Near-open central vowel

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Vowels

Edit - 2×

Front

N.-front

Central

N.-back

Back

Close

i • y

ɨ • ʉ

ɯ • u

ɪ • ʏ

• ʊ

e • ø

ɘ • ɵ

ɤ • o

ɛ • œ

ɜ • ɞ

ʌ • ɔ

a • ɶ

ɑ • ɒ

Near-close

Close-mid

Mid

Open-mid

Near-open

Open

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.

See also: IPA, Consonants

Sound sample (help·info)
IPA – number	324
IPA – text	ɐ
IPA – image
Entity	ɐ
X-SAMPA	`6`
Kirshenbaum	`&"`

The near-open central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɐ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 6. The IPA symbol is a turned printed letter 'a'.

[edit] Features

Its vowel height is near-open, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted.
Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

[edit] Occurs in

English: RP and western American English cut [kɐt];
(In RP, <ʌ> is frequently used for [ɐ]. The pronunciation varies with dialect and in others may be closer to RP's earlier form [ʌ].)
German: der [deːɐ] (unstressed [dɐ]), and other syllables ending in <er> [ɐ] (Lehrer [leːʁɐ], ertragen [ɐˈtʁaːgn̩]). This usage is called the "reduced r" in German Pronunciation for Speakers of American English.
Brazilian Portuguese: Cama [kɐ̃mɐ], "bed". The vowel traditionally written [ɐ] in European Portuguese is actually a mid central unrounded vowel.