Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 19, 2026

Open back unrounded vowel

The open back unrounded vowel, or low 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 ⟨ɑ⟩. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script a or handwritten a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ⟨ɒ⟩, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

Last revised
Jul 19, 2026
Read time
≈ 14 min
Length
3,208 w
Citations
113
Source
Open back unrounded vowel
ɑ
IPA number305
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɑ
Unicode (hex)U+0251
X-SAMPAA
Braille⠡ (braille pattern dots-16)

The open back unrounded vowel, or low back unrounded vowel,1 is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɑ⟩. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script a or handwritten a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ⟨ɒ⟩, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

The open back unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the pharyngeal approximant [ʕ̞].23

Features

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Afrikaans Standard4 daar [dɑːr] 'there' The quality varies between open near-back unrounded [ɑ̟ː], open back unrounded [ɑː] and even open back rounded [ɒː].4 See Afrikaans phonology
Äiwoo kânongä [kɑnoŋæ] 'I want'
Arabic Standard5 طويل (awīl) [tˤɑˈwiːl] 'tall' Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology
Essaouira6 قال (qāl) [qɑːl] 'he said' One of the possible realisations of /ā/.6
Armenian Eastern5 հաց (hacʿ) [hɑt͡sʰ] 'bread'
Bashkir ҡаҙ (qađ) [qɑð] 'goose'
Catalan Many dialects7 pal [ˈpɑɫ] 'stick' Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.7 See Catalan phonology
Some dialects89 mà [ˈmɑ] 'hand' More central ([ä] or [ɐ̞]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan.9 See Catalan phonology
Majorcan and Valencian (some speakers)7 lloc [ˈʎ̟ɑk] 'place' Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents.7 It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
Southern Valencian10 bou [ˈbɑw] 'bull' Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w].10 It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
Chinese Mandarin11 (bàng) [pɑŋ˥˩] 'stick' Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/.11 See Standard Chinese phonology
Dutch Standard1213 bad [bɑt] 'bath' Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back.1412 In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈].13 See Dutch phonology
Amsterdam15 aap [ɑːp] 'monkey' Corresponds to [ ~ äː] in standard Dutch.
Antwerp16
Utrecht16
The Hague17 nauw [nɑː] 'narrow' Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch.
English General American18 on [ɑn] 'on' May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cotcaught merger. See English phonology
Cockney19 palm [pɑːm] 'palm' Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead.
General South African20 Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. See South African English phonology
Cultivated
South African21
[pɑ̟ːm] Typically more front than cardinal [ɑ]. It may be as front as [äː] in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology
Received Pronunciation22
Non-local Dublin23 back [bɑq] 'back' Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers.23
Faroese Some dialects24 vátur [ˈvɑːtʊɹ] 'wet' Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language.24 See Faroese phonology
French Conservative Parisian2526 pas [pɑ] 'not' Contrasts with /a/, but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä].27 See French phonology
Quebec28 pâte [pɑːt] 'paste' Contrasts with /a/.28 See Quebec French phonology
Galician2930 irmán [iɾˈmɑŋ] 'brother' Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.2930 See Galician phonology
Georgian31 გუდ (guda) [k̬ud̪ɑ] 'leather bag' Usually not fully back [ɑ], typically [ɑ̟] to [ä].32 Sometimes transcribed as /a/.
German Standard33 Gourmand [ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː] 'gourmand' Nasalized; often realized as rounded [ɒ̃ː].34 See Standard German phonology
Many speakers35 nah [nɑː] 'near' Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland.35 Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent.36 More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology
Greek Sfakian37 μπύρα (býra) [ˈbirɑ] "beer" Corresponds to central [ä ~ ɐ] in Modern Standard Greek.3839 See Modern Greek phonology
Hindustani Hindi ख़ास/khas [xɑːs] 'special' Allophone of [ ~ ä]. More likely to be heard in serious speech or poetry. See Hindustani phonology.
Urdu خاص/khas
Hungarian Some dialects40 magyar [ˈmɑɟɑr] 'Hungarian' Weakly rounded [ɒ] in standard Hungarian.41 See Hungarian phonology
Inuit West Greenlandic42 oqarpoq [ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚] 'he says' Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars.42 See Inuit phonology
Italian Some Piedmont dialects casa [ˈkɑːzɑ] 'house' Allophone of /a/ which in Italian is largely realised as central [ä].
Irish Munster Dialect áit [ɑːtʲ] 'place' See Irish phonology
Kaingang43 ga [ᵑɡɑ] 'land, soil' Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].44
Khmer ស្ករ (skâr) [skɑː] 'sugar' See Khmer phonology
Low German45 al / aal [ɑːl] 'all' Backness may vary among dialects.45
Malay Kedah46 mata [ma.tɑ] 'eye' See Malay phonology
Kelantan-Pattani Allophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Standard qari [qɑ.ri] 'qari' Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [ä]. See Malay phonology
Norwegian4748 hat [hɑːt] 'hate' The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central [äː] in some other dialects.474849 See Norwegian phonology
Portuguese Some Azorean dialects nada [ˈnɑðɐ] 'nothing' See Portuguese phonology
Paulista50 vegetal [veʒeˈtɑw] 'vegetable' Only immediately before [w].50
Russian51 палка (palka) [ˈpɑɫkə] 'stick' Occurs only before the hard /l/, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic Lewis52 balach [ˈpɑl̪ˠəx] 'boy' Allophone of [a] in proximity to broad sonorants.
Sema53 amqa [à̠mqɑ̀] 'lower back' Possible realization of /a/ after uvular stops.53
Swedish Some dialects jag [jɑːɡ] 'I' Weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː] in Central Standard Swedish.54 See Swedish phonology
Turkish55 at [ɑt̪] 'horse' Also described as central [ä].56 See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian57 мати (maty) [ˈmɑtɪ] 'mother' See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese Some dialects in North Central and Central gà [ɣɑ˨˩] 'chicken' See Vietnamese phonology5859
West Frisian Standard60 lang [ɫɑŋ] 'long' Also described as central [ä].61 See West Frisian phonology
Aastersk62 maat [mɑːt] 'mate' Contrasts with a front //.62 See West Frisian phonology

