Near-open central vowel
| IPA number | 324 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| X-SAMPA | 6 | ||
| |||
The near-open central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɐ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 6. The IPA symbol is a upside-down printed letter 'a'.
Features
- Its vowel height is near-open, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted.
- Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
- Its vowel roundedness may be rounded or unrounded. If precision is desired, the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, for the unrounded near-open central vowel, [ɜ̞], and the symbol for the open-mid central rounded vowel with a lowering diacritic may be used for the rounded near-open central vowel, [ɞ̞].
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantonese | 心/sam1 | [sɐm] | 'heart' | See Standard Cantonese |
| English (some AmE[citation needed]) | nut | [nɐt] | 'nut' | <ʌ> may be used to transcribe this vowel as it corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.[1] See English phonology |
| German | der | [deːɐ]/[dɐ] | 'the' (masculine singular definite article) | See German phonology and German Pronunciation for Speakers of American English |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | cama | [kɐ̃mɐ] | 'bed' | In European Portuguese it may be closer to a mid vowel. See Portuguese phonology |
| Tadaksahak | [nɐ] | 'to give' | ||