Mid central vowel

Mid central vowel
ə
IPA number	322
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ə
Unicode (hex)	U+0259
X-SAMPA	@
Kirshenbaum	@
Braille
Image
Sound
source · help

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
This table contains phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ə, a rotated lowercase letter e. The same symbol may be used for both the unrounded and the rounded forms of the mid central vowel, although there exist certain other notations that may be used to represent either variant specifically.

Mid central unrounded vowel

The mid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. However, this symbol may not specifically represent an unrounded vowel, and it is frequently used for almost any unstressed obscure vowel. If precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞]. Another possibility is using the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel with a raising diacritic, [ɜ̝].

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open 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
Adyghe		зы	[zəː]	'one'
Albanian		është	[ˈəʃtə]	'is'
Armenian		ընկեր	[əŋˈkɛɹ]	'friend'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		?/sətwa	[sətwɐ]	'winter'	Most speakers. Usually raised to [ɪ] in some Tyari dialects.
Catalan	Eastern Catalan	amb	[əm(b)]	'with'	Reduced vowel. See Catalan phonology
	Most Balearic speakers	sec	[ˈsək̟]	'dry'
	Central Valencian	poc	[ˈpɒ̝kːə]	'little'	Vocalic release found in final consonants. It may vary in quality.
	Some Valencian speakers	eh tu!	[ˈe ˈtuːə̯̆]	'hey you!'	Extra short. Diphthongization of final /i/, /u/, /e/, and /o/ before a pause.
Dutch		beter	[ˈbeːtər]	'better'	See Dutch phonology
English	Most dialects	Tina	[ˈtʰiːnə]	'Tina'	Reduced vowel; varies in quality. See English phonology
	Cultivated South African	bird	[bəːd]	'bird'	May be transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel [øː~ ø̈ː].
	Norfolk
	Received Pronunciation				Often transcribed /ɜː/. It is sulcalized, which means the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]. 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a near-open vowel [ɐː], but for some other speakers it may actually be open-mid [ɜː]. This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects.
	Indian	bust	[bəst]	'bust'	May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ʌ/ and /ə/ like Welsh English.
	Wales				May also be further back; it corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.
	Yorkshire				Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Estonian		kõrv	[kərv]	'ear'	Typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɤ⟩; can be mid back [ɤ̞] or close back [ɯ] instead, depending on the speaker. See Estonian phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect	Wonne	[ˈʋɞ̝n̪ə]	'bliss'	See Chemnitz dialect phonology
	Standard	bitte	[ˈbɪtʰə]	'please'	Unstressed allophone of /ɛ/. See German phonology
Hindustani		दस/دَس	[ˈd̪əs]	'ten'	See Hindustani phonology
Inuit	West Greenlandic				Allophone of /i/ before and especially between uvulars. See Inuit phonology
Kabardian		щы	[ɕəː]	'three'
Kashubian		jãzëk	[jãzək]	'language'
Limburgish		besjeemp	[bəˈʃeːmp]	'embarassed'	Occurs only in unstressed syllables. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Luxembourgish		dënn	[d̥ən]	'thin'	More often realized as slightly rounded [ɵ̞]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		к’смет	[ˈkəs̪mɛt̪]	'luck' (archaic)	Not considered a vowel phoneme. See Macedonian phonology
Malay		Melayu	[məlaju]	'Malay'
Marathi		अकरा	[əkˈra]	'eleven'	See Marathi phonology.
Palauan		tilobęd	[tilobəd]	'came'
Pashto		غوښه	[ˈɣwəʂa]	'meat'	See Pashto dialects
Piedmontese		përché	[pərˈke]	'why'	May be realized as [a] or [ɑ] instead, depending on the variety.
Portuguese	European	pagar	[pɜ̝ˈɣaɾ]	'to pay'	Often corresponds to a near-open vowel [ɐ] in Brazilian Portuguese. See Portuguese phonology
	São Paulo	cama	[ˈkəmɐ]	'bed'	Shorter nasal resonance or complete oral vowel in São Paulo and Southern Brazil, while nasal vowel in many other Portuguese dialects.
	Southern Brazil
	Some speakers	conviver	[kũviˈveə̯ɾ]	'to coexist'	Primarily in Portugal, but also stereotyped as a characteristic of the dialect of Rio de Janeiro (where [ə] for /ɐ/ is also dominant).
Punjabi		ਅਮਨ	[əmən]	'peace'
Romanian		măr	[mər]	'apple'	Also described as open-mid [ɜ]. See Romanian phonology
Russian		это	[ˈɛt̪ə]	'this'	Unstressed allophone of several vowels. See Russian phonology
Sema		akütsü	[ɐ˩ kə t͡sɨ̞]	'black'	Possible word-medial allophone of /ɨ/.
Spanish	Mexican	pesos	[ˈpesəs]	'pesos'
Swedish		begå	[bəˈɡoː]	'to commit'	Unstressed allophone of /ɛ/, see Swedish phonology
Welsh		Cymru	[ˈkəmrɨ]	'Wales'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		gewoan	[ɡəˈʋoə̯n]	'normal'

