Neha Patil (Editor)

Close back rounded vowel

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IPA number
  
308

Unicode (hex)
  
U+0075

Kirshenbaum
  
u

Entity (decimal)
  
u

X-SAMPA
  
u

Close back rounded vowel

The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨u⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.

Contents

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".

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

The close back rounded vowel is almost identical featurally to the labio-velar approximant [w]. [u] alternates with [w] in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, [u̯] with the non-syllabic diacritic and [w] are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.

Close back protruded vowel

The close back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨u⟩, and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, symbol for the close back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨  ̫⟩, can be used as an ad hoc symbol ⟨u̫⟩ for the close back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is ⟨uʷ⟩ or ⟨ɯʷ⟩ (a close back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.

Features

  • Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
  • Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
  • Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

    • Occurrence

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

    Close back compressed vowel

    Some languages, such as Japanese ( listen ) and Swedish, are found with a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial. Only the Shanghainese dialect is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close back vowel, but the height of both varies from close to close-mid.

    There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨ɯ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [ɯ] and labial compression) or ⟨ɯᵝ⟩ ([ɯ] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨  ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨u͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.

    Features

  • Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
  • Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
  • Its roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

    • References

    Close back rounded vowel Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA