| Near-open central vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɐ | |||
| IPA number | 324 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity(decimal) | ɐ | ||
| Unicode(hex) | U+0250 | ||
| X-SAMPA | 6 | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
| IPA:Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Legend:unrounded • rounded |
Thenear-open central vowel, ornear-low central vowel,[1] is a type ofvowel sound, used in somespokenlanguages. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɐ⟩, arotated lowercase double-story a.
In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʌ⟩, i.e. as if it wereopen-mid back. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but many speakers use a central vowel like[ɐ] or[ɜ]. To avoid thetrap–strut merger, Standard Southern British English is moving away from the[ɐ] quality towards[ʌ] found in RP spoken in the first half of the 20th century (e.g. inDaniel Jones's speech).[2]
Much like ⟨ə⟩, ⟨ɐ⟩ is a versatile symbol that is not defined forroundedness[3] and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central,[4] near-open near-front,[5] near-open near-back,[6] open-mid central,[7] open central[8] or an (often unstressed) vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area.[9] For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with ⟨ɐ⟩, seeopen central unrounded vowel.
When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different from ⟨ɐ⟩, they are listed innear-open front unrounded vowel andopen back unrounded vowel oropen back rounded vowel, respectively.
The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a language[10] and then is typically transcribed with ⟨a⟩.
| Near-open central unrounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| ɜ̞ | |
| Audio sample | |
| Near-open central rounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| ɞ̞ | |
| Audio sample | |
In the following list, ⟨ɐ⟩ is assumed to be unrounded, though this can also be transcribed as ⟨ɜ̞⟩ or ⟨ɐ̜⟩. The rounded variant is transcribed as ⟨ɞ̞⟩ or ⟨ɐ̹⟩. Both latter cases may be somewhat misleading, as like[ə], roundedness is not specified for[ɐ]. Some instances of the rounded vowel may actually be fully open.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adyghe | сэ (să) | [sɐ] | 'I' | Varies between near-open and open-mid[ɜ]. SeeAdyghe phonology | |
| Bengali[11] | দেওয়া (dewa) | [d̪ewɐ] | 'give' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. SeeBengali phonology | |
| Bulgarian[7] | пара (para) | [pɐˈra] | 'coin' | Unstressed allophone of/ɤ/ and/a/.[7] May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. SeeBulgarian phonology | |
| Burmese[12] | မတ် (maat) | [mɐʔ] | 'vertical' | Allophone of/a/ in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized; realized as fully open[ä] in open oral syllables.[13] | |
| Catalan | Barcelona metropolitan area[14][15] | encara | [ɐŋˈkäɾ̺ɐ] | 'yet, still, even' | Corresponds to[ə] in other Eastern dialects. SeeCatalan phonology |
| Valencian[16] | taula | [ˈt̪ɑwɫä̝] | 'table' | Usually represented as ⟨a⟩ and slightly lower than the Barcelonan unstressed/a/ and/e/ ([ɐ]). It may vary with back and/or front allophones, especially when preceded by a stressed open vowel (in a process involvingvowel harmony). SeeCatalan phonology | |
| Chinese | Cantonese[17] | 心 (sam1) | [sɐ̝m˥] | 'heart' | Open-mid.[17] SeeCantonese phonology |
| Shanghainese[18] | 砍 | [kɐʔ˦] | 'to cut' | Appears only in closed syllables; the exact height and backness is somewhat variable.[18] | |
| Danish[19] | fatter | [ˈfætɐ] | 'understands' | Typically realized the same as/ɔ/, i.e.[ɒ̽]. Other possible realizations are[ɐ] and[ə̠].[19] SeeDanish phonology | |
| Dinka | Luanyjang[20] | laŋ | [lɐ́ŋ] | 'berry' | Short allophone of/a/; varies between near-open[ɐ] and open-mid[ɐ̝].[20] |
| Emilian | Bulåggna | [buˈlʌɲːɐ] | 'Bologna' | Centralized/a/. | |
| English | California[21] | nut | [nɐt] | 'nut' | SeeEnglish phonology |
| Cockney[22][23] | [nɐ̟ʔ] | Near-front.[22] | |||
| East Anglian[24] | [nɐʔ] | Used in some places (e.g. Colchester) instead of the traditional[ʌ].[24] | |||
| New Zealand[25] | [nɐʔt] | Varies between near-open near-front[ɐ̟], near-open central[ɐ], open near-front[a̠] and open central[ɐ̞].[25] SeeNew Zealand English phonology | |||
