| Ipa Symbol: | ɨ |
| Ipa Number: | 317 |
| Decimal: | 616 |
| X-Sampa: | 1 |
| Kirshenbaum: | i" |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0268.svg |
| Braille: | 356 |
| Braille2: | i |
pronounced as /vowels/
The close central unrounded vowel, or high central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|ɨ), namely the lower-case letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as barred i.
Occasionally, this vowel is transcribed (IPA|ï) (centralized (IPA|i)) or (IPA|ɯ̈) (centralized (IPA|ɯ)).[1]
The close central unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare post-palatal approximant pronounced as /[j̈]/.[2]
Some languages feature the near-close central unrounded vowel, which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ɨ̞) and (IPA|ɪ̈), but other transcriptions such as (IPA|ɪ̠) and (IPA|ɘ̝) are also possible. In many British dictionaries, this vowel has been transcribed (IPA|ɪ), which captures its height; in the American tradition it is more often (IPA|ɨ), which captures its centrality, or (IPA|ᵻ), which captures both. (IPA|ᵻ) is also used in a number of other publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells. In the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, (IPA|ᵻ) represents variation between pronounced as //ɪ// and pronounced as //ə//.
pronounced as //ɨ// is uncommon as a phoneme in Indo-European languages, occurring most commonly in some Slavic languages, such as Belarusian and Russian (see ы). However, it is very common as a separate phoneme in the indigenous languages of the Americas and is often in phonemic contrast with other close vowels such as pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (such as Proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark identify the presence of this vowel phoneme as an areal feature of a Mesoamerican Sprachbund (although that is not a defining feature of the entire area).
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Achinese: tup'''eu'''e | pronounced as /[tupɨə]/ | 'to know' | Asyik and Al-Ahmadi Al-Harbi describe this sound as such while Durie[3] describes it as closer to pronounced as /[ɯ]/ | |||
| Aikanã | t'''ɨ'''i | pronounced as /[ˈtɨi]/ | 'aunt' | It also happens as allophone of pronounced as //a// before pronounced as /[i]/. | ||
| Amharic: [[Ge'ez alphabet|ሥር]]/ | pronounced as /[sɨ̞r]/ | 'root' | Near-close. | |||
| Khonoma | pr'''ü''' | pronounced as /[pɻɨ˨]/ | 'hail stone' | The height varies between close pronounced as /[ɨ]/ and mid pronounced as /link/. Typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ə). | ||
| Arhuaco | ik'''ʉ''' | pronounced as /[ɪk'ɨ]/ | 'Arhuaco language' | |||
| k'''ü'''ma | pronounced as /[kɨma]/ | 'afraid' | ||||
| ⵅⴷ'''ⵉ'''ⵎ/khd'''i'''m | pronounced as /[χdɨ̞m]/ | 'to work' | Epenthetically inserted into consonant clusters before labial and coronal consonants. | |||
| Chinese | Hokkien | [[Chinese characters|豬]]/ | pronounced as /[tɨ˥]/ | 'pig' | ||
| Mandarin | [[Chinese characters|十]]/ | pronounced as /[ʂɨ˧˥]/ | 'ten' | |||
| English: [[English orthography|g'''oo'''d]] | pronounced as /[ɡɨ̞d]/ | 'good' | Corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in other dialects. See English phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[ɡɪ̈d]/ | May be rounded pronounced as /link/ instead; it corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in other dialects. See English phonology | |||||