Near-open back unrounded vowel

Near-open back unrounded vowel
ɑ̝
ʌ̞

In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda)63646566 there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨ɑ⟩ and ⟨ʌ⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with [ɑ̝] or [ʌ̞].

Features

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Azerbaijani63 qardaş [ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ] 'brother' Near-open.63
Dutch Leiden14 bad [bɑ̝t] 'bath' Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead.14 See Dutch phonology
Rotterdam14
English Cardiff67 hot [hɑ̽t] 'hot' Somewhat raised and fronted.6768
Norfolk68
Estonian64 vale [ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ] 'lie' Near-open.64 See Estonian phonology
Finnish69 kana [ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝] 'hen' Near-open,69 also described as open central [ä].70 See Finnish phonology
Kazakh alma [ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝] 'apple' Can be realised as near-open.
Limburgish Maastrichtian71 bats [bɑ̽ts] 'buttock' The quality varies between open back [ɑ],72 open near-back [ɑ̟],73 and near-open near-back [ɑ̽],71 depending on the dialect.
Luxembourgish65 Kapp [kʰɑ̝p] 'head' Near-open fully back.65 See Luxembourgish phonology
Toda66 [ɑ̝ːn] 'elephant' Near-open.66
See also

See also

Notes

Notes

  1. While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. International Phonetic Association (1999), p. 11.
  3. Esling, John H. (2010). "Phonetic Notation". In Hardcastle, William J.; Laver, John; Gibbon, Fiona E. (eds.). The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 678–702. doi:10.1002/9781444317251.ch18. ISBN 978-1-4051-4590-9.
  4. Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
  5. Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 39.
  6. Francisco (2019), p. 74.
  7. Saborit (2009), p. 10.
  8. Rafel (1999), p. 14.
  9. Recasens (1996), pp. 90–92.
  10. Recasens (1996), pp. 131–132.
  11. Mou (2006), p. 65.
  12. Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
  13. Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
  14. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
  15. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 78, 104, 133.
  16. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 104, 133.
  17. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 136.
  18. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
  19. Wells (1982), p. 305.
  20. Lass (2002), p. 117.
  21. Lass (2002), p. 116-117.
  22. Roach (2004), p. 242.
  23. "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  24. Árnason (2011), pp. 69, 79.
  25. Ashby (2011), p. 100.
  26. Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 225–227.
  27. Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
  28. Walker (1984), p. 53.
  29. Regueira (1996), p. 122.
  30. Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
  31. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.
  32. Aronson, Howard (1990), Georgian: A Reading Grammar (2nd ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
  33. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), pp. 34, 38.
  34. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
  35. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
  36. Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), pp. 342–344.
  37. Trudgill (2009), pp. 83–84.
  38. Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
  39. Arvaniti (2007), pp. 25, 28.
  40. Vago (1980), p. 1.
  41. Szende (1994), p. 92.
  42. Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
  43. Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
  44. Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676, 682.
  45. Prehn (2012), p. 157.
  46. Zaharani Ahmad (1991).
  47. Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
  48. Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 4.
  49. Vanvik (1979), pp. 16–17.
  50. Galastri (2011), p. 21.
  51. Jones & Ward (1969), p. 50.
  52. Oftedal (1956), p. 53.
  53. Teo (2014), p. 28.
  54. Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
  55. Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
  56. Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
  57. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  58. Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2014), "Ngôn ngữ biến đổi và số phận của nguyên âm /a/ trong giọng Quảng Nam (Issues in Language change and the phonemic status of /a/ in the Quang Nam dialect)" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 6: 10–18
  59. Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2016), "Sự biến âm trong vần tiếng Việt: thổ ngữ làng Hến, huyện Đức Thọ, tỉnh Hà Tĩnh [Sound change in Vietnamese rhymes: the dialect of Hến Village of Đức Thọ District, Hà Tĩnh Province]" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ Học (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 11: 7–28
  60. de Haan (2010), p. 333.
  61. Visser (1997), p. 14.
  62. van der Veen (2001), p. 102.
  63. Mokari & Werner (2016), p. 509.
  64. Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.
  65. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
  66. Shalev, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1993), p. 92.
  67. Collins & Mees (1990), p. 95.
  68. Lodge (2009), p. 168.
  69. Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
  70. Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
  71. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
  72. Peters (2006), p. 119.
  73. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
References

References

External links