Near-close near-back vowel

Near-close near-back rounded vowel
ʊ
IPA number	321
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʊ
Unicode (hex)	U+028A
X-SAMPA	U
Kirshenbaum	U
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Sound
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The near-close near-back vowel, or near-high near-back vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some vocal languages. The IPA symbol for the near-close near-back rounded vowel is ⟨ʊ⟩. It is informally called "horseshoe u". Prior to 1989, there was an alternate IPA symbol for this sound, ⟨ɷ⟩, called "closed omega"; use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA. In Americanist phonetic notation, the symbol ⟨ᴜ⟩ (a small capital U) is used.

The IPA prefers the 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".

Some languages may have a near-close near-back unrounded vowel, which can be represented with ⟨ɯ̽⟩ or ⟨ʊ̜⟩ in the IPA, or sometimes with the old convention of ⟨ω⟩. A near-close near-back compressed vowel can be transcribed ⟨ʊᵝ⟩.

Near-close near-back rounded vowel

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 near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
• Its vowel backness is near-back, also known as back-central or centralized back, which means the tongue is positioned as in a back vowel, but slightly further forward in the mouth.
• It's rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

In the following transcriptions, a back rounded vowel is represented by the "retracted" diacritic [ʊ̠]:

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Chinese	Cantonese	紅/hung4	[hʊŋ˨˩]	'red'	Can be realized as [o̞] instead. See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	紅/hóng	[xʊŋ˧˥]		See Mandarin phonology
Danish	Standard	have	[ˈhɛːʊ]	'garden'	Assimilatory variant of [ʊ̯ə] (phonemically /ʋə/.) May be realized the same as short [o]. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect	ug	[ʊx]	'you'	See Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology
English	Australian	hook	[hʊk]	'hook'	Also described as close back [u]. See Australian English phonology
	Cockney		[ʊʔk]		Sometimes fronted to [ʊ̈].
	Conservative RP		[hʊʔk]		Often lowered and centralized to [ɵ], or unrounded to [ɘ]. See English phonology
	Multicultural London				May be front [ʏ] instead.
Hindustani		गुलाब/گلاب	[gʊˈläːb]	'rose'	See Hindustani phonology
Faroese		hvalur	[kvɛalʊɹ]	'whale'
French	Quebec	foule	[fʊl]	'crowd'	Allophone of /u/ in closed syllables. See Quebec French phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect	Schurf	[ʃʊˤːf]	'blight'	Pharyngealized; may be realized as [ʊːɒ̯] instead. See Chemnitz dialect phonology
	Southern Bernese				Corresponds to [ɔu̯] in the city of Bern. See Bernese German phonology
	Standard	Stunde	[ˈʃtʊndə]	'hour'	See German phonology
Irish	Munster	dubh	[d̪ˠɰʊvˠ]	'black'	Allophone of /ʊ/ between broad consonants. See Irish phonology
Kaingang		[kʊˈtu]		'deaf'	Atonic allophone of /u/ and /o/.
Korean		구리 /guri	[kʊ̠ɾi]	'copper'	Fully back; typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨u⟩. See Korean phonology
Limburgish	Weert dialect				Used only by older speakers.
Luxembourgish		Sprooch	[ʃpʀʊ̠ːχ]	'language'	Fully back; typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨oː⟩. Also described as close-mid [oː]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Mongolian		ус	[ʊs]	'water'
Norwegian	Standard Eastern	ond	[ʊn̪]	'bad'	May be transcribed /u/. See Norwegian phonology
Piedmontese		Torton-a	[tʊrˈtʊŋa]	'Tortona'
Portuguese	Brazilian	bonito	[bʊˈn̠ʲit̪ʊ̥]	'handsome'	Corresponds to unstressed [u ~ o̞] in Brazil and /u/ in other national variants.
Punjabi		ਪੁਦੀਨਾ	[pʊˈd̪iːnäː]	'mint'
Russian		сухой	[s̪ʊˈxo̞j]	'dry'	Unstressed allophone of /u/. See Russian phonology
Shiwiar					Allophone of /u/.
Slovak		ruka	[ˈrʊkä]	'arm'	Backness varies between back and near-back. See Slovak phonology
Spanish	Eastern Andalusian	tus	[t̪ʊ̠ː]	'your' (pl.)	Fully back. Corresponds to [u] in other dialects, but in these dialects they're distinct. See Spanish phonology
	Murcian
Swedish	Central Standard	ort	[ʊ̠ᵝʈː]	'locality'	Retracted and exolabial (compressed). See Swedish phonology
Turkish		buzlu	[buz̪ˈl̠ʊ]	'icy'	Allophone of /u/ described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology
Yoruba					Near-back or fully back; typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ũ⟩. It is nasalized, and may be close [ũ̟ ~ ũ] instead.

Near-close near-back unrounded vowel

Near-close near-back unrounded vowel
ɯ̽
ʊ̜

The near-close near-back unrounded vowel does not occur very often in world's languages, and the only languages in which it is phonemic are Korean and Portuguese (the European variety).

Features

• Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
• Its vowel backness is near-back, also known as back-central or centralized back, which means the tongue is positioned as in a back vowel, but slightly further forward in the mouth.
• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	California	hook	[hɯ̽k]	'hook'	Often pronounced with spread lips.
Irish	Ulster				Allophone of /ɪ/.
Korean		어른/eoreun	[ɘːɾɯ̽n]	'seniors'	Typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɯ⟩. See Korean phonology
Mirandese		cebada	[s̪ɯ̽ˈβ̞äð̞ə]	'barley'	Typically transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɨ⟩.
Portuguese	European	pegar	[pɯ̽ˈɣäɾ]	'to hold'	Unstressed vowel; most often transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɨ⟩ or ⟨ə⟩. See Portuguese phonology
Tatar
Turkish		acı	[äˈd͡ʒɯ̽]	'spicy'	Allophone of /ɯ/ in final open syllable of a phrase. See Turkish phonology

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