Close-mid central unrounded vowel

Close-mid central unrounded vowel
ɘ
ë
IPA number	397
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɘ
Unicode (hex)	U+0258
X-SAMPA	@\
Kirshenbaum	@<umd>
Braille
Image
Sound
source · help

The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-mid central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɘ⟩. This is a reversed letter e, and should not be confused with the schwa ⟨ə⟩, which is a turned e. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ë⟩ (Latin small letter e with umlaut, not Cyrillic small letter yo). This letter may be used with a lowering diacritic ⟨ɘ̞⟩, to denote the mid central unrounded vowel.

The IPA prefers 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".

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ ɐ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
This table contains phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel.

• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	Standard[1][2]	bit	[bɘ̟t]	'bit'	Somewhat fronted,[1] more so in Belgium.[2] The height also varies, it's been variously described as lowered close-mid[2] and raised close-mid.[1][3] It's typically transcribed as /ɪ/, the way it's pronounced in some dialects.[4] See Dutch phonology
English	Australian[5][6]	bird	[bɘːd]	'bird'	Typically transcribed as /ɜː/. Many speakers pronounce this vowel rounded ([ɵː]). See Australian English phonology
	Cardiff[7]	foot	[fɘ̠t]	'foot'	Retracted; corresponds to /ʊ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
	New Zealand[8]	bit	[bɘt]	'bit'	Corresponds to /ɪ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
	Southern American[9]	nut	[nɘt]	'nut'	Some dialects.[9] Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects. See English phonology
	General American	cuz	[kɘz]	'because'
Irish	Munster[10]	sáile	[ˈsˠɰaːlʲɘ̟˔]	'salt water'	Slightly raised and slightly fronted;[10] allophone of /ə/ next to non-palatal slender consonants.[10] See Irish phonology
Kazakh		тіл	[tɘl]	'language'
Korean		어른	[ɘː.ɾɯn]	'senior'	See Korean phonology.
Mongolian[11]		үсрэ	[usɘɾɘ̆]	'jump'
Norman		acataer	[akatɘ]	'to buy'	May be /u/, /o/ or /e/ depending by the region. In Jèrriais it's spelled aï and pronounced [aɪ].
Paicî		??	[kɘ̄ɾɘ̄]	'spider'
Polish[12]		mysz	[mɘ̟ʂ]	'mouse'	Somewhat fronted. Typically transcribed as /ɨ/. See Polish phonology
Romanian	Moldavian dialects[13]	casă	[käsɘ]	'house'	Corresponds to [ə] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Russian[14]		солнце	[ˈs̪o̞n̪t̪͡s̪ɘ]	'sun'	This occurs only for some speakers after /t͡s/. See Russian phonology
Skolt Sami		vuõˊlǧǧem	[vʲuɘlɟ͡ʝːɛm]	'I left'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[15]	ne	[nɘ]	'and'

References

Bibliography

International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Radical Glot­tal ↓ Manner Bi­la­bi­al La­bi­o­den­tal Den­tal Al­ve­o­lar Post­al­ve­o­lar Ret­ro­flex Al­ve­o­lo­pal­a­tal Pal­a­tal Ve­lar U­vu­lar Phar­yn­ge­al Ep­i­glot­tal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̯ Trill ʙ r̥ r ɽ͡r̥ ɽ͡r ʀ̥ ʀ ᴙ * Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ꞎ * ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ ɺ̢ * ʎ̯ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ‼ ʞ ʘ̃ ʘ̃ˀ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qʼ Implosives ɓ̥ ɓ ɗ̥ ɗ ᶑ ʄ̊ ʄ ɠ ʛ Ejectives pʼ t̪ʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Affricates p̪f b̪v ts dz tθ dð tʃ dʒ tɕ dʑ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɬ dɮ cç ɟʝ cʎ̝̥ kx kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ qχ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ ɧ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible. — Symbols marked with an asterisk (*) are not defined in the IPA. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ ɐ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view