Central vowel
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A central vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. (In practice, unrounded central vowels tend to be further forward and rounded central vowels further back.)
List[edit]
The central vowels that have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
- close central unrounded vowel [ɨ]
- close central protruded vowel [ʉ]
- close-mid central unrounded vowel [ɘ] (older publications may use ⟨ë⟩)
- close-mid central rounded vowel [ɵ] (older publications may use ⟨ö⟩)
- mid central vowel with ambiguous rounding [ə] (typically used for an unrounded vowel)
- open-mid central unrounded vowel [ɜ] (older publications may use ⟨ɛ̈⟩)
- open-mid central rounded vowel [ɞ] (older publications may use ⟨ɔ̈⟩)
- near-open central vowel with ambiguous rounding [ɐ] (typically used for an unrounded vowel; if precision is desired, ⟨ɜ̞⟩ may be used for an unrounded vowel and ⟨ɞ̞⟩ for a rounded vowel)
There also are central vowels that don't have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
- close central compressed vowel [ÿ]
- near-close central unrounded vowel [ɪ̈], [ɨ̞] or [ɘ̝] (unofficial symbol: ⟨ᵻ⟩)
- near-close central protruded vowel [ʊ̈], [ʉ̞] or [ɵ̝] (unofficial symbol: ⟨ᵿ⟩)
- near-close central compressed vowel [ʏ̈]
- mid central unrounded vowel [ɘ̞] or [ɜ̝] (commonly written ⟨ə⟩)
- mid central protruded vowel [ɵ̞] or [ɞ̝] (commonly written ⟨ɵ⟩ as if it were close-mid)
- mid central compressed vowel [əᵝ]
- open central unrounded vowel [ä] (commonly written ⟨a⟩ as if it were front)
- open central rounded vowel [ɒ̈]
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