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The close back unrounded vowel, or high back 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 ⟨ɯ⟩. Typographically, it is a turned letter ⟨m⟩; given its relation to the sound represented by the letter ⟨u⟩, it can be considered a ligature of 2 ⟨u⟩'s.
| Close back unrounded vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɯ | |||
| IPA number | 316 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| source · help | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɯ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+026F | ||
| X-SAMPA | M | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
| IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of the voiced velar approximant [ɰ].
Features
- Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acehnese | eu | [ɯ] | 'see' | Also described as closer to [ɨ]. | |
| Arara | îput | [ɯput̚] | 'my skin' | Frequent realisation of /ɨ/. | |
| Arbëreshë | Arbëreshë | [ɑɾbɯɾeʃ] | 'Arbëreshë' | /ə/ in standard Albanian. | |
| Azerbaijani | bahalı | [bɑhɑˈɫɯ] | 'expensive' | Closer to an [ɘ] | |
| Bashkir | ҡыҙ / qıđ | [qɯð] | 'girl' | ||
| Chinese | Mandarin | 刺 / cì | [t͡sʰɯ˥˩] | 'thorn' | |
| Some Wu dialects | 父 / vu | [vɯ] | 'father' | ||
| Xiang | 火 / xu | [xɯ] | 'fire' | ||
| Chuvash | ыхра/ıxra | [ɯɣra] | 'garlic' | ||
| Crimean Tatar | джаным/canım | [dʒanɯm] | 'my dear' | ||
| English | African-American | hook | [hɯ̞k] | 'hook' | Near-close; possible realization of /ʊ/. |
| Tidewater | Near-close; may be rounded [ʊ] instead. | ||||
| Some California speakers | goose | [ɡɯˑs] | 'goose' | Corresponds to [uː] in other dialects. | |
| New Zealand | treacle | [ˈtɹ̝̊iːkɯ] | '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. Corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. Develops from dark L; See New Zealand English phonology | |
| Some Philadelphia speakers | plus | [pɫ̥ɯs] | 'plus' | Used by some speakers; the exact height and backness is variable. It corresponds to [ʌ] in other accents. See English phonology | |
| South African | pill | [pʰɯ̞ɫ] | 'pill' | Near-close; possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/. See South African English phonology | |
| Estonian | 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. See Estonian phonology | |
| Irish | Ulster | caol | [kʰɯːl̪ˠ] | 'narrow' | See Irish phonology |
| Japanese | 空気 / kūki | 'air' | May be compressed [ɯᵝ]. See Japanese phonology | ||
| Katukina | [babɯˈdʒɯ] | 'oscar (fish)' | |||
| Kazakh | қыс/qys/قىس | [qɯs] | 'winter' | May be pronounced as [qəs] | |
| Korean | 음식 飮食 / eumsik | [ɯːmɕ͈ik̚] | 'food' | See Korean phonology | |
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | tirş | [tˤɯɾʃ] | 'sour' | See Kurdish phonology. The "i" after "t" always uses this sound if the "t" is "tˤ". However, it can also appear at other places. |
| Sorani (Central) | ترش / tirş | ||||
| Kyrgyz | кыз / qyz / قىز | [qɯz] | 'girl' | See Kyrgyz phonology | |
| Panará | [tɯˈsəʰ] | 'to breathe' | |||
| Portuguese | European | pegar | 'to grab' | Reduced vowel. Near-close. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɨ⟩. See Portuguese phonology | |
| Romanian | Some speakers | când | [kɯnd] | 'when' | Typically described as /ɨ/. See Romanian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | caol | [kʰɯːl̪ˠ] | 'thin' | See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Sop | düm | [dɯm] | 'tree' | See Sop language | |
| Tamil | அழகு / aḻagu | [əɻəɣɯ] | 'beauty' | Known by the Tamil grammar phenomenon குற்றியலுகரம் | |
| Thai | Standard | ขึ้น / khuen/khîn | [kʰɯn˥˩] | 'to go up' | |
| Turkish | sığ | [sɯː] | 'shallow' | Described variously as close back [ɯ], near-close near-back [ɯ̞] and close central [ɨ]. See Turkish phonology | |
| Turkmen | ýaşyl/یاشیٛل | [jɑːˈʃɯl] | 'green' | ||
| Uyghur | تىلىم/tılım / tilim | [tɯlɯm] | 'my language' | In complementary distribution with /ɪ/. See Uyghur phonology | |
| Vietnamese | tư | [tɯ] | 'fourth' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
See also
- Index of phonetics articles
- Ɯ
Notes
- While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
- Durie, Mark (1990). "Proto-Chamic and Acehnese Mid Vowels: Towards Proto-Aceh-Chamic" (PDF). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. LII, Part 1: 100–111. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00021297. S2CID 162224060. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2010.
