Near-open vowel explained

pronounced as /vowels/pronounced as /notice/

A near-open vowel or a near-low vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted.^[1]

Other names for a near-open vowel are lowered open-mid vowel and raised open vowel,^[2] though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low as open; likewise, the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high as open-mid.

Partial list

The near-open vowels with dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

• near-open front unrounded vowel pronounced as /[æ]/
• near-open central vowel without specified rounding pronounced as /[ɐ]/ (usually used for an unrounded vowel; the distinction can be made as (IPA|ɜ̞) (or (IPA|æ̈)) vs (IPA|ɞ̞))

Other near-open vowels can be indicated with diacritics of relative articulation applied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as (IPA|ɒ̽) and (IPA|ɑ̽) for near-open near-back rounded and unrounded vowels.

References

1. Anderson . Catherine . Bjorkman . Bronwyn . Denis . Derek . Doner . Julianne . Grant . Margaret . Sanders . Nathan . Taniguchi . Ai . 2022-02-28 . 3.5 Describing vowels . en.
2. Pöchtrager . Markus A. . 2021-05-07 . Towards a non-arbitrary account of affricates and affrication . Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics . en . 6 . 1 . 10.5334/gjgl.1116 . 236547770 . 2397-1835. free .

pronounced as /navigation/