Open-mid central rounded vowel

Open-mid central rounded vowel
ɞ
Image
IPA number	395
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɞ
Unicode (hex)	U+025E
X-SAMPA	3\
Kirshenbaum	O"
Sound

The open-mid central rounded vowel, or low-mid central rounded vowel, is a vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɞ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3\. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon.

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.

Due to either typographic or design error, IPA charts were published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, ⟨ʚ⟩, and this graphic variant made its way into Unicode as U+029A ʚ latin small letter closed open e. The form ⟨ɞ⟩ (U+025E ɞ latin small letter closed reversed open e) is considered correct.

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 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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than relaxed or spread.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Irish		tomhail	[tɞ̜ːlʲ]	'consume!'	See Irish phonology
Kashubian		ptôch	[ptɞx]	'bird'
Navajo		tsosts’id	[tsʰɞstsʼɪt]	'seven'	See Navajo phonology
Somali		keenaysaa	[keːnɞjsɑː]	'she brings'	See Somali phonology

Bibliography

• McDonough, Joyce; Ladefoged, Peter; George, Helen (1993), "Navajo Vowels and Phonetic Universal Tendencies", UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages 84: 143–150