Close central rounded vowel explained

Ipa Symbol:ʉ
Ipa Number:318
Decimal:649

}pronounced as /vowels/

The close central rounded vowel, or high central 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 (IPA|ʉ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is }. The sound is also commonly referred to by the name of its symbol, "barred u".

The close central rounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare labialized post-palatal approximant pronounced as /[ẅ]/.[1]

In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips (endolabial). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed (exolabial).

Some languages feature the near-close central rounded vowel, which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ʉ̞), (IPA|ʊ̈) and (IPA|ʊ̟), but (IPA|ɵ̝) is also a possible transcription. The symbol (IPA|ᵿ), a conflation of (IPA|ʊ) and (IPA|ʉ), is used as an unofficial extension of the IPA to represent this sound by a number of publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells. In the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, (IPA|ᵿ) represents free variation between pronounced as //ʊ// and pronounced as //ə//.

Close central protruded vowel

The close central protruded vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as (IPA|ʉ), and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, symbol for the close central rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, (IPA|  ̫), can be used as an ad hoc symbol (IPA|ʉ̫) for the close central protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is (IPA|ʉʷ) or (IPA|ɨʷ) (a close central vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.

Occurrence

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

Language Word Meaning Notes
Khonoma s'''u''' pronounced as /[sʉ˦]/ 'deep' Allophone of pronounced as //u// after pronounced as //s//.
ArmenianSome Eastern dialects Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|յ'''ու'''ղ]]/yowġ pronounced as /[jʉʁ]/'oil' Allophone of pronounced as //u// after pronounced as //j//.
Berberⵍⵍⴰⵢⴳⴳⵓⵔ/llayggur pronounced as /[lːæjˈɡːʉɾ]/ 'he goes' Allophone of pronounced as //u// after velar consonants.
Standard Northern Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|n'''u''']] pronounced as /[nʉ]/ 'now' Typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|y); also described as close front pronounced as /link/ and near-close front pronounced as /link/. See Dutch phonology
Randstad[2] Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|h'''u'''t]] pronounced as /[ɦɵ̝t]/ 'hut' Found in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Lower pronounced as /link/ in Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
English: [[English orthography|g'''oo'''se]] pronounced as /[ɡʉːs]/'goose' See Australian English phonology
See New Zealand English phonology
Realized as back pronounced as /link/ in the conservative variety.
May (less commonly) be fully front pronounced as /link/ instead.
Realized as back pronounced as /link/ in the conservative variety and in many Black and Indian varieties. See South African English phonology
pronounced as /[ɡʉs]/ Can be back pronounced as /link/ instead.
English: [[English orthography|f'''oo'''t]] pronounced as /[fʉ̞ʔt]/ 'foot' The exact height, backness and roundedness is variable.
pronounced as /[ɡʊ̈d]/ 'good' Only in some words, particularly good, otherwise realized as near-back pronounced as /link/.
Can be front pronounced as /link/ instead.
May be unrounded pronounced as /link/ instead; it corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in other dialects. See English phonology
Ulster[3] Short allophone of pronounced as //u//.
Shetlandstrutpronounced as /[stɹʊ̈t]/'strut'Can be pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ instead.
German: [[German orthography|B'''u'''den]] pronounced as /[ˈb̥ʉːd̥n̩]/ 'booths' The example word is from the Chemnitz dialect.
Allophone of pronounced as //u//.
fuuk pronounced as /[fʉ́ʉk]/ 'cover many things/times' Allophone of pronounced as //u// between consonants.
Some dialects Phonemic; contrasts with pronounced as //u//.
pronounced as /[cʉːnʲ]/ 'quiet' Allophone of pronounced as //u// between slender consonants. See Irish phonology
pronounced as /[ˈʉ̜l̪ˠi]/'apples' Often only weakly rounded; may be transcribed in IPA with (IPA|u).
pronounced as /[mʉːj]/ "to surround" Has other centralized vowels.
müçig pronounced as /[mʉːˈt͡ʃɯɡ]/ 'dust' See Kurdish phonology
Some dialects Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: br'''uu'''dsje pronounced as /[ˈbʀ̝ʉtʃə]/ 'breadroll' Close pronounced as /[ʉ]/ or near-close pronounced as /[ʉ̞]/, depending on the dialect. Close front pronounced as /link/ in other dialects. Typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|y). The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect, in which the vowel is close.
pronounced as /[lʉ˥zʉ˥˧]/ 'Lüsu'
Russian: [[Russian orthography|к'''ю'''рий]]/kyuriy/kjurij pronounced as /[ˈkʲʉrʲɪj]/'curium'Allophone of pronounced as //u// between palatalized consonants. Near-close when unstressed. See Russian phonology
Scots: b'''ui'''t pronounced as /[bʉt]/ 'boot' May be more front pronounced as /link/ instead.
older Lewis speakers pronounced as /[kʰɔˈjʉː]/ 'anyway' Normal allophone of pronounced as /link/. Fronted as pronounced as /link/ among younger speakers.
Wester Ross[4] Normal allophone of pronounced as /link/.
Bohuslän Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|'''y'''la]] pronounced as /[²ʉᶻːlä]/ 'howl' A fricated vowel that corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology
Närke
Tamil: [[Tamil script|வால்]] pronounced as /[väːlʉ]/ 'tail' Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be unrounded pronounced as /link/ instead. See Tamil phonology

