Open-mid back rounded vowel

Open-mid back rounded vowel
ɔ
IPA number	306
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɔ
Unicode (hex)	U+0254
X-SAMPA	O
Kirshenbaum	O
Image
Sound

The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-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 ⟨ɔ⟩. The IPA symbol is a turned letter c and both the symbol and the sound are commonly called "open-o". The name open-o represents the sound, in that it is like the sound represented by ⟨o⟩, the close-mid back rounded vowel, except it is more open. It also represents the symbol, which can be remembered as an o which has been "opened" by removing part of the closed circular shape.

The IPA prefers the 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
This table contains phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low 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 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
Albanian		po	[pɔ]	'yes'
Armenian	Eastern	հողմ	[hɔʁm]	'storm'
Bamana		wɔɔrɔ	[wɔːrɔ]	'six'
Bengali		বস	[bɔʃ]	'sit'	See Bengali phonology
Catalan		soc	[ˈsɔk]	'clog'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	我 ngo5	[ŋɔː˩˧]	'I'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	我 wǒ	[wɔ˨˩˦]	'I'	See Mandarin phonology
	Min	五	[ɡɔ˨]	'five'
	Wu	跑 bo	[bɔ˨˩˦]	'run'
Danish	Standard	og	[ɔw]	'and'	Often transcribed /ɒ/. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard	bot	[bɔt]	'bone'	See Dutch phonology
	Amelands	hôl	[hɔːl]	'hollow'
	Belgian	nauw	[nɔ̞ː]	'narrow'	Some dialects. Corresponds to [ɔu] in standard Belgian Dutch.
Dutch Low Saxon		taol	[tɔːɫ]	'language'	May be lower ([ɒː]) in some dialects.
English	Australian	lot	[lɔt]	'lot'	See Australian English phonology
	Cockney				May also be as open as [ɒ], like in traditional RP.
	Estuary
	RP				/ɒ/ has shifted up in emerging RP.
	GA	cloth	[klɔθ]	'cloth'	Only in speakers without the cot–caught merger.
Faroese		góðan morgun	[ˌɡɔuwan ˈmɔɹɡʊn]	'good morning'
French		sort	[sɔ̜ːʁ]	'fate'	See French phonology
Georgian		სწორი	[st͡sʼɔɾi]	'correct'
German	Standard	voll	[fɔl]	'full'	See German phonology
Italian		parola	[paˈɾɔːla]	'word'	See Italian phonology
Lao		ບ	[bɔː]	'origin'
Macedonian		коњ	[kɔɲ]	'horse'	See Macedonian phonology
Norwegian		topp	[tɔp]	'top'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan		òme	[ˈɔme]	'man'
Polish		kot	[kɔt̪]	'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		só	[sɔ]	'alone'	See Portuguese phonology
Swedish		moll	[mɔl]	'minor'	See Swedish phonology
Tajik		тоҷикӣ	[tɔːdʒɪˈkiː]	'Tajik language'
Ukrainian		вовк	[ˈwɔu̯k]	'wolf'	See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek		O'zbek	[ɔzˈbek]	'Uzbek'
Vietnamese		to	[tɔ]	'large'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		bôle	[ˈbɔːɫə]	'bread'

See also

• Copyleft symbol
• index of phonetics articles

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 
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874 
• Grønnum, Nina (1998), "Danish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 28 (1 & 2): 99–105 
• Harrington, J.; Cox, F.; Evans, Z. (1997), "An acoustic phonetic study of broad, general, and cultivated Australian English vowels", Australian Journal of Linguistics 17: 155–84, doi:10.1080/07268609708599550 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191 
• Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden, p. 37, ISBN 9783411040667 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659 
• Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
• Wikström, Jussi (2013), "An acoustic study of the RP English LOT and THOUGHT vowels", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (1): 37–47, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000345