CLOSE CENTRAL ROUNDED VOWEL

{{Infobox IPA|ipa-number=318|ipa=649|ipa-image=Xsampa-rightcurly.png|xsampa=}|kirshenbaum=u"|sound=Close central rounded vowel.ogg}}
The 'close central rounded vowel' is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is }.
The IPA symbol is the letter ''u'' with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as "barred-u".
There is also a 'close central compressed vowel' which contrasts with both the rounded and unrounded close central vowels.

Contents

Features

Occurrence

Features

★ Its vowel height is close, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.

★ Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

★ Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded and protrude, and the inner surfaces are exposed.

Occurrence

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English (AuE and NZE)	''b'oo't''		'boot'	See Australian English phonology
Irish	''ci'ú'in''		'quiet'	Allophone of and . See Irish phonology
Norwegian	''h'u's''		'house'	See Norwegian phonology
Russian	к'ю'рий		'curium'	Only occurs between palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Swedish	''f'u'l''		'ugly'	See Swedish phonology