Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark vowels because they are perceived as sounding darker than the front vowels.[1] The back vowels which have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
- close back unrounded vowel [ɯ]
- close back rounded vowel [u]
- close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ]
- close-mid back rounded vowel [o]
- open-mid back unrounded vowel [ʌ]
- open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ]
- open back unrounded vowel [ɑ]
- open back rounded vowel [ɒ]
There also are back vowels which don't have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
- near-close back unrounded vowel [ɯ̞] or [ɤ̝]
- near-close back rounded vowel [u̞] or [o̝] (normally written [ʊ], i.e. as if it were near-back)
- mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ̞] or [ʌ̝] (normally written [ɤ], i.e. as if it were close-mid)
- mid back rounded vowel [o̞] or [ɔ̝] (normally written [o], i.e. as if it were close-mid)
- near-open back unrounded vowel [ɑ̝] or [ʌ̞] (normally written [ɑ], i.e. as if it were fully open)
- near-open back rounded vowel [ɒ̝] or [ɔ̞] (normally written [ɒ], i.e. as if it were fully open)
See also
- Front vowel
- List of phonetics topics
References
- ↑ Tsur, Reuven (February 1992). The Poetic Mode of Speech Perception. Duke University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8223-1170-6.
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