Anear-open vowel or anear-low vowel is any in a class ofvowel sound used in some spokenlanguages. The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to anopen vowel, but slightly more constricted.[1]
Other names for a near-open vowel arelowered open-mid vowel andraised open vowel,[2] though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low asopen; likewise, the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high asopen-mid.
The near-open vowels with dedicated symbols in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet are:
Other near-open vowels can be indicated with diacritics ofrelative articulation applied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as ⟨ɒ̽⟩ and ⟨ɑ̽⟩ for near-open near-back rounded and unrounded vowels.
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