| pronounced as /[lɪ̈ʔp]/ | 'lip' | Possible realization of pronounced as //ɪ//. | ||||
| pronounced as /[lɨ̞p]/ | For some speakers it can be equal to pronounced as /link/. General and Broad varieties of SAE have an allophonic variation, with pronounced as /[ɪ]/ (pronounced as /link/ in Broad) occurring near velar and palatal consonants, and pronounced as /[ɨ̞~{{IPAplink|ə}}]/ elsewhere. See South African English phonology | |||||
| pronounced as /[lɪ̈p]/ | Allophone of pronounced as //ɪ// before labial consonants, sometimes also in other environments. | |||||
| English: [[English orthography|r'''u'''de]] | pronounced as /[ɹɨːd]/ | 'rude' | May be rounded pronounced as /link/, or a diphthong pronounced as /[ʊʉ̯~əʉ̯]/ instead. | |||
| Guaraní[4] | Guarani: [[Guaraní alphabet|'''y'''v'''y''']] | pronounced as /[ɨʋɨ]/ | 'earth' | |||
| Hausa: cin ab'''i'''nci | pronounced as /[t̠ʃin abɨnt̠ʃi]/ | 'to eat' | Allophone of pronounced as //i//. | |||
| Irish: [[Irish orthography|g'''oi'''rt]] | pronounced as /[ɡɨ̞ɾˠtʲ]/ | 'salty' | Allophone of pronounced as //i// between broad consonants. See Irish phonology | |||
| Munster | Irish: [[Irish orthography|c'''ao'''ra]] | pronounced as /[kɨːɾˠə]/ | 'sheep' | Allophone of pronounced as //i// between broad consonants. See Irish phonology | ||
| Allophone of pronounced as //ɪ//. Near-close. | ||||||
| pronounced as /[pɨˈnɨt̪]/ | 'beard' | |||||
| Kashmiri[5] | Kashmiri: ژٕنُن/ | pronounced as /[t͡sɨnʊn]/ | 'peach' | |||
| pronounced as /[ɡɨ̀ɡɨ̀r]/ | 'knee' | |||||
| Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|គិត]]/ | pronounced as /[kɨt]/ | 'to think' | See Khmer phonology | |||
| Kurdish | Palewani (Southern) | Kurdish: [[Kurdish alphabets|کرماشان]]/Kurdish: k'''i'''rmaşan | pronounced as /[cʰɨɾmäːʃäːn]/ | 'kermanshah' | Equal to Kurmanji and Sorani pronounced as /link/. See Kurdish phonology | |
| d'''y'''žan | pronounced as /[ˈd̪ɨʒän̪]/ | 'very much' | See Latgalian phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[d͡ʑäbɨ̞ʔ͡k̚]/ | 'to be drunk' | |||||
| Malay | Kelantan-Pattani | ng'''e'''cat | pronounced as /[ŋɨ.caʔ]/ | 'to paint' | See Kelantan-Pattani Malay | |
| Mapudungun; Mapuche: [[Mapudungun alphabet|m'''ü'''ṉa]] | pronounced as /[mɘ̝ˈn̪ɐ̝]/ | 'male cousin on father's side' | Unstressed allophone of pronounced as //ɘ//. | |||
| Mongolian: [[Cyrillic script|хүч'''и'''р]]/ | pronounced as /[xutʃʰɨɾɘ̆]/ | 'difficult' | ||||
| Matis | pronounced as /[kɨˈnɨ]/ | 'wall' | ||||
| d'''ɨ''' | pronounced as /[dɨ]/ | 'count' | ||||
| s'''ɨ'''m | pronounced as /[sɨm]/ | 'to eat' | ||||
| May be transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ɯ). | ||||||
| Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|'''î'''not]] | pronounced as /[ɨˈn̪o̞t̪]/ | 'I swim' | See Romanian phonology | |||
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|т'''ы''']]/ | 'you' (singular/informal) | Occurs only after unpalatalized consonants. Near-close when unstressed. See Russian phonology | ||||
| kʼsit | pronounced as /[kʼsɨt]/ | 'cold' | Epenthetic. No lengthened equivalent | |||
| Sanumá | pronounced as /[taˈaɨ]/ | 'to see' | The nasal version pronounced as /[ɨ̃]/ also occurs. | |||
| Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography|t'''ui'''lleadh]] | pronounced as /[ˈt̪ʰɨʎəɣ]/ | 'more' | Allophone of pronounced as //ɯ// when short and in proximity to slender consonants. | |||
| t'''e'''naitianronki | pronounced as /[ˈt̪ɨnɐi̞ti̞ɐ̃ɽõ̞ɣi̞]/ | Possible realization of pronounced as //ɯ// after coronal consonants. | ||||
| pronounced as /[eˈsɨ]/ | 'dry wood' | |||||
| s'''ü''' | pronounced as /[ʃɨ̀]/ | 'to hurt' | Described variously as close pronounced as /[ɨ]/ and near-close pronounced as /[ɨ̞]/. | |||
| Bohuslän | Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|bl'''i''']] | pronounced as /[blɨᶻː]/ | 'to become' | A fricated vowel that corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology | ||
| Närke | ||||||
| Bukharan | Tajik: cižciž Tajik: [[Cyrillic script|ғ'''и'''жғ'''и'''ж]] | pronounced as /[ʁɨʑʁɨʑ]/ | 'the sound of wood sawing' | Allophone of pronounced as //i// in the environment of uvular consonants. | ||
| vály Tamil: ([[Tamil script|வால்]]) | pronounced as /[väːlɨ]/ | 'tail' | Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be rounded pronounced as /link/ instead. See Tamil phonology | |||
| z'''u̱''' | pronounced as /[zɨ]/ | 'said' | ||||
| v'''u̱'''r | pronounced as /[vɨ̞r]/ | 'to give' | Allophone of pronounced as //ɨ// in closed syllables. | |||
| Tsou[6] | hahocng'''x''', hahocng'''ʉ''' | pronounced as /[ha.ˈho.t͡sŋɨ]/ | 'man' | pronounced as //ɨ//, with free variant pronounced as /[ʉ]/. Used to be written as (ʉ), but changed to (x) for more convenient typing. | ||
| Tupi | '''y'''b'''y'''t'''y'''ra | [ɨβɨ'tɨɾa] | 'mountain' | See Tupian Phonology | ||
| Standard | Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|s'''ığ''']] | pronounced as /[sɨː]/ | 'shallow' | Also described as close back pronounced as /link/ and near-close near-back pronounced as /link/ Typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ɯ). See Turkish phonology | ||
| Balkans[7] | Word-final merger of standard Turkish sounds pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //ɯ//, shift of pronounced as //y// and pronounced as //u// into single phoneme due to interactions caused by Balkan sprachbund. Dombrowski transcribes this phoneme as pronounced as //i//. | |||||
| Udmurt: yrgete/Udmurt: [[Cyrillic script|'''ы'''ргетэ]] | pronounced as /[ɨrɡete]/ | 'it growls' | ||||
| Vietnamese[8] | Vietnamese: b'''ư'''ng | pronounced as /[ʔɓɨŋ˧˧]/ | 'to carry' | |||
| Wayuu | paan'''ü'''k'''ü'''in | pronounced as /[pa:nɨkɨinː]/ | 'your mouth' | |||
| Northern dialects | Welsh: [[Welsh alphabet|ll'''u'''n]] | pronounced as /[ɬɨːn]/ | 'picture' | Close when long, near-close when short. Merges with pronounced as //ɪ// in southern dialects. See Welsh phonology | ||
| pronounced as /[pɨ̞mp]/ | 'five' | |||||
| p'''ï'''tu | pronounced as /[pɨtu]/ | 'person' | ||||
| n'''ɨ''' | pronounced as /[nɨ]/ | 'be sour' | ||||
The sound of Polish (y) is often represented as pronounced as //ɨ//, but actually it is a close-mid advanced central unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed pronounced as /[ɘ̟]/. Similarly, European Portuguese unstressed (e), often represented as pronounced as //ɨ//, is actually a near-close near-back unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed using ad hoc symbols such as pronounced as /[ɯ̽]/ (mid-centralized), pronounced as /[ɯ̟]/ (fronted) and pronounced as /[ʊ̜]/ (less rounded, i.e. unrounded).
pronounced as /navigation/