Open back rounded vowel

Near-open back rounded vowel
Near-open back rounded vowel
ɒ̝
ɔ̞

Open back rounded vowel
Open back rounded vowel
ɒ
IPA number	313
Audio sample
	source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɒ
Unicode (hex)	U+0252
X-SAMPA	Q
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IPA: Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y	ɨ ʉ	ɯ u
Near-close	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
Close-mid	e ø	ɘ ɵ	ɤ o
Mid	e̞ ø̞	ə	ɤ̞ o̞
Open-mid	ɛ œ	ɜ ɞ	ʌ ɔ
Near-open	æ	ɐ
Open	a ɶ	ä	ɑ ɒ

Legend: unrounded • rounded

The open back rounded vowel, or low back rounded 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 ⟨ɒ⟩. It is called Latin turned alpha being a rotated version of Latin alpha. It seems a "turned script a", being a rotated version of "script (cursive) a", which is the variant of a that lacks the extra stroke on top of a "printed a". Latin turned alpha a ⟨ɒ⟩ has its linear stroke on the left, whereas Latin alpha a ⟨ɑ⟩ (for its unrounded counterpart) has its linear stroke on the right.

Features

Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
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.
Its place of articulation is pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).
It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard²	daar	[dɒːr]	'there'	Fully back. Used by some speakers, particularly young female speakers of northern accents. Other speakers use an unrounded vowel [ɑː ~ ɑ̟ː].² See Afrikaans phonology
Assamese		কৰ (kor)	[kɒ̹ɹ]	'to do'	An "over-rounded" [ɒ̹], with rounding as strong as that for [u].³ May also be transcribed [ɔ].
Bulgarian	Some Rhodopean dialects	мъж (măž)	[ˈmɒʃʲ]	'man'	Found as the unification of the Proto-Slavic ǫ, ę, ъ and ь. Standard Bulgarian has /ɤ̞/ for ǫ and ъ and /ɛ/ for ę and ь.
Dutch	Some dialects⁴	bot	[bɒt]	'bone'	Some non-Randstad dialects,⁴ for example those of Den Bosch and Groningen. It is open-mid [ɔ] in standard Dutch.
English	South African⁵	not	[nɒ̜̈t]	'not'	Near-back and weakly rounded.⁵ Some younger speakers of the General variety may actually have a higher and fully unrounded vowel [ʌ̈].⁵ See South African English phonology
	Conservative Received Pronunciation⁶		[nɒt]		Somewhat raised. Contemporary RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel [ɔ]. It is proposed that the /ɒ/ vowel of Conservative RP, which is normally described as a rounded vowel, is pronounced by some speakers without rounded lips for whom the characteristic quality is rather one of sulcality.⁷ See English phonology
	Northern English⁸				May be somewhat raised and fronted.⁸
	Canadian⁹				Lot and thought have the same vowel in Canadian English; see cot–caught merger.
	Canadian⁹	thought	[θɒt]^ⓘ	'thought'
	General American				Vowel /ɔ(:)/ is lowered (phonetic realization of /ɔ(:)/ is much lower in GA than in RP). However, "short o" before r before a vowel (a short o sound followed by r and then another vowel, as in orange, forest, moral, and warrant) is realized as [oɹ~ɔɹ].
	Inland Northern American¹⁰				See Northern Cities Vowel Shift
	Indian¹¹		[t̪ʰɒʈ]		/ɒ/ and /ɔː/ differ entirely by length in Indian English.
	Welsh¹²¹³		[θɒːt]		Open-mid in Cardiff; may merge with /oː/ in northern dialects.
German	Many speakers¹⁴	Gourmand	[ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɒ̃ː]	'gourmand'	Nasalized; common phonetic realization of /ɑ̃ː/.¹⁴ See Standard German phonology
German	Many Swiss dialects¹⁵	maane	[ˈmɒːnə]	'remind'	The example word is from the Zurich dialect, in which [ɒː] is in free variation with the unrounded [ɑː].¹⁶
Istro-Romanian¹⁷		cåp	[kɒp]	'head'	See Istro-Romanian pronunciation (in Romanian).
Jeju¹⁸		ᄒᆞ나 (haona)	[hɒna]	'one'	See Jeju phonology
Malay	Kedah	tua	[tu.ɒ]	'old'	Northern Kedah subdialect/dialect. Allophone of /a/ in word-final position in open-ended words and close-ended words that end with a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a glottal fricative /h/.
Mansi	Central/Northern	ам	[ɒm]	'me'	The pronunciation of 'a' sometimes varies between /ɒ/ and /o/.
Neapolitan¹⁹	Vastese	uâʃtə	[uˈwɒʃtə]	'Vasto'
Norwegian	Dialects along the Swedish border²⁰	hat	[hɒ̜ːt]	'hate'	Weakly rounded and fully back.²⁰ See Norwegian phonology
Persian		ف‍‍ارسی (fârsi)	[fɒːɾˈsiː]	'Persian'
Brazilian Portuguese	Carioca	ova	[ˈɒːva]	'fish roe'	Allophone of /ɔ/. See Portuguese phonology
Slovak	Some speakers²¹	a	[ɒ]	'and'	Under Hungarian influence, some speakers realize the short /a/ as rounded.²¹ See Slovak phonology
Swedish	Gothenburg²²	jag	[jɒːɡ]	'I'	More rounded than in Central Standard Swedish.²²
Uzbek	Standard²³	choy	[t͡ʃɒj]	'tea'

