Open central unrounded vowel

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Open central unrounded vowel
ä
ɑ̈
ɐ̞
IPA number304 415
Encoding
Entity (decimal)a​̈
Unicode (hex)U+0061 U+0308
X-SAMPAa_" or a_- or A_" or 6_o
Listen

The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front [a] and back [ɑ], it is normally written ⟨a⟩. If precision is required, it can be specified by using diacritics, such as centralized ⟨ä⟩ or retracted ⟨⟩.

Acoustically, however, the open front [a] is an extra-low central vowel.[2] It is more common to use plain ⟨a⟩ for an open central vowel and, if needed, ⟨æ⟩ (officially near-open front vowel) for an open front vowel. Alternatively, Sinologists may use the letter ⟨⟩ (small capital A). The IPA has voted against officially adopting this symbol in 1976, 1989, and 2012.[3][4][5]

The Hamont dialect of Limburgish has been reported to contrast long open front, central and back unrounded vowels.[6] This is extremely unusual.

Features[edit]

IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Paired vowels are: unrounded  rounded

  • 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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. This often subsumes open (low) front vowels, because the tongue does not have as much flexibility in positioning as it does for the close (high) vowels; the difference between an open front vowel and an open back vowel is equal to the difference between a close front and a close central vowel, or a close central and a close back vowel.
  • It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence[edit]

