Close front rounded vowel
| Close front rounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| y | |
| IPA Number | 309 |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | y |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0079 |
| X-SAMPA | y |
| Braille |  |
The close front rounded vowel, or high front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. Acoustically it is a close front-central rounded vowel.[1] 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, Turkish and Basque) or ⟨y⟩, but also as ⟨u⟩ (in French and a few other Romance languages and also in Dutch and the Kernewek Kemmyn standard of Cornish); ⟨iu⟩/⟨yu⟩ (in the romanization of various Asian languages); ⟨ű⟩ (in Hungarian for the long duration version; the short version is the ⟨ü⟩ found in other European alphabets); or ⟨уь⟩ (in Cyrillic-based writing systems such as that for Chechen)
Short /y/ and long /yː/ occurred in pre-Modern Greek. In the Attic and Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, front [y yː] developed by fronting from back /u uː/ around the 6th to 7th century BC. A little later, the diphthong /yi/ when not before another vowel monophthongized and merged with long /yː/. In Koine Greek, the diphthong /oi/ changed to [yː], likely through the intermediate stages [øi] and [øː]. Through vowel shortening in Koine Greek, long /yː/ merged with short /y/. Later, /y/ unrounded to [i], yielding the pronunciation of Modern Greek. For more information, see the articles on Ancient Greek and Koine Greek phonology.
The close front rounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the labialized palatal approximant [ɥ]. The two are almost identical featurally. [y] alternates with [ɥ] in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, ⟨y̑⟩ with the non-syllabic diacritic and ⟨ɥ⟩ are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.
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[citation needed], prefer the terms "high" and "low".
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
The close front compressed vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨y⟩, and that is the convention used in this article. There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨i͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [i] and labial compression) or ⟨iᵝ⟩ ([i] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨ ͍⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨y͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.
Features
| IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
- Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close 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 forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Rounded front vowels are often centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-front.
- Its 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
Because front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some examples in the table below may actually have protrusion.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | [[[Afrikaans alphabet|uur]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [yːr] | 'hour' | See Afrikaans phonology | |
| Albanian | [[[Albanian alphabet|dy]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [dy] | 'two' | ||
| Azeri | [güllə] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ɟylˈlæ] | 'bullet' | ||
| Basque | Souletin | [[[Basque alphabet|hirü]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [hiɾy] | 'three' | |
| Bavarian | Amstetten dialect[2] | [example needed] | Near-front.[2] | ||
| Breton | [tut] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [tyːd] | 'people' | ||
| Catalan | Northern[3] | [but] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [byt̪] | 'aim' | Found in Occitan and French loanwords. See Catalan phonology |
| Chechen | уьш / [üş] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [yʃ] | 'they' | ||
| Chinese | Cantonese | 書/[syu1] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [syː˥] | 'book' | See Cantonese phonology |
| Mandarin | 绿/[[[Hanyu pinyin|lǜ]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | ⓘ | 'green' | See Mandarin phonology | |
| Wu | [[[Chinese Characters|软]]] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language tag: zh-wuu-Hani (help)/[gniu] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ɲy˩˧] | 'soft' | ||
| Chuvash | [[[Cyrillic alphabet|ÿс]] / üs] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ys] | 'to grow' | ||
| Cornish | [tus] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [tyːz] | 'people' | Corresponds to /iː/ in "Late" dialect. | |
| Danish | Standard[4][5] | [[[Danish alphabet|synlig]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈs̺y̠ːnli] | 'visible' | Near-front.[4][5] See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard Belgian[6] | [fuut] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | ⓘ | 'grebe' | Near-front,[6] also described as near-close [ʏ].[7] See Dutch phonology |
| English | General South African[8] |
[few] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [fjyː] | 'few' | Some younger speakers, especially females. Others pronounce a more central vowel [ʉː]. |
| Multicultural London[9] | May be back [uː] instead.[9] | ||||
| Scouse[10] | May be central [ʉː] instead. | ||||
| Ulster[11] | Long allophone of /u/; occurs only after /j/.[11] See English phonology | ||||
| Scottish | [fjy] | Some dialects. Corresponds to [u ~ ʉ] in other dialects. See English phonology | |||
