Talk:Mid central unrounded vowel

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[edit] Portuguese "a" a mid-central vowel?

According to the vowel chart here, the "a" sound from European Portuguese mentioned in the article is not a mid-central vowel. It's pretty close to being one, but it's slightly more open. FilipeS 21:08, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rename

This article should be renamed Mid central vowel, and what is currently at Close-mid_central_rounded_vowel#Mid_central_rounded_vowel should be brought here. From the discussion here, it is clear that the IPA symbol ə can stand for a rounded or unrounded vowel. This includes both the mid central unrounded vowel and the mid central rounded vowel. FilipeS 14:42, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

But isn't the ə used for a rounded vowel a schwa rather than specifically a mid-central vowel? I'm not sure if we need to merge the rounded and unrounded varieties. Do any languages contrast a rounded mid central vowel with an unrounded one? Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 19:18, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

This is one of Kwami's replies, in the discussion I linked to:

[ʊ] and [æ] are defined as rounded and unrounded in the IPA Handbook ("near-close near-back rounded vowel" and "near-open front unrounded vowel"), but [ɐ] and [ə] are not ("near-open central vowel" and "mid central vowel"). Open vowels seldom have rounding contrasts, so that isn't much of an issue for [ɐ], but [ɐ]* could be rounded too. With [ɘ̞] you're clearly saying that the vowel is unrounded. With [ə] you're not (it could be [ɘ̞] or [ɵ̞]), and moreover only [ə] has the connotation of being a reduced vowel. For example, the Handbook says of French [ə] that it has "some rounding". kwami 08:39, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

*I think he meant to write [ə]. FilipeS 21:21, 22 November 2006 (UTC)