Most languages have some form of an unrounded open vowel. Because the IPA uses ⟨a⟩ for both front and central unrounded open vowels, it is not always clear whether a particular language uses the former or the latter.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Arabic Hejazi[7] نار‎ / nār [näːr] 'fire' can be pronounced as open front [a]. See Hejazi Arabic phonology
Bavarian Amstetten dialect[8] [example needed]
Burmese[9] မာ / ma [mä] 'hard' Oral allophone of /a/ in open syllables; realized as near-open [ɐ] in other environments.[9]
Catalan[10] sac [s̠äk] 'sack' See Catalan phonology
Chinese Mandarin[11] / tā About this sound[tʰä˥]  'he' See Standard Chinese phonology
Cantonese[12] / fāan About this sound[fäːn˥] 'return' Allophone of /aː/ in syllable closed by plosives and nasals.[13] See Cantonese phonology
Czech[14][15] prach [präx] 'dust' See Czech phonology
Danish Standard[16][17] barn [ˈb̥ɑ̈ːˀn] 'child' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑː⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch Standard[18][19] zaal [zäːɫ] 'hall' Ranges from front to central;[20] in non-standard accents it may be back. See Dutch phonology
Amsterdam[21] bad [bät] 'bath' Also present in many other non-Randstad accents.[21] It corresponds to [ɑ] in Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
Antwerp[21]
Brabant[21]
English Cultivated South African[22] car [kʰäː] 'car' Some speakers. For other speakers, it is less front [ɑ̟ː][22][23] or, in Estuary English, even more back [ɑː].[23] See South African English phonology
Estuary[23]
Norfolk[24]
General
South African[25]
time [tʰäːm] 'time' Corresponds to the diphthong /aɪ/ in most dialects. General South African speakers may also monophthongize /aʊ/. See English phonology and South African English phonology
Southern American[26]
General American[27] cot [kʰäʔt̚] 'cot' It may be more back [ɑ̟ ~ ɑ], especially for speakers with the cotcaught merger. See English phonology
Southern Michigan[28] See English phonology
Multicultural London[29] trap [t̠ɹ̝̊äʔp] 'trap' More front [ɛ ~ æ ~ a] for other Southeastern English speakers. See English phonology
Some speakers from Reading[23]
Northern England[30] [t̠ɹ̝̊äp] Notably prevalent in Yorkshire, mainly around the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. More front [æ ~ a] for some other speakers. See English phonology
Vancouver[31] [t̠ɹ̝̊äp̚] See Canadian Shift and English phonology
Younger speakers from Ontario[32]
Finnish[33] kana [ˈkänä] 'hen' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑ⟩; also described as near-open back [ɑ̝].[34] See Finnish phonology
French Parisian[35][36] patte [pät̪] 'paw' Older speakers have two contrastive open vowels: front /a/ and back /ɑ/.[36] See French phonology
Galician[37] macio [ˈmäθjo̞] 'soft' See Galician phonology
German Standard[38][39] Katze [ˈkʰät͡sə] 'cat' Backness varies among regional accents.[40] See Standard German phonology
Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region[41] oder [ˈoːdä] 'or' Used instead of [ɐ].[42] See Standard German phonology
Many speakers[43] Haar [häː] 'hair' Used much more often than the closing diphthong [äːɐ̯][43] (hear the word: About this sound[häːɐ̯]). The exact backness may vary somewhat; for instance, in the Standard Austrian accent, it is back [ɑː].[44] See Standard German phonology
Greek Modern Standard[45] ακακία / akaa [äkäˈc̠i.ä] 'acacia' Also described as near-open [ɐ].[46][47] See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew[48] פח About this sound[päχ]   'garbage can' Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian[49] láb [läːb] 'leg' See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic[50][51] fara' [ˈfäːrä] 'go' See Icelandic phonology
Italian[52] casa [ˈkäːzä] 'home' See Italian phonology
Japanese[53] ka About this sound[kä]   'mosquito' See Japanese phonology
Limburgish Hamont dialect[6] zaak [zäːk²] 'business' Contrasts with front [æ̞ː] and back [ɑː].[6]
Lower Sorbian[54] glažk [ɡläʂk] 'glass'
Norwegian Sognamål[55] dag [däːɡ] 'day' See Norwegian phonology
Polish[56] kat About this sound[kät̪]  'executioner' See Polish phonology
Portuguese[57] vá [vä] 'go' See Portuguese phonology
Romanian[58] cal [käl] 'horse' See Romanian phonology
Sema[59] ala [à̠là̠] 'path' Also described as near-open [ɐ].[60]
Serbo-Croatian[61] патка / patka [pâ̠t̪ka̠] 'female duck' See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Shiwiar[62] [example needed]
Slovak[63][64] a [ʔä] 'and' See Slovak phonology
Spanish[65] rata [ˈrät̪ä] 'rat' See Spanish phonology
Swedish Central Standard[66][67] bank [bäŋk] 'bank' The backness has been variously described as central [ä],[66][67] near-front [][68] and front [a].[69] See Swedish phonology
Turkish[70] at [ät̪] 'horse' Also described as back [ɑ].[71] See Turkish phonology
Upper Sorbian[54][72] ale [ˈälɛ] 'but' See Upper Sorbian phonology
West Frisian[73] laad [ɫäːt] 'drawer' See West Frisian phonology
Yoruba[74] [example needed]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ^ Geoff Lindsey (2013) The vowel space, Speech Talk
  3. ^ Wells (1976).
  4. ^ International Phonetic Association (1989), p. 74.
  5. ^ Keating (2012).
  6. ^ a b c Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
  7. ^ Abdoh (2010), p. 84.
  8. ^ Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
  9. ^ a b Watkins (2001), pp. 292–293.
  10. ^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 54.
  11. ^ Lee & Zee (2003), pp. 110–111.
  12. ^ Zee (1999), pp. 59–60.
  13. ^ Zee (1999), p. 60.
  14. ^ Dankovičová (1999), p. 72.
  15. ^ Šimáčková, Podlipský & Chládková (2012), p. 228.
  16. ^ Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
  17. ^ Basbøll (2005), p. 46.
  18. ^ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
  19. ^ Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
  20. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 104.
  21. ^ a b c d Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
  22. ^ a b Lass (2002), pp. 116–117.
  23. ^ a b c d Altendorf & Watt (2004), p. 188.
  24. ^ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
  25. ^ Lass (2002), p. 117.
  26. ^ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. ?.
  27. ^ Wells (1982), p. 476.
  28. ^ Hillenbrand (2003), p. 122.
  29. ^ Kerswill, Torgerson & Fox (2006), p. 30.
  30. ^ Boberg (2004), p. 361.
  31. ^ Esling & Warkentyne (1993), p. ?.
  32. ^ Boberg (2004), pp. 361–362.
  33. ^ Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
  34. ^ Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
  35. ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
  36. ^ a b Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
  37. ^ Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
  38. ^ Kohler (1999), p. 87.
  39. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 34.
  40. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
  41. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), pp. 34, 37, 40.
  42. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 40.
  43. ^ a b Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 52.
  44. ^ Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), p. 342.
  45. ^ Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
  46. ^ Arvaniti (2007), p. 25.
  47. ^ Lodge (2009), p. 89.
  48. ^ Laufer (1999), p. 98.
  49. ^ Szende (1994), p. 92.
  50. ^ Árnason (2011), p. 60.
  51. ^ Einarsson (1945:10), cited in Gussmann (2011:73)
  52. ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 119.
  53. ^ Okada (1991), p. 94.
  54. ^ a b Stone (2002), p. 600.
  55. ^ Haugen (2004), p. 30.
  56. ^ Jassem (2003), p. 105.
  57. ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
  58. ^ Sarlin (2014), p. 18.
  59. ^ Teo (2014), p. 28.
  60. ^ Teo (2012), p. 368.
  61. ^ Landau et al. (1999), p. 67.
  62. ^ Fast Mowitz (1975), p. 2.
  63. ^ Pavlík (2004), pp. 94–95.
  64. ^ Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 375.
  65. ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 256.
  66. ^ a b Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
  67. ^ a b Riad (2014), p. 35.
  68. ^ Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.
  69. ^ Bolander (2001), p. 55.
  70. ^ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
  71. ^ Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
  72. ^ Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 20.
  73. ^ de Haan (2010), p. 333.
  74. ^ Bamgboṣe (1969), p. 166.

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