Close-mid back rounded vowel

The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-mid back rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨o⟩.

Close-mid back rounded vowel
o
IPA Number	307
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	o
Unicode (hex)	U+006F
X-SAMPA	o
Braille
Audio sample
source · help

IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u Near-close ɪ ʏ ʊ Close-mid e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o Mid ø̞ ə o̞ Open-mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ Near-open æ ɐ Open a ɶ ä ɑ ɒ
IPA help  audio full chart template Vowels beside dots are: unrounded • rounded

For the close-mid back rounded vowel that is usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʊ⟩ or ⟨u⟩, see near-close back rounded vowel. If the usual symbol is ⟨o⟩, the vowel is listed here.

Close-mid back protruded vowel

The close-mid back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close-mid back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨o⟩, and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, the symbol for the close-mid back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨  ̫⟩, can be used as an ad hoc symbol ⟨o̫⟩ for the close-mid back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is ⟨oʷ⟩ or ⟨ɤʷ⟩ (a close-mid back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.

For the close-mid near-back protruded vowel that is usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʊ⟩, see near-close back protruded vowel. If the usual symbol is ⟨o⟩, the vowel is listed here.

Features

• Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel.

• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.

• Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard[2]	bok	[bok]	'goat'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. The height varies between close-mid [o] and mid [ɔ̝].[2] See Afrikaans phonology
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect[3]
Bulgarian[4]		уста/usta	[os̪ˈt̪a]	'mouth'	Unstressed allophone of /u/ and /ɔ/.[4] See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan[5]		sóc	[sok]	'I am'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Shanghainese[6]	瓜/kò	[ko˩]	'melon'	Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel.[6]
Czech	Bohemian[7]	oko	[ˈoko]	'eye'	Backness varies between back and near-back; may be realized as mid [o̞] instead.[7] See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard[8][9]	kone	[ˈkʰoːnə]	'wife'	Also described as near-close [o̝ː].[10][11] See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[12]	kool	[koːɫ]	'cabbage'	In the Netherlands often diphthongized to [oʊ]. See Dutch phonology
English	Australian[13]	yawn	[joːn]	'yawn'	See Australian English phonology
	Cockney[14]				May be [oʊ] or [ɔo] instead.
	New Zealand[15]				See New Zealand English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[16]				Typically transcribed with ⟨ɔː⟩. See English phonology
	South African[17]				General and Broad varieties. Cultivated SAE has a more open vowel. See South African English phonology
	General Indian[18]	go	[ɡoː]	'go'
	General Pakistani[19]				Varies between [oː ~ əʊ ~ ʊ].
	Singaporean[20]
Estonian[21]		tool	[toːlʲ]	'chair'	See Estonian phonology
Faroese[22]		tola	[ˈtʰoːla]	'to endure'	May be a diphthong [oɔː ~ oəː] instead.[23] See Faroese phonology
French[24][25]		réseau	[ʁezo]	'network'	See French phonology
German	Standard[26][27]	oder	[ˈoːdɐ]	'or'	See Standard German phonology
	Upper Saxon[28]	sondern	[ˈsɞ̝nd̥oˤn]	'except'	Pharyngealized; corresponds to [ɐ] in Northern Standard German. The example word is from the Chemnitz dialect.[28]
Greek	Sfakian[29]				Corresponds to mid [o̞] in Modern Standard Greek.[30] See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian[31]		kór	[koːr]	'disease'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian[32]		ombra	[ˈombrä]	'shade'	See Italian phonology
Kaingang[33]		[pɪˈpo]		'toad'
Korean		노래 / norae	[noɾε]	'song'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish[34][35][34][35][35][35]	Kurmanji (Northern)	roj	[roːʒ]	'day'	See Kurdish phonology
	Sorani (Central)	رۆژ/rôj
	Palewani (Southern)
Latin	Classical [36]	sol	[soːl]	'sun'
Limburgish	Most dialects[37][38][39]	hoof	[ɦoːf]	'garden'	The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Lower Sorbian[40]		wocy	[ˈβ̞ot̪͡s̪ɪ]	'(two) eyes'	Diphthongized to [u̯ɔ] in slow speech.[40]
Luxembourgish[41]		Sonn	[zon]	'sun'	Sometimes realized as open-mid [ɔ].[41] See Luxembourgish phonology
Minangkabau		sado	[sädoː]	'all'
Norwegian	Stavangersk[42]	lov	[lo̟ːʋ]	'law'	Near-back.[42] See Norwegian phonology
	Urban East[43]		[loːʋ]		Also described as mid [o̞ː].[44][45] See Norwegian phonology
Persian		لاک‌پشت/lakpošt	[lɒkˈpoʃt]	'turtle'
Portuguese[46]		outro	[owtɾu]	'other'	"outro" can be spoken without the "u" /w/.See Portuguese phonology
Saterland Frisian[47]		doalje	[ˈdo̟ːljə]	'to calm'	Near-back; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩. Phonetically, it is nearly identical to /ʊ/ ([ʊ̞]). The vowel typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨oː⟩ is actually near-close [o̝ː].[47]
Shiwiar[48]					Allophone of /a/.[48]
Slovak	Some speakers[49]	telefón	[ˈtɛ̝lɛ̝foːn]	'telephone'	Realization of /ɔː/ reported to occur in dialects spoken near the river Ipeľ, as well as - under Hungarian influence - in some other speakers. Corresponds to mid [ɔ̝ː] in standard Slovak.[49] See Slovak phonology
Slovene		moj	[mòːj]	'my'	See Slovene phonology
Sotho[50]		pontsho	[pʼon̩t͡sʰɔ]	'proof'	Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels.[50] See Sotho phonology
Swedish	Central Standard[51][52]	åka	[²oːcä]	'travel'	Often diphthongized to [oə̯]. See Swedish phonology
Ukrainian[53]		молодь/molod'	[ˈmɔlodʲ]	'youth'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian[40][54]		Bóh	[box]	'god'	Diphthongized to [u̯ɔ] in slow speech.[40][55] See Upper Sorbian phonology
West Frisian[56]		bok	[bok]	'billy-goat'	See West Frisian phonology
Yoruba[57]