Close central compressed vowel

Above:Close central compressed vowel
Ipa Symbol:ÿ
Ipa Symbol2:ɨ͡β̞
Ipa Symbol3:ɨᵝ
Showbelow:no

As there is no official diacritic for compression in the IPA, the centering diacritic is used with the front rounded vowel pronounced as /[y]/, which is normally compressed. Other possible transcriptions are (IPA|ɨ͡β̞) (simultaneous pronounced as /[ɨ]/ and labial compression) and (IPA|ɨᵝ) (pronounced as /[ɨ]/ modified with labial compression[5]).

Occurrence

This vowel is typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ʉ). It occurs in some dialects of Swedish, but see also close front compressed vowel. The close back vowels of Norwegian and Swedish are also compressed. See close back compressed vowel. It also occurs in Japanese as an allophone. Medumba has a compressed central vowel pronounced as /[ɨᵝ]/ where the corners of the mouth are not drawn together.[6]

Language Word Meaning Notes
Some younger speakers Japanese: [[Japanese orthography|空気]] / pronounced as /[kÿːki]/ 'air' Near-back pronounced as /link/ for other speakers.
Standard Tokyo pronunciation / pronounced as /[sÿɕi]/'sushi' Allophone of pronounced as //u// after pronounced as //s, z, t// and palatalized consonants.[7] See Japanese phonology
NorwegianUrban EastNorwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|h'''u'''s]]pronounced as /[hÿːs]/'house'Typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ʉː). Also described as front pronounced as /link/. See Norwegian phonology
Some dialects Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|f'''u'''l]] pronounced as /[fÿːl]/ 'ugly' More front pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|yː}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʏː}}]/ in Central Standard Swedish; typically transcribed in IPA as (IPA|ʉː). See Swedish phonology

See also

References

External links

pronounced as /navigation/

Notes and References

  1. Instead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar".
  2. . The source describes the Standard Dutch vowel as front-central pronounced as /link/, but more sources (e.g. and) describe it as central pronounced as /link/. As far as the raised varieties of this vowel are concerned, Collins and Mees do not describe their exact backness.
  3. Web site: Jilka. Matthias. Irish English and Ulster English. Stuttgart. Institut für Linguistik/Anglistik, University of Stuttgart. 6. https://web.archive.org/web/20140421050911/http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d9_Ireland.pdf. 21 April 2014.
  4. Web site: Aspiration. live. 2021-04-23. Scottish Gaelic Dialect Survey. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210424000221/https://doug5181.wixsite.com/sgdsmaps/page9 . 2021-04-24 .
  5. e.g. in Flemming (2002) Auditory representations in phonology, p. 83.
  6. Olson . Kenneth . Meynadier . Yohann . ON MEDUMBA BILABIAL TRILLS AND VOWELS . 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences . 2015 . USBkey#0522 . 20 November 2021.
  7. Book: Labrune, Laurence. The Phonology of Japanese. Oxford University Press. 2012. 978-0-19-954583-4. Oxford, England. 25.