Mid central rounded vowel

Mid central rounded vowel
ɵ̞
ə̹
ɞ̝

Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞]. This vowel can also be represented by adding the more rounded diacritic to the schwa symbol, or by combining the raising diacritic with the open-mid central rounded vowel symbol, although it is rare to use such symbols.

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• It's rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	Standard Belgian	neus	[nɵ̞ːs]	'nose'	Usually transcribed in IPA as ⟨øː⟩; in the Netherlands it is often a diphthong [ɵʉ]. See Dutch phonology
	Southern	hut	[ɦɵ̞t]	'hut'	Corresponds to [ɵ] in standard Netherlandic Dutch and [ʊ̈] in standard Belgian Dutch.
French		je	[ʒə̹]	'I'	Only somewhat rounded; may be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect	Wonne	[ˈʋɞ̝n̪ə]	'bliss'	See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Irish	Munster	scoil	[skө̠˕lʲ]	'school'	Somewhat retracted; allophone of /ɔ/ between a broad and a slender consonant. See Irish phonology
Luxembourgish		dënn	[d̥ɵ̞n]	'thin'	Slightly rounded; less often realized as unrounded [ə]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Russian		тётя	[ˈtʲɵ̞tʲə]	'aunt'	Allophone of /o/ in the environment of palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard	full	[fɵ̞lː]	'full'	Pronounced with compressed lips, more closely transcribed [ɵ̞ᵝ] or [ɘ̞ᵝ]. See Swedish phonology

See also

• Schwa

Bibliography

• Asu, Eva Liina; Teras, Pire (2009), "Estonian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 39 (3): 367–372, doi:10.1017/s002510030999017x
• Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003), The Phonetics of English and Dutch, Fifth Revised Edition (PDF), ISBN 9004103406
• Crosswhite, Katherine Margaret (2000), "Vowel Reduction in Russian: A Unified Account of Standard, Dialectal, and 'Dissimilative' Patterns" (PDF), University of Rochester Working Papers in the Language Sciences, 1 (1): 107–172
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
• Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 140, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
• Fortescue, Michael (1990), "Basic Structures and Processes in West Greenlandic", in Collins, Dirmid R. F. (ed.), Arctic Languages: An Awakening (PDF), Paris: UNESCO, pp. 309–332, ISBN 92-3-102661-5
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies, 29: 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526
• Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28: 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307
• Jones, Daniel; Ward, Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
• Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013), "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1999), "German", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 86–89, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
• Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
• Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
• Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden, ISBN 9783411040667
• Ó Sé, Diarmuid (2000), Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne (in Gaeilge), Dublin: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann, ISBN 0-946452-97-0
• Peters, Jörg (2006), "The dialect of Hasselt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 117–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002428
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
• Sailaja, Pingali (2009), Indian English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, pp. 17–38, ISBN 978 0 7486 2594 9
• Stoddart, Jana; Upton, Clive; Widdowson, J.D.A. (1999), "Sheffield dialect in the 1990s: revisiting the concept of NORMs", Urban Voices, London: Arnold, pp. 72–89
• Teo, Amos B. (2012), "Sumi (Sema)", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42 (03): 365–373, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000254
• Teo, Amos B. (2014), A phonological and phonetic description of Sumi, a Tibeto-Burman language of Nagaland (PDF), Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics, ISBN 978-1-922185-10-5
• Trouvain, Jürgen; Gilles, Peter (2009), PhonLaf - Phonetic Online Material for Luxembourgish as a Foreign Language 1 (PDF), pp. 74–77
• Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 245, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173
• Verhoeven, Jo (2007), "The Belgian Limburg dialect of Hamont", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (2): 219–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100307002940
• Wells, J.C. (1982), Accents of English, 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press