Open-mid back rounded vowel

Open-mid back rounded vowel
ɔ
Image
IPA number	306
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɔ
Unicode (hex)	U+0254
X-SAMPA	O
Kirshenbaum	O
Sound
view talk edit

The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-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 ⟨ɔ⟩. The IPA symbol is a turned letter c and both the symbol and the sound are commonly called "open-o". The name open-o represents the sound, in that it is like the sound represented by ⟨o⟩, the close-mid back rounded vowel, except it is more open. It also represents the symbol, which can be remembered as an o which has been "opened" by removing part of the closed circular shape.

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
This table contains phonetic symbols. They may not display correctly in some browsers (Help).
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low 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 protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		po	[pɔ]	'yes'
Bamana		wɔɔrɔ	[wɔːrɔ]	'six'
Bengali		বস	[bɔʃ]	'sit'	See Bengali phonology
Catalan[1]		soc	[ˈsɔk]	'clog'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	我/ngo5	[ŋɔː˩˧]	'I'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	我/wǒ	[wɔ˨˩˦]	'I'	See Mandarin phonology
	Min	五	[ɡɔ˨]	'five'
	Wu	跑/bo	[bɔ˨˩˦]	'run'
Dutch	Standard	bot	[bɔt]	'bone'	See Dutch phonology
	Amelands	hôl	[hɔːl]	'hollow'
English	Australian	hot	[hɔt]	'hot'	See Australian English phonology
	GA	dog	[dɔɡ]	'dog'	Can be closer or equal to [ɑ] in some dialects. See English phonology.
	RP	bore	[bɔː]	'bore'
Faroese		góðan morgun	[ˌɡɔuwan ˈmɔɹɡʊn]	'good morning'
French[2]		sort	[sɔʁ]	'fate'	See French phonology
Georgian[3]		სწორი	[st͡sʼɔɾi]	'correct'
German		voll	[fɔl]	'full'	See German phonology
Italian[4]		parola	[paˈɾɔːla]	'word'	See Italian phonology
Lao		ບ	[bɔː]	'origin'
Macedonian		коњ	[kɔɲ]	'horse'	See Macedonian phonology
Norwegian		topp	[tɔp]	'top'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan		òme	[ˈɔme]	'man'
Polish[5]		kot	[kɔt] (help·info)	'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[6]		só	[sɔ]	'alone'	See Portuguese phonology
Swedish		moll	[mɔl] (help·info)	'minor'	See Swedish phonology
Tajik		тоҷикӣ	[tɔːdʒɪˈkiː]	'Tajik language'
Ukrainian		вовк	[wɔwk]	'wolf'	See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek		O'zbek	[ɔzˈbek]	'Uzbek'
Vietnamese		to	[tɔ]	'large'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		bôle	[bɔːɫə]	'bread'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53–56 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264 

v t e   International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics* Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Extensions to the IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Conlang X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet   Consonants v t e IPA pulmonic consonants chartchart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Radical Glottal ↓ Manner Bila​bial Labio​dental Den​tal Alve​olar Post​alv. Retro​flex Pal​a​tal Ve​lar Uvu​lar Pha​ryn​geal Epi​glot​tal Glot​tal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̪ n̥ n n̠ ɳ ɲ̥ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ Plosive p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Fricative ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Trill ʙ r ɽ͡r ʀ я * Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̯ Lateral Fric. ɬ ɮ ɭ˔̊ ʎ̥˔ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral Appr. l ɭ ʎ ʟ Lateral flap ɺ ɺ̠ ʎ̯ Non-pulmonic consonants Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ʘ̃ ʘ̃ˀ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qʼ Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ᶑ ɠ ʛ Ejectives pʼ tʼ cʼ ʈʼ kʼ qʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ Affricates p̪f b̪v ts dz tʃ dʒ tɕ dʑ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɬ dɮ cç ɟʝ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ Co-articulated consonants Fricatives ɕ ʑ ɧ Approximants ʍ w ɥ ɫ Stops k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, left—right represent the voiceless—voiced consonants. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible. * Symbol not defined in IPA. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels 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 Vowels: IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view