in some browsers (Help).
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

Occurrence

Note: Since front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have protrusion.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans		uur	[yr]	'hour'
Albanian		dy	[dy]	'two'
Azeri		güllə	[ɟylˈlæ]	'bullet'
Basque	Souletin	hirü	[hiɾy]	'three'
Catalan	Northern Catalan	but	[ˈbyt]	'aim'	Found in Occitan and French loanwords. See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	書/syu1	[syː˥]	'book'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	绿/lǜ	[ly˥˩]	'green'	See Mandarin phonology
	Wu	软/ gniu	[ɲy˩˧]	'soft'
Chechen		уьш/üş	[yʃ]	'they'
Danish		yde	[ˈyːðə]	'to supply'	See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard	debuut	[dəˈbyt]	'debut'	See Dutch phonology
	Southern	uit	[yt]	'out'	Dialectal, corresponds to [œy] in standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
English	Scottish	food	[fyd]	'food'	Some dialects. Corresponds to /u/ (or [ʉ]) in other dialects. See English phonology
Estonian		üks	[yks]	'one'
Finnish		yksi	[ˈyksi]	'one'	See Finnish phonology
French		chute	[ʃyt]	'fall'	See French phonology
German		Blüte	[ˈblyːtə]	'blossom'	See German phonology
Hungarian		tű	[tyː]	'pin'	See Hungarian phonology
Korean		위 wi	[y]	'top'	May be diphthongized to [wi] by younger speakers. See Korean phonology
Lombard		düü	[dyː]	'two'
Mongolian		түймэр/tüimer	[tʰyːmɘɾɘ̆]	'prairie fire'
North Frisian		hüüs	[hyːs]	'hoarse'
Occitan	Gascon	lua	[ˈlyo]	'moon'
	Languedocien	luna	[ˈlyno]
	Provençal
Scots		buit	[byt]	'boot'
Turkish		güneş	[ɟyˈneʃ]	'sun'	See Turkish phonology
West Frisian		drúf	[dryːf]	'grape'

Close front protruded vowel

Close front protruded vowel
y̫
yʷ

Catford notes that most languages with rounded front and back vowels use distinct types of labialization, protruded back vowels and compressed front vowels. However, a few languages, such as Scandinavian, have compressed front vowels. One of these, Swedish, even contrasts the two types of rounding in front vowels. (See near-close near-front rounded vowel, with Swedish examples of both types of rounding.)

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, [  ̫], will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for protruded front vowels. (Another possible transcription is [yʷ] or [iʷ] (a close front vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.)

Features

• Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
• Its vowel backness is near-front, which means the tongue is positioned almost as far forward as a front vowel.
• 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
Norwegian		syd	[sy̫ːd]	'south'	See Norwegian phonology
Swedish		yla	[y̫ː(ɥ)la]	'howl'	See Swedish phonology

See also

• List of phonetics topics

Bibliography

• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X 
• Iivonen, Antti; Harnud, Huhe (2005), "Acoustical comparison of the monophthong systems in Finnish, Mongolian and Udmurt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (1): 59–71, doi:10.1017/S002510030500191X 
• Szende, Tamás (1994), "Illustrations of the IPA:Hungarian", Journal of the International Phonetic Alphabet 24 (2): 91–94