Close-mid back unrounded vowel

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Vowels

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.

1 Close-mid back unrounded vowel
- 1.1 Features
- 1.2 Occurs in
2 Mid back unrounded vowel
- 2.1 Occurs in

Close-mid back unrounded vowel

The close-mid back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. Its symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is Template:IPA, called "ram's horns". It is not to be confused with the symbol for the voiced velar fricative, Template:IPA, which has a descender.

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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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

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Occurs in

Estonian: mõni Template:IPA, 'some'
Mandarin: Template:Audio (pinyin hē) Template:IPA, 'to drink'　
Vietnamese: phở Template:IPA phở, (a kind of soup); tơ Template:IPA, 'silk'
Irish: Uladh Template:IPA, 'Ulster'
Yorkshire English: 'hope' Template:IPA
Onge: Template:IPA, 'man'

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Mid back unrounded vowel

Some languages have a mid back unrounded vowel, 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 Template:IPA is generally used. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic may be used: Template:IPA.

Several of the languages listed above may have mid rather than close-mid vowels.

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