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Open front rounded vowel

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"ɶ" redirects here; not to be confused with Œ. For other uses, see oe (disambiguation).
Open front rounded vowel
ɶ
IPA number312
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɶ
Unicode (hex)U+0276
X-SAMPA&
Braille⠔ (braille pattern dots-35)⠪ (braille pattern dots-246)

The (near-)open front rounded vowel, or (near-)low front rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound that has not been confirmed to be phonemic in any spoken language.[2][3] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɶ⟩, a small capital ⟨Œ⟩. ⟨œ⟩, the lowercase of the ligature, is used for the open-mid front rounded vowel.

While the IPA chart lists it as a fully open vowel, the rounded equivalent of [a],[4] characterizes it as near-open, the rounded equivalent of [æ].

A phoneme generally transcribed by this symbol is reported from the Bavarian dialect of Amstetten. However, it is phonetically open-mid, [œ].[5]

It occurs allophonically in Weert Limburgish[6] as well as in some speakers of Danish[7] and Swedish.[8] Certain transcriptions of Danish use ⟨ɶ⟩ to denote an open-mid front rounded vowel [œ].[7]

In Maastrichtian Limburgish, the vowel transcribed with ⟨ɶː⟩ in the Mestreechter Taol dictionary is phonetically near-open central [ɐ̹ː]. It is a phonological open-mid front rounded vowel, the long counterpart of /œ/.[9]

Riad (2014) reports that [ɶː] in Stockholm Swedish is sometimes difficult to distinguish from [ɒː], which is the main realization of the /ɑː/ phoneme, a sign that both vowels are phonetically very close.[8]

Features

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  • Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
  • 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.
  • It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

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Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Danish Some speakers[7] grøn [ˈkʁɶ̝nˀ] 'green' Near-open;[10] allophone of /ø/ between /ʁ/ and /v/ as well as an allophone of /œ/ between /ʁ/ and a nasal.[11] Other speakers pronounce it the same as [œ].[7] See Danish phonology
Limburgish Weert dialect[6] bui [bɶj] 'shower' Allophone of /œ/ before /j/.[6] See Weert dialect phonology
Swedish Stockholm[8] öra [ˈɶ̂ːra̠] 'ear' Pre-/r/ allophone of /øː/ (sometimes also /œ/) for younger speakers.[8] An acoustic study by Persson (2024) points instead to an open-mid central allophone,[12] e.g. öraⓘ. Open-mid [œː, œ] for older speakers.[8] See Swedish phonology

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ^ Jones (1956), p. 15.
  3. ^ Wells (1975), p. 52: "Although it may seldom or never be needed for phonemic transcription, I feel that for completeness' sake, and to fill an awkward gap in our vowel chart, we should recognize this symbol for an open front rounded vowel."
  4. ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 290.
  5. ^ Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 290
  6. ^ a b c Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110
  7. ^ a b c d Basbøll (2005), p. 46
  8. ^ a b c d e Riad (2014), p. 38
  9. ^ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 159, 161–162, 164
  10. ^ Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
  11. ^ Grønnum (2005), p. 288.
  12. ^ Perrson (2024), Fig. 1, 7.

References

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  • Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
  • Grønnum, Nina (1998), "Danish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 99–105, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006290, S2CID 249412109
  • Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2), University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies: 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-11, retrieved 2022-02-18
  • Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307, S2CID 145635698, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2015-10-25
  • Jones, Daniel (1956), Cardinal Vowels Spoken by Daniel Jones: Text of Records with Explanatory Notes by Professor Jones (PDF), London: Linguaphone Institute, p. 15: This cardinal sound is not known to occur in any language.
  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
  • Persson, Anna (2024), "The acoustic characteristics of Swedish vowels", Phonetica, 81 (6): 599–643, doi:10.1515/phon-2024-0011, PMID 39443329
  • Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
  • Traunmüller, Hartmut (1982), "Vokalismus in der westniederösterreichischen Mundart.", Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik, 2: 289–333
  • Wells, J. C. (1975), "The Association's Alphabet", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 5 (2): 52–58, doi:10.1017/S0025100300001274, JSTOR 44525810
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