Open back unrounded vowel
Open back unrounded vowel | |||
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ɑ | |||
IPA number | 305 | ||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ɑ |
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Unicode (hex) | U+0251 | ||
X-SAMPA | A |
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Kirshenbaum | A |
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Braille | |||
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Sound | |||
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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⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script 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 its linear stroke on the bottom right, should not be confused with turned script a, ɒ, which has its linear stroke on the top left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.
The Hamont dialect of Limburgish has been reported to contrast long open front, central and back unrounded vowels,[1] which is extremely unusual.
The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists,[who?] perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".
Features[edit]
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- 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 back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence[edit]
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Afrikaans | Standard[2][3] | daar | [dɑːr] | 'there' | See Afrikaans phonology |
Angor | ape | [ɑpe] | 'father' | ||
Arabic | Standard[4] | طويل | [tˤɑˈwiːl] | 'tall' | Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology |
Armenian | Eastern[4] | հաց | [hɑt͡sʰ] | 'bread' | |
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Tyari dialects | baba | [bɑːba] | 'father' | Corresponds to [a ~ ä] in other varieties. |
Chinese | Mandarin | 棒/bàng | [pɑŋ˥˩] (help·info) | 'stick' | Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/. See Standard Chinese phonology |
Danish[5] | Conservative[6] | barn | [ˈb̥ɑːˀn] | 'child' | Described variously as open near-back[5] and near-open back.[6] Realized as open central [ä] in contemporary Standard Danish.[7][8][9][10][11] See Danish phonology |
Dutch | Amsterdam[12] | aap | [ɑːp] | 'monkey' | Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch. |
Antwerp[13] | |||||
Utrecht[13] | |||||
Southern Randstad[14] | bad | [bɑt] | 'bath' | Backness varies among dialects; in the southern Randstad and standard Netherlandic Dutch it is fully back.[15][16] In addition to being fully back, it is raised to [ɑ̝] in Leiden and Rotterdam, sometimes with lip rounding [ɒ̝].[15] In standard Belgian Dutch it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈].[17] See Dutch phonology | |
Standard[16][17] | |||||
The Hague[18] | nauw | [nɑː] | 'narrow' | Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch. | |
English | Cardiff[19] | hot | [hɑ̝̈t] | 'hot' | Somewhat raised and fronted. |
Norfolk[20] | |||||
General American[21] | [hɑt] | May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger. See English phonology | |||
Cockney[22] | bath | [bɑːθ] | 'bath' | Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead. | |
General South African[23] |
Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. | ||||
Cultivated South African[24] |
[bɑ̟ːθ] | 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 | |||
Received Pronunciation[25] | |||||
Non-local Dublin[26] | back | [bɑq] | 'back' | Allophone of /æ/ before velars for some speakers.[26] | |
Estonian[27] | vale | [ˈvɑ̝lɛˑ] | 'wrong' | Near-open.[27] See Estonian phonology | |
Finnish[28] | kana | [ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝] | 'hen' | Near-open,[28] also described as open central [ä].[29] See Finnish phonology | |
French | Conservative Parisian[30] | pas | [pɑ] | 'not' | Contrasts with [a], but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä]. See French phonology |
Quebec | pâte | [pɑːt] | 'paste' | See Quebec French phonology | |
Georgian[31] | გუდა | [ɡudɑ] | 'leather bag' | ||
German | Some dialects | Tag | [tʰɑːk] | 'day' | In other dialects it is more front. See German phonology. |
Zurich dialect[32] | mane | [ˈmɑːnə] | 'remind' | Allophone of /ɒ/, in free variation with [ɒ].[32] | |
Inuit | West Greenlandic[33] | [example needed] | Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars.[33] See Inuit phonology | ||
Kaingang[34] | [ˈᵑɡɑ] | 'terra' | Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].[35] | ||
Limburgish[1][36][37][38] | bats | [bɑts] | 'buttock' | Backness varies from fully back [ɑ] to almost central [ɑ̟], depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.[38] | |
Luxembourgish[39] | Kapp | [kʰɑ̝pʰ] | 'head' | Fully back and raised.[39] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