- Asyik, Abdul Gani. "The Agreement System in Acehnese" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. XI: 1–33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- Al-Harbi, Awwad Ahmad Al-Ahmadi (January 2003). "Acehnese Coda Condition: An Optimality-Theoretic Account" (PDF). Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational and Social Sciences and Humanities. 15 (1): 9–28.
- Alves (2013), p. 269.
- Ghaffarvand-Mokari & Werner 2016, p. 514.
- Wells (1982), p. 557.
- Wells (1982), p. 536.
- Ladefoged (1999), pp. 42–43.
- Warren, Paul. NZE Phonology (PDF) (Report). Victoria University of Wellington. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2024.
- Bauer & Warren (2004), p. 585.
- Gordon (2004), p. 290.
- Bowerman (2004), p. 936.
- Asu & Teras (2009), p. 369.
- Labrune (2012), p. 25.
- Okada (1999), p. 118.
- dos Anjos (2012), p. 129.
- Lee (1999), p. 122.
- Vasconcelos (2013), p. 182.
- Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
- Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993), p. 24.
- Göksel & Kerslake (2005:10)
- Kiliç & Öğüt (2004)
- Zimmer & Orgun (1999:155)
References
- Alves, Ana Carolina Ferreira (2013). "Aspectos do sistema fonológico de Arara (Karib)" (PDF). Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas. 8 (2): 265–277. doi:10.1590/S1981-81222013000200003.
- Asu, Eva Liina; Teras, Pire (2009). "Estonian". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 39 (3): 367–372. doi:10.1017/s002510030999017x.
- Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul (2004), "New Zealand English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 580–602, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- Bowerman, Sean (2004), "White South African English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 931–942, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
- dos Anjos, Zoraide (2012). "Fonologia Katukina-Kanamari". LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas. 12 (1): 123–156. doi:10.20396/liames.v0i12.1486.
- Ghaffarvand-Mokari, Payam; Werner, Stefan (2016), "An acoustic description of spectral and temporal characteristics of Azerbaijani vowels", Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 52 (3), doi:10.1515/psicl-2016-0019, S2CID 151826061
- Göksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005), Turkish: a comprehensive grammar, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114943
- Gordon, Matthew J. (2004), "New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 282–299, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- International Phonetic Association (1999), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
- Kiliç, Mehmet Akif; Öğüt, Fatih (June 2004). "A high unrounded vowel in Turkish: is it a central or back vowel?". Speech Communication. 43 (1–2): 143–154. doi:10.1016/j.specom.2004.03.001.
- Labrune, Laurence (2012), The Phonology of Japanese, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954583-4
- Ladefoged, Peter (1999), "American English", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 41–44
- Lee, Hyun Bok (1999), "Korean", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 120–123, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
- Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993). "Thai". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 23 (1): 24–26. doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746. S2CID 242001518.
- Vasconcelos, Eduardo A. (2013). Investigando a hipótese Cayapó do Sul-Panará (PhD). Campinas: University of Campinas. doi:10.47749/T/UNICAMP.2013.929939. hdl:20.500.12733/1622968.
- Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611766. ISBN 0-52128541-0.
