Open vowel

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:CSS IPA vowel chart
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.

An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue. The open vowels identified the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

In the context of the phonology of any particular language, a low vowel can be any vowel that is more open than a mid vowel. That is, open-mid vowels, near-open vowels, and open vowels can all be considered low vowels.


1Template:Note This vowel is not known to occur as a distinct phoneme from Template:IPA in any language.fr:Voyelle basse he:תנועות פתוחות ja:広母音