Close-mid back compressed vowel

Close-mid back compressed vowel
o͍
ɤᵝ

There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨ɤ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [ɤ] and labial compression) or ⟨ɤᵝ⟩ ([ɤ] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨  ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨o͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, but 'spread' technically means unrounded.

Only Shanghainese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close-mid back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.[6]

Features

• Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high vowel) and a mid vowel.

• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.

• Its roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Chinese	Shanghainese[6]	都/tgb	[tɤᵝ˩]	'capital'	Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel.[6]

Notes

1. While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
2. Wissing (2016), section "The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/".
3. Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
4. Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999), p. 56.
5. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 54.
6. Chen & Gussenhoven (2015), pp. 328–329.
7. Dankovičová (1999), p. 72.
8. Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
9. Ladefoged & Johnson (2010), p. 227.
10. Uldall (1933), p. ?.
11. Basbøll (2005), p. 47.
12. Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
13. Harrington, Cox & Evans (1997).
14. Wells (1982), p. 310.
15. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
16. Roach (2004), p. 242.
17. Lass (2002), p. 116.
18. Wells (1982), p. 626.
19. Mahboob & Ahmar (2004), p. 1009.
20. Deterding (2000).
21. Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.
22. Árnason (2011), pp. 68, 74–75.
23. Árnason (2011), pp. 68, 75.
24. Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
25. Collins & Mees (2013), p. 225.
26. Hall (2003), pp. 90, 107.
27. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 34.
28. Khan & Weise (2013), p. 237.
29. Trudgill (2009), pp. 83–84.
30. Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
31. Szende (1994), p. 94.
32. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 119.
33. Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
34. Thackston (2006a), p. 1. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFThackston2006a (help)
35. Khan & Lescot (1970), pp. 8-16. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFKhanLescot1970 (help)
36. Wheelock's Latin (1956). sfnp error: no target: CITEREFWheelock's_Latin1956 (help)
37. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
38. Peters (2006), p. 119.
39. Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
40. Stone (2002), p. 600.
41. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
42. Vanvik (1979), p. 17.
43. Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
44. Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 17.
45. Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 4.
46. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
47. Peters (2017), p. ?.
48. Fast Mowitz (1975), p. 2.
49. Kráľ (1988), p. 92.
50. Doke & Mofokeng (1974), p. ?.
51. Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
52. Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.
53. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
54. Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 20.
55. Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 32–33.
56. Tiersma (1999), p. 10.
57. Bamgboṣe (1969), p. 166. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFBamgboṣe1969 (help)

References

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External links

• List of languages with [o] on PHOIBLE