| Received Pronunciation[2][4] | Increasingly retracted to[ʌ] to avoid thetrap-strut merger.[2] SeeEnglish phonology | ||||
| Inland Northern American[26] | bet | [bɐt] | 'bet' | Variation of/ɛ/ used in some places whose accents have undergone theNorthern Cities Vowel Shift. | |
| Middle Class London[27] | lot | [lɐ̹ʔt] | 'lot' | Rounded; can be back[ɒ] instead.[27] SeeEnglish phonology | |
| Australian[28] | comma | [ˈkɔmɐ] | 'comma' | Alternatively lowered from word-final[ə].[29] SeeAustralian English phonology | |
| Galician | feita | [ˈfejt̪ä̝] | 'done' | Realization of final unstressed/a/. SeeGalician phonology | |
| German | Standard[9][30] | Oper | [ˈoːpɐ]ⓘ | 'opera' | The exact height, backness and roundedness is somewhere between[ä] and[ɔ], depending on the environment. Sometimes, an opening diphthong of the[əɐ̯]-type is used instead.[9] In Northern Standard German, the short[ä] is raised to[ɐ] when unstressed, renderingOpa 'grandpa' homophonous withOper.[30] SeeStandard German phonology |
| Regional northern accents[31] | kommen | [ˈkʰɐmən] | 'to come' | Varies between central[ɐ] and back[ɑ]; corresponds to an open-mid rounded[ɔ] in Standard German.[31] SeeStandard German phonology | |
| Greek | Modern Standard[10] | ακακία (akakía) | [ɐkɐˈc̠i.ɐ] | 'acacia' | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. SeeModern Greek phonology |
| Hausa[32] | [example needed] | Possible allophone of/a/, which can be as close as[ə] and as open as[ä].[32] | |||
| Hindustani[33] | दस /دَس (das) | [ˈd̪ɐs] | 'ten' | Common realization of/ə/.[33] SeeHindustani phonology | |
| Korean[34] | 하나 (hana) | [hɐnɐ] | 'one' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. SeeKorean phonology | |
| Kumzari[5] | گپ (gap) | [ɡɐ̟p] | 'large' | Near-front.[5] | |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian[35] | väöl | [vɐ̹ːl] | 'much' | Rounded; contrasts with the open-mid[ɞː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless).[36] It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɶː⟩, as it is a phonological front vowel. |
| Venlo dialect[37] | aan | [ˈɐːn] | 'on' | Corresponds to[aː] in other dialects. | |
| Lithuanian | kas | [kɐs̪] | 'what' | SeeLithuanian phonology | |
| Luxembourgish[6] | Kanner | [ˈkʰɑnɐ̠] | 'children' | Near-back.[38] SeeLuxembourgish phonology | |
| Malayalam | പത്ത് | [pɐt̪ːɨ̆] | 'ten' | SeeMalayalam phonology | |
| Mapudungun[39] | karü | [ˈkɐ̝ʐɘ̝] | 'green' | Open-mid;[39] often transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. | |
| Norwegian | Østfold dialect[40] | bada | [ˈbɐ̹̂ːdɐ] | 'to bathe' | The example word illustrates both the rounded[ɐ̹] and the unrounded[ɐ]. |
| Ossetian | Iron | ӕвзаг (ævzag) | [ɐvˈzäɡ] | 'language' | Very common sound in the Ossetian language. |
| Piedmontese | Eastern Piedmont | pauta | [ˈpɑwtɐ] | 'mud' | Common realization of final unstressed/a/. |
| Portuguese[41][42] | aja | [ˈäʒɐ]ⓘ | 'act' (subj.) | Closer[ɐ̝] inEuropean Portuguese than inBrazilian Portuguese ([ɐ]).[41][42] SeePortuguese phonology | |
| Punjabi[43] | ਖੰਡ /کھنڈ | [ˈkʰɐ̌ɳɖᵊ] | 'sugar' | Common realization of/ə/, the inherent vowel of Punjabi. SeePunjabi phonology | |
| ਪਊਆ /پوّا | [pɐwːä] | 'metric half pint' | Can occur as realization of tense/i/ or/u/ in some contexts followed by a geminate semi-vowel. | ||
| Romanian | Moldavian dialects[44] | bărbat | [bɐrˈbat] | 'man' | Corresponds to[ə] in standard Romanian. SeeRomanian phonology |
| Russian | StandardMoscow[45] | голова (golova) | [ɡəɫ̪ɐˈvä]ⓘ | 'head' | Corresponds to[ʌ] in standardSaint Petersburg pronunciation;[45] occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. SeeRussian phonology |
| Sabiny[46] | [example needed] | Contrasts overshort unrounded and overshort rounded near-open central vowels.[47] | |||
| Ukrainian[48] | слива (slyva) | [ˈslɪwɐ] | 'plum' | SeeUkrainian phonology | |
| Vietnamese[49] | chếch | [cɐ̆jk̚] | 'slanted, oblique' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə̆⟩. SeeVietnamese phonology | |
| Xumi[50][51] | [tsʰɐ˦] | 'salt' | Near-open[ɐ] in Lower Xumi, open-mid[ɐ̝] in Upper Xumi. The latter phone may be transcribed with ⟨ɜ⟩. The example word is from Lower Xumi.[51][52] | ||
