Near-close central rounded vowel

The near-close central rounded vowel, or near-high central rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Alphabet can represent this sound as ⟨ʊ̈⟩ (centralized [ʊ]) or ⟨ʉ̞⟩ (lowered [ʉ]). The third edition of the OED adopted an unofficial extension of the IPA, ⟨ᵿ⟩, that is a conflation of ⟨ʊ⟩ and ⟨ʉ⟩, and represents either [ʊ̈] or free variation between [ʊ] and [ə].

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low", and these are the only terms found in introductory textbooks on phonetics such as those by Peter Ladefoged.

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ ɐ •aɶ •ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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• Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than relaxed or spread.

Occurrence

References

Bibliography

• Jones, Daniel; Dennis, Ward (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press 

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