Malay | Kedah dialect[40] | mata | [matɑ] | 'eye' | See Malay phonology |
Navajo | ashkii | [ɑʃkɪː] | 'boy' | See Navajo phonology | |
Norwegian | Fredrikstad[41] | hat | [hɑːt] | 'hate' | See Norwegian phonology |
Stavangersk[42] | |||||
Trondheimsk[41] | |||||
Plautdietsch | Gott | [ɡɑ̽t] | 'God' | ||
Russian[43] | палка | [ˈpɑɫkə] | 'stick' | Occurs only both before /ɫ/ and after an unpalatalized consonant. See Russian phonology | |
Swedish | Some dialects | jаg | [jɑːɡ] | 'I' | Weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː] in Central Standard Swedish.[44] See Swedish phonology |
Turkish[45] | at | [ɑt̪] | 'horse' | Also described as central [ä].[46] See Turkish phonology | |
Ukrainian | мати | [ˈmɑtɪ] | 'mother' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
West Frisian | lang | [ɫɑŋ] | 'long' |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
- ^ Lass (1984), pp. 76, 93–94 and 105.
- ^ Donaldson (1993), p. 7.
- ^ a b Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 39.
- ^ a b Fischer-Jørgensen (1972)
- ^ a b Ladefoged & Johnson (2010:227)
- ^ Grønnum (1998:100)
- ^ Grønnum (2005:268)
- ^ Grønnum (2003)
- ^ Basbøll (2005:46)
- ^ Allan, Holmes & Lundskær-Nielsen (2000:17)
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 78, 104 and 133.
- ^ a b Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 104 and 133.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 96 and 131.
- ^ a b Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 131.
- ^ a b Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
- ^ a b Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 136.
- ^ Coupland (1990), p. 95.
- ^ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
- ^ Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
- ^ Wells (1982), p. 305.
- ^ Lass (2002), p. 117.
- ^ Lass (2002), p. 116-117.
- ^ Roach (2004), p. 242.
- ^ a b "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
- ^ a b Asu & Teras (2009:368)
- ^ a b Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
- ^ Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
- ^ Ashby (2011), p. 100.
- ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.
- ^ a b Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 248.
- ^ a b Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
- ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677 and 682.
- ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676 and 682.
- ^ Peters (2006), p. 119.
- ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
- ^ a b Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
- ^ a b Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
- ^ Zaharani Ahmad (1991).
- ^ a b Vanvik (1979), p. 16.
- ^ Vanvik (1979), p. 17.
- ^ Jones & Ward (1969), p. 50.
- ^ Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
- ^ Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
- ^ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
Bibliography[edit]
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- Ashby, Patricia (2011), Understanding Phonetics, Understanding Language series, Routledge, ISBN 978-0340928271
- Asu, Eva Liina; Teras, Pire (2009), "Estonian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 39 (3): 367–372, doi:10.1017/s002510030999017x
- Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003), The Phonetics of English and Dutch, Fifth Revised Edition (PDF), ISBN 9004103406
- Coupland, Nikolas (1990), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, ISBN 1-85359-032-0
- Donaldson, Bruce C. (1993), "1. Pronunciation", A Grammar of Afrikaans, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1–35, ISBN 9783110134261
- Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
- Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 140–142, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (1972), "Formant Frequencies of Long and Short Danish Vowels", in Scherabon Firchow, Evelyn, Studies for Einar Haugen, The Hague: Mouton Publishers, pp. 189–200, ASIN B0037F3D1S
- Fleischer, Jürg; Schmid, Stephan (2006), "Zurich German" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 243–253, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002441
- Fortescue, Michael (1990), "Basic Structures and Processes in West Greenlandic", in Collins, Dirmid R. F., Arctic Languages: An Awakening (PDF), Paris: UNESCO, pp. 309–332, ISBN 92-3-102661-5
- Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874
- Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
- Göksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005), Turkish: a comprehensive grammar (PDF), Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114943, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 November 2014
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- Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
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