| Mid front unrounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| e̞ | |
| ɛ̝ | |
| IPA number | 302 430 |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity(decimal) | e̞ |
| Unicode(hex) | U+0065 U+031E |
| X-SAMPA | e_o |
| Braille |    |
| IPA:Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Legend:unrounded • rounded |
Themid front unrounded vowel is a type ofvowel sound that is used in some spokenlanguages. There is no dedicated symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents the exact mid front unrounded vowel between close-mid[e] and open-mid[ɛ], but it is normally written ⟨e⟩. If precision is required, diacritics may be used, such as ⟨e̞⟩ or ⟨ɛ̝⟩ (the former, indicatinglowering, being more common). InSinology andKoreanology,⟨ᴇ⟩ is sometimes used, for example in theZhengzhang Shangfang reconstructions or inChao Yuen RenGrammar of Spoken Chinese.
For many of the languages that have only onephonemic front unrounded vowel in the mid-vowel area (neither close nor open), the vowel is pronounced as a true mid vowel and is phonetically distinct from either a close-mid or open-mid vowel. Examples areBasque,Spanish,Romanian,Japanese,Turkish,Finnish,Greek,Hejazi Arabic,Serbo-Croatian andKorean (Seoul dialect). A number of dialects ofEnglish also have such a mid front vowel. However, there is no general predisposition.Igbo andEgyptian Arabic, for example, have a close-mid[e], andBulgarian has an open-mid[ɛ], but none of these languages have another phonemic mid front vowel.
Kensiu, spoken in Malaysia and Thailand, is claimed to be unique in having true-mid vowels that are phonemically distinct from both close-mid and open-mid vowels, without differences in other parameters such as backness or roundedness.[1]
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard[2] | bed | [bɛ̝t] | 'bed' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. The height varies between mid[ɛ̝] and close-mid[e].[2] SeeAfrikaans phonology |
| Arabic | Hejazi[3] | بـيـت / bēt | [be̞ːt] | 'home' | SeeHejazi Arabic phonology |
| Breton[4] | [example needed] | Possible realization of unstressed/ɛ/; can be open-mid[ɛ] or close-mid[e] instead.[4] | |||
| Chinese | Mandarin[5] | 也 /yě | [je̞˨˩˦]ⓘ | 'also' | SeeStandard Chinese phonology |
| Czech | Bohemian[6] | led | [lɛ̝̈t] | 'ice' | Near-front; may be open-mid[ɛ] instead.[6] SeeCzech phonology |
| Dutch | Some speakers[7] | zet | [zɛ̝t] | 'shove' (n.) | Open-mid[ɛ] in Standard Dutch.[7] SeeDutch phonology |
| English | BroadNew Zealand[8] | cat | [kʰɛ̝t] | 'cat' | Lower in other New Zealand varieties;[8] corresponds to[æ] in other accents. SeeNew Zealand English phonology |
| Cockney[9] | bird | [bɛ̝̈ːd] | 'bird' | Near-front; occasional realization of/ɜː/. It can be rounded[œ̝ː] or, more often, unrounded central[ɜ̝ː] instead.[9] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. | |
| CultivatedNew Zealand[8] | let | [le̞t] | 'let' | Higher in other New Zealand varieties.[8] SeeNew Zealand English phonology | |
| Received Pronunciation[10] | Many speakers pronounce a more open vowel[ɛ] instead. SeeEnglish phonology | ||||
| Inland Northern American[11] | bit | [bë̞t̚] | 'bit' | Near-front,[11][12] may be[ɪ] (also[ə] in Scotland) instead for other speakers. SeeNorthern Cities vowel shift | |
| Scottish[12] | [bë̞ʔ] | ||||
| Yorkshire[13] | play | [ple̞ː] | 'play' | ||
| Estonian[14] | sule | [ˈsule̞ˑ] | 'feather' (gen. sg.) | Common word-final allophone of/e/.[15] SeeEstonian phonology | |
