Near-open central vowel

Near-open central vowel
ɐ
IPA Number324
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɐ
Unicode (hex)U+0250
X-SAMPA6
Braille⠲ (braille pattern dots-256)⠁ (braille pattern dots-1)

The near-open central vowel, or near-low 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 ɐ, a rotated lowercase double-story a.

In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol ʌ, i.e. as if it were open-mid back. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but many speakers use a central vowel like [ɐ] or [ɜ]. To avoid the trap-strut merger, Standard Southern British English is moving away from the [ɐ] quality towards [ʌ] found in RP spoken in the first half of the 20th century (e.g. in Daniel Jones's speech).

Much like ə, ɐ is a versatile symbol that is not defined for roundedness and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central, near-open near-front, near-open near-back, open-mid central, open central or an (often unstressed) vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area. For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with ɐ, see open central unrounded vowel.

When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different from ɐ, they are listed in near-open front unrounded vowel and open back unrounded vowel or open back rounded vowel, respectively.

The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a language and then is typically transcribed with a.

Features

  • Its vowel height is near-open, also known as near-low, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but is slightly more constricted – that is, the tongue is positioned similarly to a low vowel, but slightly higher.
  • Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
  • It is undefined for roundedness, which means that it can be either rounded or unrounded. In practice however, the unrounded variant is more common.

Occurrence

In the following list, ɐ is assumed to be unrounded. The rounded variant is transcribed as ɐ̹. Some instances of the latter may actually be fully open.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe сэ / să [sɐ] 'I' Varies between near-open and open-mid ɜ. See Adyghe phonology
Bengali পা / pa [pɐ] 'leg' Typically transcribed in IPA with a. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian пара/para [pɐˈra] 'coin' Unstressed allophone of /ɤ/ and /a/. May be transcribed in IPA with ə. See Bulgarian phonology
Burmese တ်/maat [mɐʔ] 'vertical' Allophone of /a/ in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized; realized as fully open [ä] in open oral syllables.
Catalan Barcelona metropolitan area emmagatzemar [ɐm(ː)ɐɣ̞ɐd͡z̺ɐˈmä] 'to store' Corresponds to [ə] in other Eastern dialects. See Catalan phonology
Chinese Cantonese / sam1 [sɐ̝m˥] 'heart' Open-mid. See Cantonese phonology
Shanghainese [kɐʔ˦] 'to cut' Appears only in closed syllables; the exact height and backness is somewhat variable.
Danish fatter [ˈfætɐ] 'understands' Typically realized the same as /ɔ/, i.e. [ɒ̽]. Other possible realizations are [ɐ] and [ə̠]. See Danish phonology
Dinka Luanyjang laŋ [lɐ́ŋ] 'berry' Short allophone of /a/; varies between near-open [ɐ] and open-mid [ɐ̝].
Emilian Bulåggna [buˈlʌɲːɐ] 'Bologna' Centralized /a/.
English California nut [nɐt] 'nut' See English phonology
Cockney [nɐ̟ʔ] Near-front.
East Anglian [nɐʔ] Used in some places (e.g. Colchester) instead of the traditional [ʌ].
New Zealand [nɐʔt] Varies between near-open near-front [ɐ̟], near-open central [ɐ], open near-front [] and open central [ɐ̞]. See New Zealand English phonology
Received Pronunciation Increasingly retracted to [ʌ] to avoid the trap-strut merger. See English phonology
Inland Northern American bet [bɐt] 'bet' Variation of /ɛ/ used in some places whose accents have undergone the Northern cities vowel shift.
Middle Class London lot [lɐ̹ʔt] 'lot' Rounded; can be back [ɒ] instead. See English phonology
Galician feita [ˈfejt̪ɐ] 'done' Realization of final unstressed /a/. See Galician phonology
German Standard oder [ˈoːdɐ] 'or' The exact height, backness and roundedness is somewhere between [ä] and [ɔ], depending on the environment. Sometimes, an opening diphthong of the [əɐ̯]-type is used instead. See Standard German phonology
Northern German accents kommen [ˈkʰɐmən] 'to come' Varies between central [ɐ] and back [ɑ]; corresponds to an open-mid rounded [ɔ] in Standard German. See Standard German phonology
Greek Modern Standard ακακία / akaa [ɐkɐˈc̠i.ɐ] 'acacia' Most often transcribed in IPA with a. See Modern Greek phonology
Hausa [example needed] Possible allophone of /a/, which can be as close as [ə] and as open as [ä].
Hindustani दस/دَس/das [ˈd̪ɐs] 'ten' Common realization of /ə/. See Hindustani phonology
Korean 하나 / hana [hɐnɐ] 'one' Typically transcribed in IPA with a. See Korean phonology
Kumzari [orthographic form?] [ɡɐ̟p] 'large' Near-front.
Limburgish Maastrichtian väöl [vɐ̹ːl] 'much' Rounded; contrasts with the open-mid [ɞː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless). It may be transcribed in IPA with ɶː, as it is a phonological front vowel.
Venlo dialect aan [ˈɐːn] 'on' Corresponds to [] in other dialects.
Lithuanian kas [kɐs̪] 'what' See Lithuanian phonology
Luxembourgish Kanner [ˈkʰɑnɐ̠] 'children' Near-back. See Luxembourgish phonology
Malayalam പത്ത് [pɐt̪ːɨ̆] 'ten' See Malayalam phonology
Mapudungun ka [ˈkɐ̝ʐɘ̝] 'green' Open-mid; often transcribed in IPA with a.
Norwegian Østfold dialect bada [ˈbɐ̹̂ːdɐ] 'to bathe' The example word illustrates both the rounded [ɐ̹] and the unrounded [ɐ].
Piedmontese Eastern Piedmont pauta [ˈpɑwtɐ] 'mud' Common realization of final unstressed /a/.
Portuguese aja [ˈäʒɐ] 'act' (subj.) Closer [ɐ̝] in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese ([ɐ]). See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi ਖੰਡ / کھنڈ [ˈkʰɐ̌ɳɖᵊ] 'sugar' Common realization of /ə/, the inherent vowel of Punjabi. See Punjabi phonology
ਪਊਆ / پوّا [pɐwːä] 'metric half pint' Can occur as realization of tense /i/ or /u/ in some contexts followed by a geminate semi-vowel.
Romanian Moldavian dialects bărbat [bɐrˈbat] 'man' Corresponds to [ə] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Russian Standard Moscow голова / golova [ɡəɫ̪ɐˈvä] 'head' Corresponds to [ʌ] in standard Saint Petersburg pronunciation; occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. See Russian phonology
Sabiny [example needed] Contrasts overshort unrounded and overshort rounded near-open central vowels.
Ukrainian слива / slyva [ˈslɪwɐ] 'plum' See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese chếch [cɐ̆jk̚] 'askance' Typically transcribed in IPA with ə̆. See Vietnamese phonology
Xumi [tsʰɐ˦] 'salt' Near-open [ɐ] in Lower Xumi, open-mid [ɐ̝] in Upper Xumi. The latter phone may be transcribed with ɜ. The example word is from Lower Xumi.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-03-22 09:23 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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