Close-mid front rounded vowel
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Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.
The close-mid front 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 ø, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 2. The symbol ø is a lowercase letter o with a diagonal stroke through it, derived from the Danish, Faroese, and Norwegian alphabets, which also use this symbol to represent this sound. This symbol is also commonly referred to as "o, slash".
Features
- Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between close vowel and a mid vowel.
- Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
- Its roundedness is endolabial, which means that the lips are rounded but compressed, so that the inner surfaces are not exposed.
Occurrence
Mid front rounded vowel
Some languages have a mid front rounded vowel, distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and [ø] is generally used. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic may be used: [ø̞].
Occurrence
In the following transcriptions, the lowering diacritic has been omitted for the sake of simplicity.
References
Bibliography
- Fougeron, Cecile & Caroline L Smith (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73-76
- Roca, Iggy & Wyn Johnson (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing