Open front rounded vowel

Near-open front rounded vowel
Near-open front rounded vowel
œ̞
ɶ̝

Open front rounded vowel
Open front rounded vowel
ɶ
IPA number	312
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɶ
Unicode (hex)	U+0276
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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 front rounded vowel, or low front rounded vowel,¹ is a type of vowel sound that has not been confirmed to be phonetic in any spoken language,² but is occasionally used in phonemic transcriptions for some Germanic languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɶ⟩, a small capital ⟨Œ⟩. It was added to the IPA vowel chart to balance the quadrilateral by filling in the remaining gap for a rounded equivalent of [a].³

While the IPA chart lists this vowel as the rounded equivalent of [a], studies of formant acoustics suggest it is closer to the rounded homologue of [æ].

A phoneme transcribed with ⟨ɶ⟩ is reported for the Amstetten dialect of Bavarian; however, it is phonetically open-mid [œ], pairing with unrounded phonemic /æ/ (phonetic [ɛ]).⁴ Similarly, certain studies of Danish⁵⁶ and Swedish⁷ use ⟨ɶ⟩ to transcribe a phoneme that is phonetically open-mid [œ] or near-open [œ̞] (depending on the analysis), where phonemic /œ/ is phonetically raised closer to mid [œ̝].⁶⁸ In Maastrichtian Limburgish, the vowel transcribed with ⟨ɶː⟩ in the Mestreechter Taol dictionary⁹ is phonetically centralized, with a height between open-mid [œ̈ː] and near-open [œ̞̈ː]; phonologically, it is the long counterpart of /œ/.¹⁰

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 front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Rounded front vowels are often centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-front.
It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

No language has been reported to have a phonetically true open realization. The table below provides examples of near-open realizations (thus being rounded homologues of [æ], i.e. a near-open front rounded vowel), which are phonetically raised compared to cardinal [ɶ], and also often centralized (similar to [ɞ̞], but not as central). In the case of the latter, these may be transcribed as mid-centralized [ɶ̽] (alternatively, [ɶ̝̈] or [œ̞̈]).

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Danish	Some speakers⁶	grøn	[ˈkʁɶ̽nˀ]	'green'	Near-open and centralized;⁵ allophone of /ø/ between [ʁ] and /v/ ([w]),¹¹ and of /œ/ between [ʁ] and a nasal;¹² though becoming [ʌ̞̈] in the latter environments.¹³ Historically also an allophone of /ø/ before /j/, but likewise has merged to [ʌ̞̈].¹⁴ May instead be analyzed as open-mid [œ].⁶ See Danish phonology
Limburgish	Weert dialect¹⁵	bui	[bɶ̽j]	'shower'	Near-open and centralized; allophone of /œ/ before /j/ in non-diphthong sequences.¹⁵ See Weert dialect phonology
Swedish	Stockholm	öra	[ˈɶ̝̂ːrä]	'ear'	Near-open; realization of the phoneme /øː/ (which Pelzer & Boersma (2019) recommend transcribing instead as /œː/).¹⁶ Corresponds to [œ̫ː] in Linköping and Lund dialects. An acoustic study by Persson (2024) points instead to a potentially open-mid central realization [œ̈ː].⁸ See Swedish phonology

Notes

While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
Jones (1956), p. 15: "This cardinal sound is not known to occur in any language."
Wells (1975), p. 52: "Although it may seldom or never be needed for phonemic transcription, I feel that for completeness' sake, and to fill an awkward gap in our vowel chart, we should recognize this symbol for an open front rounded vowel."
Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 290
Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
Basbøll (2005), pp. 46–48.
Riad (2014), p. 38.
Persson (2024), Fig. 1, 7.
"Mestreechter Taol".
Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 159, 161–162, 164.
Grønnum (2005), pp. 60, 288.
Grønnum (2005), pp. 61, 396.
Grønnum (2005), p. 333.
Grønnum (2005), pp. 331–333.
Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
Pelzer & Boersma (2019), pp. 1146–1147.

References

Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
Grønnum, Nina (1998), "Danish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 99–105, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006290, S2CID 249412109
Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2), University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies: 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-11, retrieved 2022-02-18
Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307, JSTOR 44526862, S2CID 145635698, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2015-10-25
Jones, Daniel (1956), Cardinal Vowels Spoken by Daniel Jones: Text of Records with Explanatory Notes by Professor Jones (PDF), London: Linguaphone Institute
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
Pelzer, Joppe A.; Boersma, Paul (2019). Diphthongization in three regional varieties of Swedish (PDF). Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Melbourne: Australian Speech Science and Technology Association. pp. 1144–1148.
Persson, Anna (2024), "The acoustic characteristics of Swedish vowels", Phonetica, 81 (6): 599–643, doi:10.1515/phon-2024-0011, PMID 39443329
Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
Traunmüller, Hartmut (1982), "Vokalismus in der westniederösterreichischen Mundart.", Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik, 2: 289–333
Wells, J. C. (1975), "The Association's Alphabet", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 5 (2): 52–58, doi:10.1017/S0025100300001274, JSTOR 44525810

External links

List of languages with [ɶ] on PHOIBLE

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

[FOOTNOTEJones195615-2] Jones (1956), p. 15: "This cardinal sound is not known to occur in any language."

[FOOTNOTEWells197552-3] Wells (1975), p. 52: "Although it may seldom or never be needed for phonemic transcription, I feel that for completeness' sake, and to fill an awkward gap in our vowel chart, we should recognize this symbol for an open front rounded vowel."

[4] Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 290

[FOOTNOTEGrønnum1998100-5] Grønnum (1998), p. 100.

[FOOTNOTEBasbøll200546–48-6] Basbøll (2005), pp. 46–48.

[FOOTNOTERiad201438-7] Riad (2014), p. 38.

[FOOTNOTEPersson2024Fig._1,_7-8] Persson (2024), Fig. 1, 7.

[9] "Mestreechter Taol".

[FOOTNOTEGussenhovenAarts1999159,_161–162,_164-10] Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 159, 161–162, 164.

[FOOTNOTEGrønnum200560,_288-11] Grønnum (2005), pp. 60, 288.

[FOOTNOTEGrønnum200561,_396-12] Grønnum (2005), pp. 61, 396.

[FOOTNOTEGrønnum2005333-13] Grønnum (2005), p. 333.

[FOOTNOTEGrønnum2005331–333-14] Grønnum (2005), pp. 331–333.

[FOOTNOTEHeijmansGussenhoven1998110-15] Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.

[FOOTNOTEPelzerBoersma20191146–1147-16] Pelzer & Boersma (2019), pp. 1146–1147.

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Features

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See also

Notes

References

External links