The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of
vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
sound, used in some
spoken language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
s. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...
that represents this sound is . The IPA symbol is a turned letter ''c'' and both the symbol and the sound are commonly called "open-o". The name ''open-o'' represents the sound, in that it is like the sound represented by , the
close-mid back rounded vowel, except it is more open. It also represents the symbol, which can be remembered as an ''o'' which has been "opened" by removing part of the closed circular shape.
In English, the symbol (or ) is typically associated with the vowel in "thought", but in
Received Pronunciation ("RP", standard
British English
British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
),
Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...
,
New Zealand English and
South African English
South African English (SAfE, SAfEn, SAE, en-ZA) is the List of dialects of English, set of English language dialects native to South Africans.
History
British Empire, British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, ...
that vowel is produced with considerably stronger
lip rounding and higher
tongue position than that of cardinal , i.e. as close-mid or somewhat lower. Open-mid or even open realizations are found in
North American English
North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar ...
(where this vowel is often
indistinguishable from the
open back unrounded vowel in "bra") and
Scottish English
Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...
as well as
Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the first language in e ...
,
Northern England English and
Welsh English, though in the last three accent groups closer, -like realizations are also found. In RP, the open-mid realization of has been obsolete since the 1930s. Pronouncing that vowel as such is subject to correction for non-native speakers aiming at RP.
[Geoff Lindsey (2012]
Morgen — a suitable case for treatment
Speech Talk
In Received Pronunciation and Australian English, the open-mid back rounded vowel occurs as the main allophone of the vowel . The contrast between and is thus strongly maintained, with the former vowel being realized as close-mid and the latter as open-mid , similarly to the contrast between and found in
German,
Italian and
Portuguese.
[, "It seems to be the case that younger RP or near-RP speakers typically use a closer quality, possibly approaching Cardinal 6 considering that the quality appears to be roughly intermediate between that used by older speakers for the LOT vowel and that used for the THOUGHT vowel, while older speakers use a more open quality, between Cardinal Vowels 13 and 6."]
Features
Occurrence
See also
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Copyleft symbol
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Index of phonetics articles
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R-colored vowel
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Open-Mid Back Rounded Vowel
Open-mid vowels
Back vowels
Rounded vowels