- Zimmer, Karl; Orgun, Orhan (1999), "Turkish" (PDF), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 154–158, ISBN 0-521-65236-7, archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2018, retrieved 20 November 2015
External links
- List of languages with [ɯ] on PHOIBLE
This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Close back unrounded vowel news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2015 Learn how and when to remove this message The close back unrounded vowel or high back 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 ɯ Typographically it is a turned letter m given its relation to the sound represented by the letter u it can be considered a ligature of 2 u s Close back unrounded vowelɯIPA number316Audio sample source source source helpEncodingEntity decimal amp 623 Unicode hex U 026FX SAMPAMBrailleImageIPA VowelsFront Central BackClose i y ɨ ʉ ɯ uNear close ɪ ʏ ʊClose mid e o ɘ ɵ ɤ oMid e o e ɤ o Open mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔNear open ae ɐOpen a ɶ a ɑ ɒIPA help audio full chart template Legend unrounded rounded The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of the voiced velar approximant ɰ Spectrogram of ɯ FeaturesIts vowel height is close also known as high which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant Its vowel backness is back which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized which means that often they are in fact near back It is unrounded which means that the lips are not rounded OccurrenceLanguage Word IPA Meaning NotesAcehnese eu ɯ see Also described as closer to ɨ Arara iput ɯput my skin Frequent realisation of ɨ Arbereshe Arbereshe ɑɾbɯɾeʃ Arbereshe e in standard Albanian Azerbaijani bahali bɑhɑˈɫɯ expensive Closer to an ɘ Bashkir ҡyҙ qiđ qɯd girl Chinese Mandarin 刺 ci t sʰɯ thorn Some Wu dialects 父 vu vɯ father Xiang 火 xu xɯ fire Chuvash yhra ixra ɯɣra garlic Crimean Tatar dzhanym canim dʒanɯm my dear English African American hook hɯ k hook Near close possible realization of ʊ Tidewater Near close may be rounded ʊ instead Some California speakers goose ɡɯˑs goose Corresponds to uː in other dialects New Zealand treacle ˈtɹ iːkɯ 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 Corresponds to el in other accents Develops from dark L See New Zealand English phonologySome Philadelphia speakers plus pɫ ɯs plus Used by some speakers the exact height and backness is variable It corresponds to ʌ in other accents See English phonologySouth African pill pʰɯ ɫ pill Near close possible allophone of ɪ before the velarised allophone of l See South African English phonologyEstonian korv kɯrv ear Typically transcribed in IPA with ɤ can be close mid central ɘ or close mid back ɤ instead depending on the speaker See Estonian phonologyIrish Ulster caol kʰɯːl ˠ narrow See Irish phonologyJapanese 空気 kuki air May be compressed ɯᵝ See Japanese phonologyKatukina babɯˈdʒɯ oscar fish Kazakh kys qys قىس qɯs winter May be pronounced as qes Korean 음식 飮食 eumsik ɯːmɕ ik food See Korean phonologyKurdish Kurmanji Northern tirs tˤɯɾʃ sour See Kurdish phonology The i after t always uses this sound if the t is tˤ However it can also appear at other places Sorani Central ترش tirsKyrgyz kyz qyz قىز qɯz girl See Kyrgyz phonologyPanara tɯˈseʰ to breathe Portuguese European pegar to grab Reduced vowel Near close Typically transcribed in IPA with ɨ See Portuguese phonologyRomanian Some speakers cand kɯnd when Typically described as ɨ See Romanian phonologyScottish Gaelic caol kʰɯːl ˠ thin See Scottish Gaelic phonologySop dum dɯm tree See Sop languageTamil அழக aḻagu eɻeɣɯ beauty Known by the Tamil grammar phenomenon க ற ற யல கரம Thai Standard khun khuen khin kʰɯn to go up Turkish sig sɯː shallow Described variously as close back ɯ near close near back ɯ and close central ɨ See Turkish phonologyTurkmen yasyl یاشی ل jɑːˈʃɯl green Uyghur تىلىم tilim tilim tɯlɯm my language In complementary distribution with ɪ See Uyghur phonologyVietnamese tư tɯ fourth See Vietnamese phonologySee alsoIndex of phonetics articles ƜNotesWhile the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms close and open for vowel height many linguists use high and low Durie Mark 1990 Proto Chamic and Acehnese Mid Vowels Towards Proto Aceh Chamic PDF Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London LII Part 1 100 111 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00021297 S2CID 