Close back unrounded vowel

Close back unrounded vowel
ɯ
IPA number 316
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ɯ
Unicode (hex) U+026F
X-SAMPA M
Kirshenbaum u-
Braille ⠲ (braille pattern dots-256)⠥ (braille pattern dots-136)
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The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. Acoustically it is a close back-central unrounded vowel.[2] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɯ. Typographically a turned letter m, given its relation to the sound represented by the letter u it can be considered a u with an extra "bowl". It is not to be confused with , a sequence of the symbols u and ɪ (which represent the close back rounded vowel and the near-close near-front unrounded vowel, respectively), nor with ω, which is an unofficial symbol for the near-close near-back unrounded vowel.

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close
i  y
ɨ  ʉ
ɯ  u
ɪ  ʏ
ɪ̈  ʊ̈
ɯ̽  ʊ
e  ø
ɘ  ɵ
ɤ  o
  ø̞
ə  ɵ̞
ɤ̞  
ɛ  œ
ɜ  ɞ
ʌ  ɔ
æ  
ɐ  ɞ̞
a  ɶ
ä  ɒ̈
ɑ  ɒ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded  rounded
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IPA help  IPA key  chart   chart with audio  view

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Acehnese[3] eu [ɯ] 'see' Also described as closer to [ɨ].[4][5]
Alekano hanuva [hɑnɯβɑ] 'nothing'
Bashkir ҡыҙ [qɯð] 'girl'
Chinese Hokkien Amoy dialects [tɯ] 'pig'
Some Wu dialects [vɯ] 'father'
Xiang [xɯ] 'fire'
Crimean Tatar canım [dʒanɯm] 'please'
English California[6] goose [ɡɯ̟ˑs] 'goose' Near-back;[6] corresponds to [] in other dialects.
New Zealand[7][8] treacle [ˈtɹ̝̊e̝kɯ] 'treacle' Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[7][8] Corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology
South African[9] pill [pʰɯ̟ɫ] 'pill' Near-back; possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/.[9] Also described as close-mid [ɤ̟].[10] See South African English phonology
Estonian[11] kõrv [kɯrv] 'ear' Typically transcribed in IPA with ɤ; can be close-mid central [ɘ] or close-mid back [ɤ] instead, depending on the speaker.[11] See Estonian phonology
Garifuna gürûgua [ɡɯˈɹɯɡwə] 'bite'
IrishUlster caol [kʰɯːl̪ˠ] 'narrow' See Irish phonology
Kensiu[12] [häjɯ̟p] 'to know' Near-back.[12]
Korean[13] 음식/飮食 eumsik [ɯːmɕik̚] 'food' See Korean phonology
Kyrgyz кыз [qɯz] 'girl' See Kyrgyz phonology
Ongota [kuˈbuːɯ] 'dry'
Scottish Gaelic caol [kʰɯːl̪ˠ] 'thin' See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Shipibo[14] [ˈkɯ̟ni̞] 'whisker' Near-back.[14]
Sundanese meunang [mɯnaŋ] 'get'
Thai[15] ขึ้น[16] [kʰɯ̟n˥˩] 'to go up' Near-back.[17]
Turkish[18][19] sığ  [sɯ̟ː] 'shallow' Near-back.[18] See Turkish phonology
Turkmen ýaşyl [jäːˈʃɯl] 'green'
Tuvan Кызыл [kɯˈzɯl] 'Kyzyl'
Uyghur تىلىم [tɯlɯm] 'my language' In complementary distribution with /ɪ/. See Uyghur phonology
Vietnamese tư [tɯ] 'fourth' See Vietnamese phonology
Xumi Upper[20] [Hkɯ] 'to bake' Allophone of /ʉ/ after velar consonants.[20]
Yakut тыл [tɯl] 'tongue'

The symbol ɯ is sometimes used for Japanese /u/, but that sound is rounded, albeit with labial compression rather than protrusion. It is more accurately described as an exolabial close back vowel.

See also

References

Bibliography

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