| Finnish[16][17] | menen | [ˈme̞ne̞n] | 'I go' | SeeFinnish phonology | |
| German | Standard[18] | Bett | [b̥ɛ̝t] | 'bed' | More often described as open-mid front[ɛ].[19][20] SeeStandard German phonology |
| Austrian andSwiss | danke | [ˈd̥aŋkɛ̝] | 'thanks' | The most common realization of syllable-final/ə/.[21] | |
| Bernese dialect[22] | rède | [ˈrɛ̝d̥ə] | 'to speak' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. SeeBernese German phonology | |
| Greek | Modern Standard[23][24] | πες /pes | [pe̞s̠] | 'say!' | SeeModern Greek phonology |
| Hebrew[25] | כן/ken | [ke̞n] | 'yes' | Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, seeNiqqud andModern Hebrew phonology | |
| Hungarian[26] | hét | [he̞ːt̪] | 'seven' | Also described as close-mid[eː].[27] SeeHungarian phonology | |
| Ibibio[28] | [sé̞] | 'look' | |||
| Icelandic[29] | kenna | [ˈcʰɛ̝nːä] | 'to teach' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. The long allophone is often diphthongized to[eɛ].[30] SeeIcelandic phonology | |
| Italian | Standard[31] | decidere | [d̪eˈt͡ʃiːd̪eɾe̞] | 'to believe' | Common realization of the unstressed/e/.[31] SeeItalian phonology |
| Northern accents[32] | penso | [ˈpe̞ŋso] | 'I think' | Common realization of/e/.[32] SeeItalian phonology | |
| Japanese[33] | 笑み/emi | [e̞mʲi]ⓘ | 'smile' | SeeJapanese phonology | |
| Jebero[34] | [ˈiʃë̞k] | 'bat' | Near-front; possible realization of/ɘ/.[34] | ||
| Korean | 내가 /naega | [nɛ̝ɡɐː] | 'I' | Pronunciation of ⟨ɛ⟩. SeeKorean phonology | |
| Latvian[35] | ēst | [ê̞ːs̪t̪] | 'to eat' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨e⟩. | |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian[36] | bèd | [bɛ̝t] | 'bed' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. SeeMaastrichtian dialect phonology andWeert dialect phonology |
| Weert dialect[37] | zègke | [ˈzɛ̝ɡə] | 'to say' | ||
| Low Saxon | Gelders-Overijssels andDrents[38] | èèt zie? | [e̞ːt] | 'do they eat?' | Only around the border of eten - èten, [e:] vs [ɛ:] |
| Macedonian | Standard | мед | [ˈmɛd̪] | 'honey' | |
| Malay | Standard | elok | [e̞ˈlo̞ʔ] | 'good' | SeeMalay phonology |
| Norwegian | Urban East[39][40] | nett | [nɛ̝tː] | 'net' | SeeNorwegian phonology |
| Romanian[41] | fete | [ˈfe̞t̪e̞] | 'girls' | SeeRomanian phonology | |
| Russian[42] | человек | [t͡ɕɪlɐˈvʲe̞k] | 'human' | Occurs only after soft consonants. SeeRussian phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[43][44] | тек /tek | [t̪ĕ̞k] | 'only' | SeeSerbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Slovak | Standard[45][46] | behať | [ˈbɛ̝ɦäc] | 'to run' | SeeSlovak phonology |
| Slovene[47] | velikan | [ʋe̞liˈká̠ːn] | 'giant' | Unstressed vowel,[47] as well as an allophone of/e/ before/j/ when a vowel does not follow within the same word.[48] SeeSlovene phonology | |
| Spanish[49] | bebé | [be̞ˈβ̞e̞] | 'baby' | SeeSpanish phonology | |
| Swedish | Central Standard[50] | häll | [hɛ̝l̪]ⓘ | 'flat rock' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. Many dialects pronounce short/e/ and/ɛ/ the same. SeeSwedish phonology |
| Tera[51] | ze | [zè̞ː] | 'spoke' | ||
| Turkish[52][53] | ev | [e̞v] | 'house' | SeeTurkish phonology | |
| Upper Sorbian[54] | njebjo | [ˈn̠ʲɛ̝bʲɔ] | 'sky' | Allophone of/ɛ/ between soft consonants and after a soft consonant, excluding/j/ in both cases.[54] | |
| Yoruba[55] | [example needed] | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ̃⟩. It is nasalized, and may be open-mid[ɛ̃] instead.[55] | |||
