Close-mid back rounded vowel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Edit - 2× | Front | N.-front | Central | N.-back | Back |
| Close | |||||
| Near-close | |||||
| Close-mid | |||||
| Mid | |||||
| Open-mid | |||||
| Near-open | |||||
| Open | |||||
represents a rounded vowel.
| IPA – number | 307 |
| IPA – text | o |
| IPA – image | 
|
| Entity | o |
| X-SAMPA | o |
| Kirshenbaum | o |
| Sound sample | |
|---|---|
The close-mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is o, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is o.
Contents |
[edit] Features
- Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between close vowel and a mid vowel.
- 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.
- Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.
[edit] Occurs in
- Dutch: kool [koʊ̯l], "cabbage"
- English: (AuE and NZE) ball [boːl]
- In CaE, there is a tendency to monophthongize [oʊ] (usually during rapid speech); as a result, [o] may occur alone in words like boat.
- Estonian: tool [toːlʲ], "chair"
- Faroese: tosa [ˈtoːsa], "speak"
- French: réseau [ʀe̝ˈzo̝], "net"
- German: Kohl [kʰoːl], "cabbage"
- Hungarian: Kór [koːr], "disease"
- Icelandic: bók [bou̯k], "book"
- Italian: Roma [ˈroːma], "Rome"; foro (fóro) [ˈfoːro], "hole" (as opposed to foro, or fòro, [ˈfɔːro], "forum")
- Portuguese: ou [o], "or"
- Swedish: åka [ˈoːka] , "travel, go"
- Vietnamese: tô [tō], "soup bowl"
French /o/ is more close than German /o/, as symbolized by the raising diacritic, and is perhaps near-close. The German /o/ in turn is more close than Spanish /o/, which is a mid vowel (see below).
[edit] Mid back rounded vowel
Many languages, such as Spanish and Japanese, have a mid back rounded vowel, which to speakers is clearly distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and [o] is generally used. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic may be used: [o̞].
Note that just because a language has only one non-close, non-open back vowel, that doesn't mean it's a cardinal mid vowel. The Sulawesian language Tukang Besi, for example, has a close-mid [o], whereas the Moluccan language Taba has an open-mid [ɔ]; in neither language does this contrast with another open/close-mid vowel.
[edit] Occurs in
- Croatian: kolodvor [kolodvoːr], "railway station"
- Greek: ωρολόγιο [oroˈloʝiˌo], "clock"
- Japanese: 面白い [omoɕiɺo↓i], "fun, interesting"
- Romanian: copil [koˈpil], "child"
- Russian: сухой [sʊˈxoj], "dry"
- Spanish: todo [ˈt̪oðo], "everything"
- Turkish: kol [koɫ], "arm"
- Ukrainian: поїзд [ˈpojizd], "train"
(In the preceding transcriptions the lowering diacritic has been omitted, for the sake of simplicity: thus, [koɫ] is to be interpreted as [ko̞ɫ].)ca:Vocal semitancada posterior arredonida cs:Polozavřená zadní zaokrouhlená samohláska de:Gerundeter halbgeschlossener Hinterzungenvokal fr:Voyelle moyenne supérieure postérieure arrondie ja:円唇後舌半狭母音 ko:후설 원순 중고모음 pl:Samogłoska półprzymknięta tylna zaokrąglona ro:Vocală semiînchisă posterioară rotunjită
