The 'near-open 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 6. The IPA symbol is a upside-down printed letter 'a'.

Contents

Features

Occurrence

References

Features

★ Its vowel height is near-open, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted.

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

★ Its vowel roundedness may be rounded or unrounded. If precision is desired, the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, for the unrounded near-open central vowel, , and the symbol for the open-mid central rounded vowel with a lowering diacritic may be used for the rounded near-open central vowel, .

Occurrence

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Cantonese	?/?		'heart'	See Standard Cantonese
English (RP and western AmE)	''n'u't''		'nut'	may be used to transcribe this vowel as it corresponds to in other dialects.[1] See English phonology
German	''de'r'''		'the' (masculine singular definite article)	See German phonology and German Pronunciation for Speakers of American English
Portuguese (Brazil)	''c'a'm'a'''		'bed'	In European Portuguese it may be closer to a mid vowel. See Portuguese phonology
Tadaksahak			'to give'

References

1. Course in Phonology, Roca, Iggy & Johnson, Wyn, , , Blackwell Publishing, 1999,

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