Open central unrounded vowel

Open central unrounded vowel
ä
a̠
ɑ̈
ɐ̞
IPA number	304 415
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	a​̈
Unicode (hex)	U+0061 U+0308
X-SAMPA	a_" or a_- or A_" or 6_o
Sound

The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front [a] and back [ɑ], it is normally written ⟨a⟩. If precision is required, it can be specified by using diacritics, such as centralized ⟨ä⟩ or retracted ⟨a̠⟩, but this is not common.

Until recently, however, the letter ⟨a⟩ was officially used for the central vowel, and much of the existing body of work on phonetics reflects that. It is thus more common to use plain [a] for a central vowel, and to approximate an open front vowel, if needed, with [æ], officially near-open (near-low). Alternatively, Sinologists may use the unofficial symbol ⟨ᴀ⟩ (small capital A). The IPA voted against officially adopting this symbol in 2011–2012.

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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IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth – that is, as low as possible in the mouth.
• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. This often subsumes open (low) front vowels, because the tongue does not have as much flexibility in positioning as it does for the close (high) vowels; the difference between an open front vowel and an open back vowel is equal to the difference between a close front and a close central vowel, or a close central and a close back vowel.
• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Most languages have some form of an unrounded open vowel. Because the IPA uses ⟨a⟩ for both front and central unrounded open vowels, it is not always clear whether a particular language uses the former or the latter.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan		sac	[säk]	'sack'	See Catalan phonology
Czech		amerika	[ˈämɛrɪkä]	'America'	See Czech phonology
Dutch		zaal	[zäːɫ]	'hall'	In some dialects, this may actually be a back vowel. See Dutch phonology
English	Australian	car	[kʰäː]	'car'	See Australian English phonology
	Norfolk
	South African	time	[täːm]	'time'	General speakers may also monophthongize /aʊ/. These realizations are absent from Cultivated.
	Southern American		[tʰäːm]		See English phonology
	Southern Michigan	cot	[kʰäʔt̚]	'cot'
	Some speakers	path	[päːθ]	'path'	Remnants of the Trap-Bath split for some speakers, mainly across the border line of the Trap-Bath split, sometimes found in Yorkshire, Liverpool or Manchester.
French		patte	[pät]	'paw'	See French phonology.
German	Standard	Katze	[ˈkʰät͡sə]	'cat'	See German phonology
Hebrew		פח	[päχ]	'garbage can'	Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian		láb	[läːb]	'leg'	See Hungarian phonology
Igbo		ákụ	[ákú̙]	'kernal'
Italian		casa	[ˈkäːsä]	'home'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		蚊 ka	[kä]	'mosquito'	See Japanese phonology
Lithuanian		namas	[ˈnäːmäs]	'house'
Macedonian		маса	[ˈmäsä]	'table'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		api	[äpi]	'fire'
Polish		kat	[kät̪]	'executioner'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		vá	[vä]	'go'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian		cal	[käl]	'horse'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		там	[t̪äm]	'there'	See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		slat	[slät]	'yard'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian		патка / patka	[pätkä]	'female duck'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Spanish		rata	[ˈrät̪ä]	'rat'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		bank	[bäŋk]	'bank'	See Swedish phonology
Turkish		at	[ät̪]	'horse'	See Turkish phonology
West Frisian		laad	[ɫäːt]	'drawer'

References

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618 
• Cox, Felicity; Palethorpe, Sallyanne (2007), "Australian English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (3): 341–350, doi:10.1017/S0025100307003192 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223 
• Dankovičová, Jana (1999), "Czech", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 70–74 
• Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 0-521-63751-1 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X 
• Hillenbrand, James M. (2003), "American English: Southern Michigan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 121–126, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001221 
• Ikekeonwu, Clara (1999), "Igbo", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, pp. 108–110, ISBN 0-521-63751-1 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191 
• Keating, Patricia A. (2012), "IPA Council votes against new IPA symbol", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 42 (2): 245, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000114, "with only 15 of 30 members voting [by email], the vote was 8 in favor, 7 against. [...] With all 30 members of the Council voting [again six months later], the resolution was defeated: 17 no, 12 yes, 1 abstention. The IPA will therefore not be adding a symbol for this vowel to the alphabet or chart." 
• Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006), The Atlas of North American English, Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8 
• Laufer, Asher (1999), "Hebrew", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, pp. 96–99 
• Landau, Ernestina; Lončarića, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7 
• Lass et al (2002), Language in South Africa, ISBN 9780521791052 
• Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, p. 168 
• Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden, p. 37, ISBN 9783411040667 
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373 
• Okada, Hideo (1991), "Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21 (2): 94–96, doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628 
• Szende, Tamás (1994), "Hungarian", Journal of the International Phonetic Alphabet 24 (2): 91–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005090 
• Zimmer, Karl; Orgun, Orhan (1999), "Turkish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 154–158, ISBN 0-521-65236-7 

Further reading

• Barry, William; Trouvain, Jürgen (2008), "Do we need a symbol for a central open vowel?", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (3): 349–357