Near-close near-front rounded vowel

Near-close near-front rounded vowel
ʏ
IPA number	320
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʏ
Unicode (hex)	U+028F
X-SAMPA	Y
Kirshenbaum	I.
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Sound
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The near-close near-front rounded vowel, or near-high near-front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʏ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Y.

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, though many linguists prefer the terms "high" and "low".

In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with compressed lips (in an exolabial manner). However, in a few cases the lips are protruded (in an endolabial manner). This is the case with Swedish, which contrasts the two types of rounding.

Near-close near-front compressed 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-front. also known as front-central or centralized front, which means the tongue is positioned almost as far forward as a front vowel.
• 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

Note: Since front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have protrusion.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Armenian	Western	գիւղ	[kʰʏʁ]	'village'
Dutch	Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect	rug	[rʏç]	'back'	See Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology
	Standard	fuut	[fʏt]	'grebe'	Also described as central [ʉ̞] and close [ÿ]. See Dutch phonology
English	Southern England	book	[bʏk]	'book'	Some dialects. Corresponds to /ʊ/ in other English dialects. See English phonology
	Ulster	mule	[mjʏl]	'mule'	Short allophone of /u/; occurs only after /j/. See English phonology
Faroese		krúss	[kɹʏsː]	'mug'
French	Quebec	lune	[lʏn]	'moon'	Allophone of /y/ in closed syllables. See Quebec French phonology
German	Southern Bernese				Corresponds to [œi̯] in the city of Bern. See Bernese German phonology
	Standard	schützen	[ˈʃʏt͡sn̩]	'protect'	May be somewhat lowered. See German phonology
Limburgish	Hamont dialect	bul	[bʏl¹]	'a paper bag'	May be transcribed /y/. See Hamont dialect phonology
	Weert dialect				Allophone of /øə/ before nasals.
Ripuarian	Colognian	üch	[ʏɧ]		See Colognian phonology
	Kerkrade dialect	kümme	[ˈkʏmə]		Realized as fully close [y] in the word-final position.
Swedish	Central Standard	ut	[ʏβ̞t̪]	'out'	May be central [ʉː] in other dialects. See Swedish phonology
Turkish		atasözü	[ät̪äˈs̪ø̞̈z̪ʏ]	'proverb'	Allophone of /y/ described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology

Dutch short ⟨u⟩ is often transcribed as /ʏ/, but it is actually a central vowel, close-mid [ɵ] in the Netherlands, and near-close [ʊ̈] in Belgium.

Similarly, Icelandic ⟨u⟩ is often transcribed as /ʏ/, but it is actually close-mid central [ɵ].

Near-close near-front protruded vowel

Near-close near-front protruded vowel
ʏ̫
ʏʷ
ɪʷ

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 (together with height and duration).

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, old diacritic for labialization, ⟨◌̫⟩, will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for protruded front vowels. Another possible transcription is ⟨ʏʷ⟩ or ⟨ɪʷ⟩ (a near-close near-front vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.

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-front. also known as front-central or centralized front, which means the tongue is positioned almost as far forward as a front vowel.
• 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
Kurdish	Jafi	xö	[xʏ̫ː]	'salt'
Norwegian	Standard Eastern	nytt	[nʏ̫tː]	'new'	Described variously as near-front and front. See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard	ylle	[ˈʏ̫l̪ːɛ]	'wool'	See Swedish phonology

Bibliography

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