| Estonian[12] | [[[Estonian alphabet|üks]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [y̠ks] | 'one' | Near-front.[12] See Estonian phonology | |
| Finnish[13][14] | [[[Finnish alphabet|yksi]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈy̠ksi] | 'one' | Near-front.[14] See Finnish phonology | |
| French[15] | [chute] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | ⓘ | 'fall' | See French phonology | |
| German | Standard[16] | [[[German orthography|über]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | ⓘ | 'over' | Near-front.[16] See German phonology |
| Greek | Tyrnavos[17] | [[[Greek alphabet|σάλιο]]/salio] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈsäly] | 'saliva' | Corresponds to /jo/ in Standard Modern Greek.[17] |
| Vevendos[17] | |||||
| Hungarian[18] | [[[Hungarian orthography|tű]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [t̪y̠ː] | 'pin' | Near-front.[18] See Hungarian phonology | |
| Limburgish[19][20][21][22] | [bruudsje] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈbʀ̝y̠t͡ʃə] | 'breadroll' | Near-front.[19][20][21][22] The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |
| Lombard | [düü] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [dyː] | 'two' | ||
| Luxembourgish[23][24] | [Hüll] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [hyl] | 'envelope' | Occurs only in loanwords.[23][24] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Mongolian[25] | [[[Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet|түймэр]]/tüimer] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [tʰyːmɘɾɘ̆] | 'prairie fire' | ||
| North Frisian | [hüüs] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [hyːs] | 'hoarse' | ||
| Occitan | Gascon | [lua] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈlyo̞] | 'moon' | See Occitan phonology |
| Languedocien | luna | [ˈlyno̞] | |||
| Provençal | |||||
| Piedmontese | [curt] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [kyrt] | 'short' | ||
| Portuguese | Azorean[26] | [[[Portuguese orthography|figura]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [fiˈɣy̠ɾə] | 'figure' | Near-front. Stressed vowel, fronting of original /u/ in some dialects.[26] See Portuguese phonology |
| Peninsular[27] | [tudo] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈt̪y̠ðu] | 'all' | ||
| Brazilian[28] | [déjà vu] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [d̪e̞ʒɐ ˈvy] | 'déjà vu' | Found in French and German loanwords. Speakers may instead use [u] or [i]. See Portuguese phonology | |
| Scots | [buit] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [byt] | 'boot' | ||
| Slovak | Standard[29] | [menu] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈme̞ny] | 'menu' | Only in loanwords; may be closer to [i] or [u] instead. Reported only by one source from 1988.[30] See Slovak phonology |
| Turkish[31][32] | [güneş] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ɟy̠ˈn̪e̞ʃ] | 'sun' | Near-front.[31] See Turkish phonology | |
| West Frisian | [drúf] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [dryːf] | 'grape' | See West Frisian phonology | |
Close front protruded vowel
| Close front protruded vowel | |
|---|---|
| y̫ | |
| yʷ | |
| iʷ | |
| Audio sample | |
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 ones, have protruded 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.
Acoustically, this sound is "between" the more typical compressed close front vowel [y] and the unrounded close front vowel [i].
Features
- Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwegian | Standard Eastern[33] | [syd] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [sy̫ːd] | 'south' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Swedish | Central Standard[34] | [[[Swedish alphabet|yla]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | ⓘ | 'howl' | May be a sequence [yɥ] instead.[35] See Swedish phonology |
See also
References
- ^ Geoff Lindsey (2013) The vowel space, Speech Talk
- ^ a b Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
- ^ Recasens (1996:69)
- ^ a b Grønnum (1998:100)
- ^ a b Ladefoged & Johnson (2010:227)
- ^ a b Verhoeven (2005:245)
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003:132)
- ^ Lass (2002:116)
- ^ a b Gimson (2014:91)
- ^ Watson (2007:357)
- ^ a b "Irish English and Ulster English" (PDF). p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2014.
- ^ a b Asu & Teras (2009:368)
- ^ Iivonen & Harnud (2005:60, 66)
- ^ a b Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
- ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
- ^ a b Kohler (1999:87), Mangold (2005:37)
- ^ a b c Trudgill (2009), pp. 86–87.
- ^ a b Szende (1994:92)
- ^ a b Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
- ^ a b Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
- ^ a b Peters (2006:119)
- ^ a b Verhoeven (2007:221)
- ^ a b Trouvain & Gilles (2009:75)
- ^ a b Gilles & Trouvain (2013:72)
- ^ Iivonen & Harnud (2005:62, 66–67)
- ^ a b Variação Linguística no Português Europeu: O Caso do Português dos Açores Template:Pt icon
- ^ Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction – by Milton M. Azevedo Page 186.
- ^ Template:Pt icon The perception of German vowels by Portuguese-German bilinguals: do returned emigrants suffer phonological erosion? Pages 57 and 68.
- ^ Kráľ (1988:64–65)
- ^ Kráľ (1988:65)
- ^ a b Zimmer & Orgun (1999:155)
- ^ Göksel & Kerslake (2005:11)
- ^ Vanvik (1979:13 and 19)
- ^ Engstrand (1999:140–141)
- ^ Engstrand (1999:141)
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