Close front unrounded vowel

Close front unrounded vowel
i
Image
IPA number	301
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	i
Unicode (hex)	U+0069
X-SAMPA	i
Kirshenbaum	i
Sound

The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨i⟩.

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.

Languages that use the Latin alphabet commonly use ⟨i⟩ to represent this sound, though there are some notable exceptions: in English orthography this letter is more commonly associated with /aɪ/ (as in bite) or /ɪ/ (as in bit) and /iː/ is represented with ⟨e⟩, ⟨ea⟩, ⟨ee⟩, and even ⟨ei⟩. Irish orthography is similar in that its spelling system is both etymological and used to indicate whether preceding consonants are broad or slender so that such combinations as ⟨aí⟩, ⟨ei⟩, and ⟨aío⟩ all represent /iː/.

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, 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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ажьырныҳәа	[aʑirnuħʷo]	'January'	See Abkhaz phonology
Afrikaans		dankie	[daŋki]	'thank you'
Albanian		mali	[mali]	'the mountain'
Arabic	Standard	دين	[d̪iːn]	'religion'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		իմ	[im]	'my'
Azerbaijani		dili	[dili]	'tree'
Basque		bizar	[bis̻ar]	'beard'
Bengali		আমি	[ami]	'I'	See Bengali phonology
Catalan		sis	[ˈsis]	'six'	See Catalan phonology
Chickasaw		lhinko	[ɬinko]	'to be fat'
Chinese	Cantonese	詩/si1	[siː˥]	'poem'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	北京/Běijīng	[peɪ˨˩ tɕiŋ˥]	'Beijing'	See Mandarin phonology
Czech		bílý	[ˈbiːliː]	'white'	See Czech phonology
Dahalo		[ʡáɬi]		'fat'
Danish		bilist	[b̥iˈlisd]	'car driver'	See Danish phonology
Dutch		biet	[bit]	'beet'	See Dutch phonology
English		free	[fɹiː]	'free'	See English phonology
Estonian		tiik	[tiːk]	'pond'
Faroese		il	[iːl]	'sole'
Finnish		viisi	[viːsi]	'five'	See Finnish phonology
French		fini	[fini]	'finished'	See French phonology
Georgian		სამი	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
German		Ziel	[tsiːl]	'goal'	See German phonology
Greek		κήπος/kipos	[ˈcipos]	'garden'	Also represented by <οι> and <υι>. See Modern Greek phonology
Guaraní		ha’ukuri	[haʔukuri]	'Guaraní'
Hawaiian		makani	[makani]	'breeze'	See Hawaiian phonology
Hebrew		דיר	[diʁ]	'pen' (enclosure)	Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindi		तीन	[t̪iːn]	'three'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		ív	[iːv]	'arch'	See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic		líka	[liːka]	'also'	See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian		ini	[ini]	'this'
Irish		sí	[ʃiː]	'she'	See Irish phonology
Italian		bile	[ˈbile]	'rage'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		銀/gin	[ɡiɴ]	'silver'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		시장/sijang	[ɕiˈd͡ʑaŋ]	'hunger'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish		zîndu	[ziːndu]	'alive'
Latvian		šķīvi	[ʃkʲiːʋi]	'plate'
Lithuanian		įbrolis	[ˈiːbrolʲɪs]	'half-brother'
Macedonian		јазик	[jazik]	'tongue'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		biru	[biru]	'blue'
Maltese		bieb	[biːb]	'door'
Navajo		biwosh	[biɣʷoʃ]	'his cactus'	See Navajo phonology
North Frisian	Mooring	hii	[iːl]	'owl'
Norwegian		is	[iːs]	'ice'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Northern and Southern	miralhar	[miraˈʎa]	'to reflect'
	Gascon	polida	[?]	'pretty'
Pashto		پانير	[pɑˈnir]	'cheese'
Persian		کی	[kiː]	'who'	See Persian phonology
Pirahã		baíxi	[màíʔì]	'parent'
Polish		miś	[ˈmʲiɕ]	'teddy bear'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		li	[liː]	'I read'	See Portuguese phonology
Quechua		allin	[ˈaʎin]	'good'
Romanian		insulă	[ˈinsulə]	'island'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		лист	[lʲist]	'leaf'	Only occurs word-initially or after palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		chì	[xiː]	'shall see'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian		милина/milina	[milina]	'enjoyment'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Seri		cmiique	[ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ]	'person'
Sindhi		سنڌي	[sɪndʱiː]	'Sindhi'
Sioux	Lakota	ǧí	[ʀí]	'it's brown'
Slovak		chlapi	[xlapʲi]	'men'
Spanish		tipo	[ˈt̪ipo̞]	'type'	May also be represented by <y>. See Spanish phonology
Swahili		miti	[miti]	'trees'
Swedish		is	[iːs]	'ice'	See Swedish phonology
Tagalog		silya	[ˈsiljɐ]	'chair'	See Tagalog phonology
Tajik		бинӣ	[biˈniː]	'nose'
Thai		กริช	[krìt]	'dagger'
Turkish		ip	[ip]	'rope'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		[ɡʲi]		'heart'	Allophone of /ə/ after palatalized consonants. See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian		кіт	[kit]	'cat'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese		ty	[ti]	'bureau'	See Vietnamese phonology
Võro		kirotas	[kʲirotas]	'he writes'
Welsh		hir	[hiːr]	'long'
West Frisian		siik	[siːk]	'ill'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	diza	[d̪iza]	'Zapotec'
Zulu		umuzi	[uˈmuːzi]	'village'

Bibliography

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