- Mid-central vowel
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Mid-central vowel ə Image 
IPA number 322 Encoding Entity (decimal) əUnicode (hex) U+0259 X-SAMPA @Kirshenbaum @Sound
IPA vowel chart Front Near-front Central Near-back Back Close Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded This table contains phonetic symbols. They may not display correctly in some browsers (Help).
IPA help • IPA key • chart •
chart with audio • viewThe mid-central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ə, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨e⟩. The same symbol may be used for the rounded and the unrounded mid-central vowel.
Contents
Mid-central unrounded vowel
The mid-central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. However, this symbol does not specifically represent an unrounded vowel, and is frequently used for almost any unstressed obscure vowel. If precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞].
Features
- Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a a close-mid vowel and an open-mid vowel.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Albanian është [ˈəʃtə] 'is' Armenian ընկեր [əŋˈkɛɹ] 'friend' Catalan amb [əm(b)] 'with' See Catalan phonology. Dutch beter [ˈbeːtər] 'better' See Dutch phonology English RP[1] fur [fɜ̝ː] 'fur' See English phonology German[2] bitte [ˈbɪtə] 'please' See German phonology. Kashubian jãzëk [jãzək] 'language' Palauan tilobęd [tilobəd] 'came' Portuguese European[3] pagar [pɜ̝ˈɡaɾ] 'to pay' May be closer to the near-open vowel [ɐ] in Brazilian Portuguese.[4] See Portuguese phonology Romanian măr [mər] 'apple' See Romanian phonology. Russian конденсатор [kəndən'satər] 'capacitor' See Russian phonology Welsh Cymru [ˈkəmrɨ] (help·info)'Wales' See Welsh phonology. West Frisian gewoan [gəʋoǝn] 'normal' Mid-central rounded vowel
Languages may have a mid-central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞].
Features
- Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.
Occurrence
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Dutch kopen [ˈkopə] 'to buy' See Dutch phonology French[5] je [ʒɵ̞] 'I' This may be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology Russian[6][7] тётя [ˈtʲɵ̞tʲə] 'aunt' Allophone of /o/ in the environment of palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology Swedish energi [ˌɛnːərˈɧiː] 'energy' Unstressed allophone of /ɛ/, see Swedish phonology West Frisian skowe [skoːͧwə] 'to shove' See also
References
- ^ Roach (2004:242)
- ^ http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
- ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
- ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004:229)
- ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
- ^ Jones & Ward (1969:62–63)
- ^ Crosswhite (2000:167)
Bibliography
- Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 227–232
- Crosswhite, Katherine Margaret (2000), "Vowel Reduction in Russian: A Unified Account of Standard, Dialectal, and 'Dissimilative' Patterns", University of Rochester Working Papers in the Language Sciences 1 (1): 107–172, http://people.ucsc.edu/~padgett/locker/vreductpaper.pdf
- Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94
- Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76
- Jones, Daniel; Dennis, Ward (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
- Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 239–245
International Phonetic Alphabet IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association · History of the IPA · Kiel convention (1989) · Journal of the IPA (JIPA) · Naming conventionsPhonetics Special topics Encodings Consonants IPA pulmonic consonants chartchart image • audioPlace → Labial Coronal Dorsal Radical Glottal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Plosive p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Fricative ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Trill ʙ r ɽ͡r ʀ я * Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̯ Lateral Fric. ɬ ɮ ɭ˔̊ ʎ̥˔ ʟ̝̊ Lateral Appr. l ɭ ʎ ʟ Lateral flap ɺ ɺ̠ ʎ̯ Non-pulmonic consonants Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ᶑ ɠ ʛ Ejectives pʼ tʼ cʼ ʈʼ kʼ qʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ Affricates p̪f ts dz tʃ dʒ tɕ dʑ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɬ dɮ cç ɟʝ Co-articulated consonants Fricatives ɕ ʑ ɧ Approximants ʍ w ɥ ɫ Stops 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. * Symbol not defined in IPA. Chart image Vowels Vowels: IPA help • chart • chart with audio • viewCategories:- Vowels
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