Open-mid central rounded vowel

Open-mid central rounded vowel
ɞ
IPA number	395
Audio sample
File:Open-mid central rounded vowel.ogg source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɞ
Unicode (hex)	U+025E
X-SAMPA	3\
Braille	⠦ (braille pattern dots-236)⠜ (braille pattern dots-345)
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IPA: Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	File:Blank vowel trapezoid.svg i • y	ɨ • ʉ	ɯ • u
Near-close	ɪ • ʏ		• ʊ
Close-mid	e • ø	ɘ • ɵ	ɤ • o
Mid	e̞ • ø̞	ə	ɤ̞ • o̞
Open-mid	ɛ • œ	ɜ • ɞ	ʌ • ɔ
Near-open	æ •	ɐ
Open	a • ɶ	ä •	ɑ • ɒ

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Legend: unrounded • rounded

The open-mid central rounded vowel, or low-mid central rounded vowel, is a vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɞ⟩. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ɔ̈⟩.

IPA charts were first published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, ⟨ʚ⟩ (that is, a closed variant of ⟨ɛ⟩, much as the high-mid vowel letter ⟨ɵ⟩ is a closed variant of ⟨e⟩), and this variant made its way into Unicode as U+029A ʚ <reserved-029A>. The IPA charts were later changed to the current closed reversed epsilon ⟨ɞ⟩, and this was adopted into Unicode as U+025E ɞ <reserved-025E>.

Features

• 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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

File:Spectrogram of open-mid central rounded vowel (IPA ɞ).png

Spectrogram of [ɞ]

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans		lug	[lɞχ]	'air'	Also been described as mid [ɞ̝], typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech. See Afrikaans phonology
English	Irish	munch	[mɞnt̠͡ʃ]	'munch'	Corresponds to [ʌ] in other varieties. See English phonology
	New Zealand	not	[nɞʔt]	'not'	Possible realization of /ɒ/. See New Zealand English phonology
Faroese		høgur	[ˈhɞːʋʊɹ]	'high'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨øː⟩. See Faroese phonology
French	Parisian	port	<phonos file="LL-Q150 (fra)-Aemines2-port.wav">[pɞːꭓ]</phonos>	'port', 'harbour'	Described variously as an allophone of /ɔ/ before /ʁ/ and as the default allophone of /ɔ/. See French phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect	Wonne	[ˈʋɞnə]	'bliss'	May be transcribed as ⟨ɞ̝⟩ though ⟨ɞ⟩ is typically used.
Irish		tomhail	[t̪ˠɞːlʲ]	'consume' (imp.)	See Irish phonology
Kashubian		ptôch	[ptɞx]	'bird'
Koyukon		-ʉghdonaanh	[ɞɣtɔːnæːn̥]	'son-in-law'
Limburgish	Maastrichtian	lui	[lɞː]	'lazy'	Allophone of /œy/ in words with Accent 2. May be slightly diphthongal [ɞɵ] itself. It contrasts with the near-open [ɐ̹ː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless). It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨œː⟩, as it is a phonological front vowel.
Mortlockese		mér	[mɞr]	'to sleep'	Phonemic vowel.
Mwerlap		N̄wërlap	[ŋʷɞrˈlap]	'Merelava'
Navajo		tsosts’id	[tsʰɞstsˈɪt]	'seven'	See Navajo phonology
Northern Tiwa	Taos dialect	ącut'uonbo	[ʔãˌtʃʊt̚ːˈʔuɞnbɑ]	'his-garment-around'	Allophone of /ɑ/. See Taos phonology
Panará		[kɾə'kɞ]		'trousers'	Contrasts with [ə].
Poitevin		o doune	[ɞ dun]	'he gives'
West Frisian	Southwestern dialects	boare	[ˈbɞːrə]	'tomcat'	Corresponds to [wa] in other dialects. See West Frisian phonology

External links

• List of languages with [ɞ] on PHOIBLE