Near-open back rounded vowel

In some languages there is the near-open back rounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨ɒ⟩ and ⟨ɔ⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with [ɒ̝] or [ɔ̞].

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 back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
Its place of articulation is pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).
It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan	Balearic (except Ibizan)²⁴²⁵	dones	[ˈd̪ɒ̝nəs̺]	'women'	Main realization of /ɔ/ (also represented as /ɒ/). May be unrounded [ɑ] in Majorcan and some Southern Valencian dialects. See Catalan phonology
	Valencian²⁴²⁵²⁶	dones	[ˈd̪ɒ̝nes̺]	'women'
	Valencian²⁴²⁵²⁶	corda	[ˈkɒ̝ɾðɒ̝̈]	'rope'	Final unstressed /a/ (usually involving vowel harmony). Can be realized as either unrounded and/or fronted. See Catalan phonology
Dutch	Leiden²⁷	bad	[bɒ̝t]	'bath'	Near-open fully back; may be unrounded [ɑ̝] instead.²⁷ It corresponds to [ɑ] in standard Dutch.
Dutch	Rotterdam²⁷	bad	[bɒ̝t]	'bath'
Hungarian	Standard²⁸	magyar	[ˈmɒ̜̽ɟɒ̜̽r]	'Hungarian'	Somewhat fronted and raised, with only slight rounding; sometimes transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. Unrounded [ɑ] in some dialects.²⁹ See Hungarian phonology
Ibibio³⁰		dọ	[dɒ̝́]	'marry'	Near-open;³⁰ typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩.
Irish	Ulster³¹	ólann	[ɒ̝ːɫ̪ən̪ˠ]	'(he) drinks'	Near-open;³¹ may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩.
Lehali³²		dön̄	[ⁿdɒ̝ŋ]	'yam'	Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory.³²
Lemerig³³		‘ān̄sār	[ʔɒ̝ŋsɒ̝r]	'person'	Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory.³³
Limburgish	Maastrichtian³⁴	plaots	[plɒ̝ːts]	'place'	Near-open fully back; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩.³⁴ Corresponds to [ɔː] in other dialects.
Norwegian	Urban East³⁵³⁶	topp	[tʰɒ̝pː]	'top'	Near-open,³⁵³⁶ also described as close-mid back [o].³⁷ Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard³⁸²²	ska	[s̪kɒ̝͑ː]^ⓘ	'be going to'	Near-open fully back weakly rounded vowel.³⁸ Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑː⟩. See Swedish phonology
Yoruba³⁹		itọju	[itɒ̝ju]	'care'	Near-open; most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩.

Notes

While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 293–294.
Collins & Mees (2003), p. 132.
Lass (2002), p. 115.
Roach (2004), p. 242.
Lass, Roger (1984). Phonology: an introduction to basic concepts. p. 124.
Lodge (2009), p. 163.
Boberg (2004), p. 359.
Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (1997), A national map of the regional dialects of American English, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, retrieved May 27, 2013
Sailaja (2009), pp. 24–25.
Connolly (1990), p. 125.
Tench (1990), p. 135.
Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
Krech et al. (2009), p. 263.
Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 248.
Pop (1938), p. 29.
Yang, Changyong; Yang, Sejung; O'Grady, William (2020). Jejueo: the language of Korea's Jeju Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-7443-8.
"Vastesi Language - Vastesi in the World". Vastesi in the World. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
Popperwell (2010), p. 23.
Kráľ (1988), p. 54.
Riad (2014), pp. 35–36.
Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963). Uzbek Structural Grammar. Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 18. Bloomington: Indiana University. p. 17.
Recasens (1996), pp. 130–131.
Rafel (1999), p. 14.
Saborit (2009), pp. 25–26.
Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
Szende (1994), p. 92.
Vago (1980), p. 1.
Urua (2004), p. 106.
Ní Chasaide (1999), p. 114.
François (2011), p. 194.
François (2011), pp. 195, 208.
Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 158–159.
Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 17.
Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 2.
Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
Engstrand (1999), pp. 140–141.
Bamgboṣe (1966), p. 166.

References

Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1966), A Grammar of Yoruba, [West African Languages Survey / Institute of African Studies], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 97–102, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830
Boberg, Charles (2004), "English in Canada: 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, p. 359, ISBN 978-3-11-017532-5
Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
Connolly, John H. (1990), "Port Talbot English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 121–129, ISBN 978-1-85359-032-0
Cox, Felicity; Fletcher, Janet (2017) [First published 2012], Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-316-63926-9
Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4
Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0
Fleischer, Jürg; Schmid, Stephan (2006), "Zurich German", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 243–253, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002441
François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl:1885/29283
Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2): 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-11, retrieved 2016-01-11
Hay, Jennifer; Maclagan, Margaret; Gordon, Elizabeth (2008), New Zealand English, Dialects of English, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-2529-1
Horvath, Barbara M. (2004), "Australian 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. 625–644, ISBN 978-3-11-017532-5
Kráľ, Ábel (1988), Pravidlá slovenskej výslovnosti, Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo
Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), "7.3.10 Norwegisch", Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000), The Phonology of Norwegian, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5
Kvifte, Bjørn; Gude-Husken, Verena (2005) [First published 1997], Praktische Grammatik der norwegischen Sprache (3rd ed.), Gottfried Egert Verlag, ISBN 978-3-926972-54-5
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
Mahanta, Shakuntala (2012), "Assamese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42 (2): 217–224, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000096
Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999), "Irish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 111–16, ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0
Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
Popperwell, Ronald G. (2010) [First published 1963], Pronunciation of Norwegian, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-15742-1
Rafel, Joaquim (1999), Aplicació al català dels principis de transcripció de l'Associació Fonètica Internacional (PDF) (3rd ed.), Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ISBN 978-84-7283-446-0
Recasens, Daniel (1996), Fonètica descriptiva del català: assaig de caracterització de la pronúncia del vocalisme i el consonantisme català al segle XX (2nd ed.), Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ISBN 978-84-7283-312-8
Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
Saborit, Josep (2009), Millorem la pronúncia (in Catalan), Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
Sailaja, Pingali (2009), Indian English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, pp. 17–38, ISBN 978-0-7486-2594-9
Scobbie, James M.; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006), Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: an overview, Edinburgh: QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers
Szende, Tamás (1994), "Hungarian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 24 (2): 91–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005090, S2CID 242632087
Tench, Paul (1990), "The Pronunciation of English in Abercrave", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 130–141, ISBN 978-1-85359-032-0
Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001550
Vago, Robert M. (1980), The Sound Pattern of Hungarian, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press
Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 978-82-990584-0-7
Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759. ISBN 0-52128540-2 .
Wissing, Daan (2016). "Afrikaans phonology – segment inventory". Taalportaal. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.

External links

List of languages with [ɒ] on PHOIBLE

[1] While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".

[FOOTNOTEWissing2016section_"The_unrounded_low-central_vowel_<span_class="IPA_nowrap"_lang="und-Latn-fonipa"_title="Representation_in_the_International_Phonetic_Alphabet_(IPA)">/a/</span>[[Category:Pages_with_plain_IPA]]"-2] Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".

[FOOTNOTELadefogedMaddieson1996293–294-3] Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 293–294.

[FOOTNOTECollinsMees2003132-4] Collins & Mees (2003), p. 132.

[FOOTNOTELass2002115-5] Lass (2002), p. 115.

[FOOTNOTERoach2004242-6] Roach (2004), p. 242.

[7] Lass, Roger (1984). Phonology: an introduction to basic concepts. p. 124.

[FOOTNOTELodge2009163-8] Lodge (2009), p. 163.

[FOOTNOTEBoberg2004359-9] Boberg (2004), p. 359.

[10] Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (1997), A national map of the regional dialects of American English, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, retrieved May 27, 2013

[FOOTNOTESailaja200924–25-11] Sailaja (2009), pp. 24–25.

[FOOTNOTEConnolly1990125-12] Connolly (1990), p. 125.

[FOOTNOTETench1990135-13] Tench (1990), p. 135.

[FOOTNOTEDudenredaktionKleinerKnöbl201538-14] Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.

[FOOTNOTEKrech_et_al.2009263-15] Krech et al. (2009), p. 263.

[FOOTNOTEFleischerSchmid2006248-16] Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 248.

[FOOTNOTEPop193829-17] Pop (1938), p. 29.

[18] Yang, Changyong; Yang, Sejung; O'Grady, William (2020). Jejueo: the language of Korea's Jeju Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-7443-8.

[19] "Vastesi Language - Vastesi in the World". Vastesi in the World. Retrieved 21 November 2016.

[FOOTNOTEPopperwell201023-20] Popperwell (2010), p. 23.

[FOOTNOTEKráľ198854-21] Kráľ (1988), p. 54.

[FOOTNOTERiad201435–36-22] Riad (2014), pp. 35–36.

[23] Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963). Uzbek Structural Grammar. Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 18. Bloomington: Indiana University. p. 17.

[FOOTNOTERecasens1996130–131-24] Recasens (1996), pp. 130–131.

[FOOTNOTERafel199914-25] Rafel (1999), p. 14.

[FOOTNOTESaborit200925–26-26] Saborit (2009), pp. 25–26.

[FOOTNOTECollinsMees2003131-27] Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.

[FOOTNOTESzende199492-28] Szende (1994), p. 92.

[FOOTNOTEVago19801-29] Vago (1980), p. 1.

[FOOTNOTEUrua2004106-30] Urua (2004), p. 106.

[FOOTNOTENí_Chasaide1999114-31] Ní Chasaide (1999), p. 114.

[FOOTNOTEFrançois2011194-32] François (2011), p. 194.

[FOOTNOTEFrançois2011195,_208-33] François (2011), pp. 195, 208.

[FOOTNOTEGussenhovenAarts1999158–159-34] Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 158–159.

[FOOTNOTEVanvik197913,_17-35] Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 17.

[FOOTNOTEKvifteGude-Husken20052-36] Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 2.

[FOOTNOTEKristoffersen200016–17-37] Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.

[FOOTNOTEEngstrand1999140–141-38] Engstrand (1999), pp. 140–141.

[FOOTNOTEBamgboṣe1966166-39] Bamgboṣe (1966), p. 166.

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Near-open back rounded vowel

Features

Occurrence

See also

Notes

References

External links