MID CENTRAL VOWEL

The 'mid central 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 a turned printed letter 'e'. The same symbol may be used for the rounded and the unrounded mid central vowel.

Contents

Mid central unrounded vowel

Features

Occurs in

Mid central rounded vowel

Features

Occurs in

See also

Mid central unrounded vowel

The 'mid central unrounded vowel' is frequently written with the symbol . However, this symbol does not specifically represent an unrounded vowel, and is frequently used for most any unstressed obscure vowel. If precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, .

Features

★ Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

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

★ Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurs in

★ Portuguese: European Portuguese '''a'çougue'' ; Lisbon Portuguese ''s'e'ja'' . (The pronunciation varies with dialect, and in Brazilian Portuguese it may be closer to a near open central unrounded vowel.)

Mid central rounded vowel

Languages may have a 'mid central rounded vowel' (a rounded ), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: .

Features

★ Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

★ 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.

Occurs in

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
French	''j'e'''		'I'	See French phonology
Swedish	''en'e'rgi''	align="center"	align="center"| 'energy'	Unstressed allophone of , see Swedish phonology

See also

★ Schwa