Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Mid back rounded vowel

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IPA number
  
307 430

Unicode (hex)
  
U+006F U+031E

Entity (decimal)
  
o​̞

The mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. While there is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the exact mid back rounded vowel between close-mid [o] and open-mid [ɔ], it is normally written ⟨o⟩. If precision is desired, diacritics may be used, such as ⟨o̞⟩ or ⟨ɔ̝⟩, the former being more common. A non-IPA letter ⟨ⱺ⟩ is also found.

Just because a language has only one non-close non-open back vowel, it still may not be a true-mid vowel. There is a language in Sulawesi, Indonesia, with a close-mid [o], Tukang Besi. Another language in Indonesia, in the Maluku Islands, has an open-mid [ɔ], Taba. In both languages, there is no contrast with another mid (true-mid or close-mid) vowel.

Kensiu, in Malaysia and Thailand, is highly unusual in that it contrasts true-mid vowels with close-mid and open-mid vowels without any difference in other parameters, such as backness or roundedness.

Features

  • Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
  • 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.

    • References

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