Open back rounded vowel
Open back rounded vowel | |||
---|---|---|---|
ɒ | |||
ɔ̞ | |||
IPA number | 313 | ||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) |
ɒ | ||
Unicode (hex) | U+0252 | ||
X-SAMPA |
Q | ||
Kirshenbaum |
A. | ||
Braille | |||
| |||
Listen | |||
source · help |
The open back rounded vowel, or low back rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. Acoustically, it is a near-open or near-low back rounded vowel.[2] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɒ⟩. It is called "turned script a", being a rotated version of "script (cursive) a", which is the variant of a that lacks the extra stroke on top of a "printed a". Turned script a ⟨ɒ⟩ has its linear stroke on the left, whereas "script a" ⟨ɑ⟩ (for its unrounded counterpart) has its linear stroke on the right.
A well-rounded [ɒ] is rare, but it is found in some varieties of English. In most languages with this vowel, such as English and Persian, the rounding of [ɒ] is slight, and in English at least, it is sulcal or "grooved". However, according to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), Assamese has an "over-rounded" [ɒ̹], with rounding as strong as that for [u].[3]
According to the phonetician Geoff Lindsey, ⟨ɒ⟩ may be an entirely superfluous IPA symbol, as the sound it represents is far too similar to the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ], which makes it unlikely that any language would contrast these two vowels phonemically. He also writes that the contemporary Standard Southern British (SSB) accent lacks [ɒ], having replaced it with the more common [ɔ] (a realization that is also found in e.g. Australia,[4][5] New Zealand[6] and Scotland),[7][8] and advocates for transcribing this vowel with the symbol ⟨ɔ⟩ in SSB.[7]
This is not to be understood as /ɒ/ having the same quality as /ɔː/ (which Lindsey transcribes with ⟨oː⟩),[7] as the latter vowel is true-mid [ɔ̝ː] in SSB,[9] a pronunciation that was established decades ago.[10] Lindsey also says that more open variants of /ɒ/ used formerly in SSB are satisfyingly represented by the symbols [ɔ̞] and [ɑ] in narrow phonetic transcription, and ⟨ɔ⟩ in phonemic/broad phonetic transcription. According to him, the endless repetition of the symbol ⟨ɒ⟩ in publications on BrE has given this vowel a familiarity out of all proportion to its scarcity in the world’s languages.[7]
Features
IPA vowel chart | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
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 open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth – that is, as low as possible in the mouth.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
- It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.
Occurrence
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Afrikaans | Standard[11] | daar | [dɒːr] | 'there' | Fully back. Used by some speakers, particularly young female speakers of northern accents. Other speakers use an unrounded vowel [ɑː ~ ɑ̟ː].[11] See Afrikaans phonology |
Assamese[3] | পোট্ | [pɒ̹t] | 'to bury' | Also described as close-mid near-back [ʊ̞].[12] | |
Catalan | Majorcan[13][14] | soc | [ˈsɒk] | 'clog' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. See Catalan phonology |
Minorcan[13][14] | |||||
Valencian[13][14] | |||||
Some Valencian speakers[15] | taula | [ˈt̪ɑ̟wɫɒ̝] | 'table' | Can be realized as unrounded [ɑ]. | |
Danish | Standard[16][17] | ånd | [ɒ̜̽nˀ] | 'spirit' | Weakly rounded near-open near-back vowel.[16][17] Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩. The vowel transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩ has been described variously as near-open [ɒ̝][17] and open-mid [ɔ].[16] See Danish phonology |
Dutch | Leiden[18] | bad | [bɒ̝t] | 'bath' | Near-open fully back; may be unrounded [ɑ̝] instead.[18] It corresponds to [ɑ] in standard Dutch. |
Rotterdam[18] | |||||
Some dialects[19] | bot | [bɒt] | 'bone' | Some non-Randstad dialects,[19] for example those of Den Bosch and Groningen. It is open-mid [ɔ] in standard Dutch. | |
English | Received Pronunciation[20] | not | [nɒt] | 'not' | Somewhat raised. Younger RP speakers may pronounce a closer vowel [ɔ]. See English phonology |
Northern English[21] | May be somewhat raised and fronted.[21] | ||||
South African[22] | [nɒ̜̈t] | Near-back and weakly rounded.[22] Some younger speakers of the General variety may actually have a higher and fully unrounded vowel [ʌ̈].[22] See South African English phonology | |||
Inland Northern American[23] | thought | [θɒt] | 'thought' | See Northern cities vowel shift | |
Indian[24] | /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ differ entirely by length in Indian English. | ||||
Welsh[25][26] | Open-mid in Cardiff; may merge with /oː/ in northern dialects. | ||||
German | Standard[27] | voll | [fɒ̝l] | 'full' | Near-open;[27] also described as open-mid back [ɔ][28] and open-mid near-back [ɔ̟].[29] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. See Standard German phonology |
Many speakers[30] | Gourmand | [ɡʊʁˈmɒ̃ː] | 'gourmand' | Nasalized; common phonetic realization of /ɑ̃ː/.[30] Also described as central unrounded [ã̠ː].[31] See Standard German phonology | |
Many Swiss dialects[32] | mane | [ˈmɒːnə] | 'remind' | The example word is from the Zurich dialect, in which [ɒː] is in free variation with the unrounded [ɑː].[33] | |
Hungarian | Standard[34] | magyar | [ˈmɒ̜̽ɟɒ̜̽r] | 'Hungarian' | Somewhat fronted and raised, with only slight rounding; sometimes transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. Unrounded [ɑ] in some dialects.[35] See Hungarian phonology |
Ibibio[36] | dọ | [dɒ̝́] | 'marry' | Near-open;[36] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. | |
Irish | Ulster[37] | ólann | [ɒ̝ːɫ̪ən̪ˠ] | '(he) drinks' | Near-open;[37] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩. |
Lehali[38] | dön̄ | [ⁿdɒ̝ŋ] | 'yam' | Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory.[38] | |
Lemerig[39] | ‘ān̄sār | [ʔɒ̝ŋsɒ̝r] | 'person' | Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory.[39] | |
Limburgish | Maastrichtian[40] | plaots | [plɒ̝ːts] | 'place' | Near-open fully back; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩.[40] Corresponds to [ɔː] in other dialects. |
Norwegian | Urban East[41] | topp | [tʰɒ̝pː] | 'top' | Near-open,[41] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. Also described as open-mid near-back [ɔ̟][42] and open-mid back [ɔ].[43] See Norwegian phonology |
Dialects along the Swedish border[44] | hat | [hɒ̜ːt] | 'hate' | Weakly rounded and fully back.[44] See Norwegian phonology | |
Romanian | Istro-Romanian[45] | cap | [kɒp] | 'head' | Corresponds to [ä] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
Slovak | Some speakers[46] | a | [ɒ] | 'and' | Under Hungarian influence, some speakers realize the short /a/ as rounded.[46] See Slovak phonology |
Swedish | Central Standard[47][48] | jаg | [jɒ̝ːɡ] | 'I' | Near-open fully back weakly rounded vowel.[47] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑː⟩. See Swedish phonology |
Gothenburg[48] | [jɒːɡ] | More rounded than in Central Standard Swedish.[48] | |||
Vastese[49] | |||||
Yoruba[50] | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. |
See also
References
- ↑ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
- ↑ Geoff Lindsey (2013) The vowel space, Speech Talk
- 1 2 Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 293–294.
- ↑ Cox (2012), p. 159.
- ↑ Horvath (2004), p. 628.
- ↑ Hay, Maclagan & Gordon (2008:21). Note that some sources (e.g. Bauer et al. (2007:98)) describe it as more central [ɞ] than back.
- 1 2 3 4 Geoff Lindsey (2012) Morgen — a suitable case for treatment, Speech Talk
- ↑ Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006), p. 7.
- ↑ Gimson (2014), pp. 128–129.
- ↑ Wells (1982a:293). According to this source, open-mid [ɔː] was the standard pronunciation in the 1930s.
- 1 2 Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
- ↑ Mahanta (2012), p. 220.
- 1 2 3 Recasens (1996), pp. 81, 130–131.
- 1 2 3 Rafel (1999), p. 14.
- ↑ Saborit (2009), pp. 25–26.
- 1 2 3 Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
- 1 2 3 Basbøll (2005), p. 47.
- 1 2 3 Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
- 1 2 Collins & Mees (2003), p. 132.
- ↑ Roach (2004), p. 242.
- 1 2 Lodge (2009), p. 163.
- 1 2 3 Lass (2002), p. 115.
- ↑ W. Labov, S. Ash and C. Boberg (1997), A national map of the regional dialects of American English, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, retrieved May 27, 2013
- ↑ Sailaja (2009), pp. 24–25.
- ↑ Connolly (1990), p. 125.
- ↑ Tench (1990), p. 135.
- 1 2 Collins & Mees (2013:234)
- ↑ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:34)
- ↑ Lodge (2009:87)
- 1 2 Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
- ↑ Hall (2003), pp. 106–107.
- ↑ Krech et al. (2009), p. 263.
- ↑ Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 248.
- ↑ Szende (1994), p. 92.
- ↑ Vago (1980), p. 1.
- 1 2 Urua (2004), p. 106.
- 1 2 Ní Chasaide (1999), p. 114.
- 1 2 François (2011), p. 194.
- 1 2 François (2011), pp. 195, 208.
- 1 2 Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 158–159.
- 1 2 Vanvik (1979), p. 13.
- ↑ Strandskogen (1979), pp. 15, 19.
- ↑ Popperwell (2010), p. 26.
- 1 2 Popperwell (2010), p. 23.
- ↑ Pop (1938), p. 29.
- 1 2 Kráľ (1988), p. 54.
- 1 2 Engstrand (1999), pp. 140–141.
- 1 2 3 Riad (2014), pp. 35–36.
- ↑ "Vastesi Language - Vastesi in the World". Vastesi in the World. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
- ↑ Bamgboṣe (1969), p. 166.
Bibliography
- Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1966), A Grammar of Yoruba, [West African Languages Survey / Institute of African Studies], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
- Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 97–102, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (PDF) (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2013) [First published 2003], Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students (3rd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-50650-2
- Connolly, John H. (1990), "Port Talbot English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard, English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 121–129, ISBN 1-85359-032-0
- Cox, Felicity (2012), Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription, New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-14589-3
- Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4
- Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Fleischer, Jürg; Schmid, Stephan (2006), "Zurich German" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 243–253, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002441
- François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence", Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra
- Gimson, Alfred Charles (2014), Cruttenden, Alan, ed., Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
- Grønnum, Nina (1998), "Illustrations of the IPA: Danish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1 & 2): 99–105, doi:10.1017/s0025100300006290
- Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2): 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526
- Hall, Christopher (2003) [First published 1992], Modern German pronunciation: An introduction for speakers of English (2nd ed.), Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 0-7190-6689-1
- Hay, Jennifer; Maclagan, Margaret; Gordon, Elizabeth (2008), New Zealand English, Dialects of English, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-2529-1
- Horvath, Barbara M. (2004), "Australian English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive, A handbook of varieties of English, 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 625–644, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- Kráľ, Ábel (1988), Pravidlá slovenskej výslovnosti, Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo
- Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), "7.3.10 Norwegisch", Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
- Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend, Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
- Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
- Mahanta, Shakuntala (2012), "Assamese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42 (2): 217–224, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000096
- Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
- Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999), "Irish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 111–16, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Popperwell, Ronald G. (2010) [First published 1963], Pronunciation of Norwegian, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-15742-1
- Rafel, Joaquim (1999), Aplicació al català dels principis de transcripció de l'Associació Fonètica Internacional (PDF) (3rd ed.), Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ISBN 84-7283-446-8
- Recasens, Daniel (1996), Fonètica descriptiva del català: assaig de caracterització de la pronúncia del vocalisme i el consonantisme català al segle XX (2nd ed.), Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ISBN 978-84-7283-312-8
- Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
- Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
- Sailaja, Pingali (2009), Indian English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, pp. 17–38, ISBN 978 0 7486 2594 9
- Scobbie, James M.; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006), Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: an overview, Edinburgh: QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers
- Strandskogen, Åse-Berit (1979), Norsk fonetikk for utlendinger, Oslo: Gyldendal, ISBN 82-05-10107-8
- Szende, Tamás (1994), "Hungarian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 24 (2): 91–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005090
- Tench, Paul (1990), "The Pronunciation of English in Abercrave", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard, English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 130–141, ISBN 1-85359-032-0
- Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001550
- Vago, Robert M. (1980), The Sound Pattern of Hungarian, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press
- Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 82-990584-0-6
- Wells, John C. (1982a), Accents of English, 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Wissing, Daan (2016). "Afrikaans phonology – segment inventory". Taalportaal. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.