Theclose back unrounded vowel, orhigh back unrounded vowel,[1] is a type ofvowel sound used in some spokenlanguages. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɯ⟩. Typographically, it is a turned letter⟨m⟩.
The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of thevoiced velar approximant[ɰ].
Itsvowel height isclose, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as aconsonant.
Itsvowel backness isback, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as aconsonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to becentralized, which means that often they are in factnear-back.
Possible realization of the unstressed vowel/ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[8][9] Corresponds to/əl/ in other accents. Develops fromdark L; SeeNew Zealand English phonology
Some languages have anear-close near-back unrounded vowel, ornear-high near-back unrounded vowel, which is morecentralized than a typical[ɯ].
TheInternational Phonetic Alphabet has no dedicated symbol for this sound, but it may be represented as[ɯ̽] (mid-centralized ⟨ɯ⟩) or[ɯ̞̈] (lowered andcentralized ⟨ɯ⟩). It may also be transcribed as[ʊ̜] (less rounded ⟨ʊ⟩), but because ⟨ʊ⟩ is defined by theHandbook of the International Phonetic Association as rounded (whereas ⟨ə⟩ and ⟨ɐ⟩ do not specify rounding),[23] the symbol[ʊ̜] can also signify a weakly rounded[ʊ], rather than the fully unrounded vowel that is described in this article.John C. Wells transcribes this vowel with the para-IPA symbol ⟨ω⟩ in hisAccents of English,[24] thoughSinological phonetic notation uses this symbol instead for anear-open back rounded vowel[ɒ̝].John Esling uses ⟨ᵻ⟩ to represent this sound in hisiPA Phonetics mobile application,[25] though this is more typically used to represent anear-close central unrounded vowel[ɪ̈].
For precision, anear-close back unrounded vowel, ornear-high back unrounded vowel, may also be described, and is attested in a few spoken languages. This sound can be represented in the IPA as[ɯ̞] (lowered ⟨ɯ⟩) or[ɤ̝] (raised ⟨ɤ⟩). However, some phoneticians argue that all lip position inverses of the primarycardinal vowels are centralized (with the exception of ⟨ɒ⟩) based onformant acoustics,[26] so that there may be no substantial difference between a near-close near-back unrounded vowel[ɯ̽] and its fully back counterpart[ɯ̞].
Itsvowel backness isback, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as aconsonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to becentralized, which means that often they are in factnear-back.
Possible realization of the unstressed vowel/ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[8][9] It corresponds to/əl/ in other accents. SeeNew Zealand English phonology
Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul (2004), "New Zealand English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.),A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 580–602,ISBN3-11-017532-0
Bowerman, Sean (2004), "White South African English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.),A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 931–942,ISBN3-11-017532-0
Gordon, Matthew J. (2004), "New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.),A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 282–299,ISBN3-11-017532-0
International Phonetic Association (1999),Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN0-521-65236-7
Kılıç, Mehmet Akif; Öğüt, Fatih (June 2004). "A high unrounded vowel in Turkish: is it a central or back vowel?".Speech Communication.43 (1–2):143–154.doi:10.1016/j.specom.2004.03.001.
Labrune, Laurence (2012),The Phonology of Japanese, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-954583-4
Ladefoged, Peter (1999), "American English",Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 41–44
Lee, Hyun Bok (1999), "Korean",Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 120–123,ISBN0-521-63751-1
Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999), "Irish",Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 111–16,ISBN0-521-63751-1
Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993). "Thai".Journal of the International Phonetic Association.23 (1):24–26.doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746.S2CID242001518.
Urquía Sebastián, Rittma; Marlett, Stephen A. (2008), "Yine",Journal of the International Phonetic Association,38 (3):365–369,doi:10.1017/S0025100308003356
Zimmer, Karl; Orgun, Orhan (1999),"Turkish"(PDF),Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 154–158,ISBN0-521-65236-7, archived fromthe original(PDF) on 25 July 2018, retrieved20 November 2015
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