Close-mid central unrounded vowel

Close-mid central unrounded vowel
ɘ
ë
IPA number	397
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɘ
Unicode (hex)	U+0258
X-SAMPA	@\
Kirshenbaum	@<umd>
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Sound
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The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-mid central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɘ⟩. This is a reversed letter e, and should not be confused with the schwa ⟨ə⟩, which is a turned e. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ë⟩ (Latin small letter e with umlaut, not Cyrillic small letter yo). This letter may be used with a lowering diacritic ⟨ɘ̞⟩, to denote the mid central unrounded vowel.

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".

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ɯ̽ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ •ɐɞ̞ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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• Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high 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.
• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan	Central Valencian	poc	[ˈpɒ̝kːɘ]	'little'	Vocalic release found in final consonants. Typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ə⟩. See Catalan phonology
Dutch	Standard	bit	[bɘ̟t]	'bit'	Somewhat fronted; typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɪ⟩, the way it's pronounced in some dialects. See Dutch phonology
English	Australian	bird	[bɘːd]	'bird'	Typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɜː⟩. See Australian English phonology
	Southern Michigan		[bɘ˞ːd]		Rhotacized.
	Cardiff	foot	[fɘ̠t]	'foot'	Somewhat retracted; corresponds to /ʊ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
	New Zealand	bit	[bɘt]	'bit'	Corresponds to /ɪ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
	Southern American	nut	[nɘt]	'nut'	Some dialects. Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
French	Marseille	baguette	[baˈgɛtɘ]	'baguette'	Mute in Standard French. See meridional French
Irish	Munster	sáile	[ˈsˠɰaːlʲɘ]	'salt water'	Usually transcribed [ɪ̽]. It is an allophone of /ə/ next to non-palatal slender consonants. See Irish phonology
Jebero		[ˈiʃɘk]		'bat'
Kaingang		[ˈᵐbɘ]		'tail'	Varies between central [ɘ] and back [ɤ].
Kazakh		тіл	[tɘl]	'language'
Korean		어른	[ɘː.ɾɯn]	'senior'	See Korean phonology.
Lizu		[Fkɘ]		'eagle'	Allophone of /ə/ after velar stops.
Mapudungun		elün	[ë̝ˈlɘn]	'to leave (something)'
Mongolian		үсэр	[usɘɾɘ̆]	'jump'
Norman		acataer	[akatɘ]	'to buy'	May be [u ~ o ~ e] depending on the region. In Jèrriais it's spelled aï and pronounced [aɪ].
Northern Qiang	Mawo dialect	[ɘ ʑu]		'a pile'
Northern Tiwa	Taos dialect	[ˌpʼɒ̀ˑxɘ̄ˈɬɑ̄ːnæ]		'star'	Allophone of /ɤ/. See Taos phonology
Paicî		??	[kɘ̄ɾɘ̄]	'spider'
Polish		tymczasowy	[t̪ɘ̟mt͡ʂäˈs̪ɔvɘ̟]	'temporary'	Somewhat fronted; typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɨ⟩. See Polish phonology
Romanian	Moldavian dialects	casă	[ˈkäsɘ]	'house'	Corresponds to [ə] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Russian		солнце	[ˈs̪o̞n̪t̪͡s̪ɘ]	'sun'	This occurs only for some speakers after /t͡s/. See Russian phonology
Shiwiar
Skolt Sami		vuõˊlǧǧem	[vʲuɘlɟ͡ʝːɛm]	'I left'
Vietnamese		vợ	[vɘ˨˩ˀ]	'wife'	Typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɤ⟩. See Vietnamese phonology
Xumi	Upper	[LPmɘ̃dɐ]		'upstairs'	Nasalized; occurs only in this word. It is realized as mid [ə̃] in Lower Xumi.
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	ne	[nɘ]	'and'

Bibliography

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