162224060 Archived from the original PDF on 14 July 2010 Asyik Abdul Gani The Agreement System in Acehnese PDF Mon Khmer Studies XI 1 33 Archived from the original PDF on 30 July 2009 Retrieved 21 May 2012 Al Harbi Awwad Ahmad Al Ahmadi January 2003 Acehnese Coda Condition An Optimality Theoretic Account PDF Umm Al Qura University Journal of Educational and Social Sciences and Humanities 15 1 9 28 Alves 2013 p 269 Ghaffarvand Mokari amp Werner 2016 p 514 Wells 1982 p 557 Wells 1982 p 536 Ladefoged 1999 pp 42 43 Warren Paul NZE Phonology PDF Report Victoria University of Wellington p 3 Archived from the original PDF on 24 January 2024 Bauer amp Warren 2004 p 585 Gordon 2004 p 290 Bowerman 2004 p 936 Asu amp Teras 2009 p 369 Labrune 2012 p 25 Okada 1999 p 118 dos Anjos 2012 p 129 Lee 1999 p 122 Vasconcelos 2013 p 182 Cruz Ferreira 1995 p 91 Tingsabadh amp Abramson 1993 p 24 Goksel amp Kerslake 2005 10 Kilic amp Ogut 2004 Zimmer amp Orgun 1999 155 ReferencesAlves Ana Carolina Ferreira 2013 Aspectos do sistema fonologico de Arara Karib PDF Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi Ciencias Humanas 8 2 265 277 doi 10 1590 S1981 81222013000200003 Asu Eva Liina Teras Pire 2009 Estonian Journal of the International Phonetic Association 39 3 367 372 doi 10 1017 s002510030999017x Bauer Laurie Warren Paul 2004 New Zealand English phonology in Schneider Edgar W Burridge Kate Kortmann Bernd Mesthrie Rajend Upton Clive eds A handbook of varieties of English vol 1 Phonology Mouton de Gruyter pp 580 602 ISBN 3 11 017532 0 Bowerman Sean 2004 White South African English phonology in Schneider Edgar W Burridge Kate Kortmann Bernd Mesthrie Rajend Upton Clive eds A handbook of varieties of English vol 1 Phonology Mouton de Gruyter pp 931 942 ISBN 3 11 017532 0 Cruz Ferreira Madalena 1995 European Portuguese Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 2 90 94 doi 10 1017 S0025100300005223 S2CID 249414876 dos Anjos Zoraide 2012 Fonologia Katukina Kanamari LIAMES Linguas Indigenas Americanas 12 1 123 156 doi 10 20396 liames v0i12 1486 Ghaffarvand Mokari Payam Werner Stefan 2016 An acoustic description of spectral and temporal characteristics of Azerbaijani vowels Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 52 3 doi 10 1515 psicl 2016 0019 S2CID 151826061 Goksel Asli Kerslake Celia 2005 Turkish a comprehensive grammar Routledge ISBN 978 0415114943 Gordon Matthew J 2004 New York Philadelphia and other northern cities phonology in Schneider Edgar W Burridge Kate Kortmann Bernd Mesthrie Rajend Upton Clive eds A handbook of varieties of English vol 1 Phonology Mouton de Gruyter pp 282 299 ISBN 3 11 017532 0 International Phonetic Association 1999 Handbook of the International Phonetic Association A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 65236 7 Kilic Mehmet Akif Ogut Fatih June 2004 A high unrounded vowel in Turkish is it a central or back vowel Speech Communication 43 1 2 143 154 doi 10 1016 j specom 2004 03 001 Labrune Laurence 2012 The Phonology of Japanese Oxford England Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 954583 4 Ladefoged Peter 1999 American English Handbook of the International Phonetic Association Cambridge University Press pp 41 44 Lee Hyun Bok 1999 Korean Handbook of the International Phonetic Association A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet Cambridge University Press pp 120 123 ISBN 0 521 63751 1 Okada Hideo 1999 Japanese in International Phonetic Association ed Handbook of the International Phonetic Association A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet Cambridge University Press pp 117 119 ISBN 978 0 52163751 0 Tingsabadh M R Kalaya Abramson Arthur S 1993 Thai Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 1 24 26 doi 10 1017 S0025100300004746 S2CID 242001518 Vasconcelos Eduardo A 2013 Investigando a hipotese Cayapo do Sul Panara PhD Campinas University of Campinas doi 10 47749 T UNICAMP 2013 929939 hdl 20 500 12733 1622968 Wells John C 1982 Accents of English Vol 3 Beyond the British Isles pp i xx 467 674 Cambridge University Press doi 10 1017 CBO9780511611766 ISBN 0 52128541 0 Zimmer Karl Orgun Orhan 1999 Turkish PDF Handbook of the International Phonetic Association A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 154 158 ISBN 0 521 65236 7 archived from the original PDF on 25 July 2018 retrieved 20 November 2015External linksList of languages with ɯ on PHOIBLE
