Open back rounded vowel

Open back rounded vowel
ɒ
IPA number	313
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɒ
Unicode (hex)	U+0252
X-SAMPA	Q
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IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u Near-close ɪ ʏ ʊ Close-mid e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o Mid e̞ ø̞ ə ɤ̞ o̞ Open-mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ Near-open æ ɐ Open a ɶ ä ɑ ɒ
IPA help  audio full chart template Legend: unrounded • rounded

The open back rounded vowel, or low back rounded vowel,^[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɒ⟩. It is called Latin turned alpha being a rotated version of Latin alpha. It seems a "turned script a", being a rotated version of "script (cursive) a", which is the variant of a that lacks the extra stroke on top of a "printed a". Latin turned alpha a ⟨ɒ⟩ has its linear stroke on the left, whereas Latin alpha a ⟨ɑ⟩ (for its unrounded counterpart) has its linear stroke on the right.

Features

• Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard[2]	daar	[dɒːr]	'there'	Fully back. Used by some speakers, particularly young female speakers of northern accents. Other speakers use an unrounded vowel [ɑː ~ ɑ̟ː].[2] See Afrikaans phonology
Assamese		কৰ (kor)	[kɒ̹ɹ]	'to do'	An "over-rounded" [ɒ̹], with rounding as strong as that for [u].[3] May also be transcribed [ɔ].
Bulgarian	Some Rhodopean dialects	мъж (măž)	[ˈmɒʃʲ]	'man'	Found as the unification of the Proto-Slavic *ǫ, *ę, *ъ and *ь. Standard Bulgarian has /ɤ̞/ for *ǫ and *ъ and /ɛ/ for *ę and *ь.
Dutch	Some dialects[4]	bot	[bɒt]	'bone'	Some non-Randstad dialects,[4] for example those of Den Bosch and Groningen. It is open-mid [ɔ] in standard Dutch.
English	South African[5]	not	[nɒ̜̈t]	'not'	Near-back and weakly rounded.[5] Some younger speakers of the General variety may actually have a higher and fully unrounded vowel [ʌ̈].[5] See South African English phonology
	Conservative Received Pronunciation[6]		[nɒt]		Somewhat raised. Contemporary RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel [ɔ]. It is proposed that the /ɒ/ vowel of Conservative RP, which is normally described as a rounded vowel, is pronounced by some speakers without rounded lips for whom the characteristic quality is rather one of sulcality.[7] See English phonology
	Northern English[8]				May be somewhat raised and fronted.[8]
	Canadian[9]				Lot and thought have the same vowel in Canadian English; see cot–caught merger.
		thought	[θɒt]^ⓘ	'thought'
	General American				Vowel /ɔ(:)/ is lowered (phonetic realization of /ɔ(:)/ is much lower in GA than in RP). However, "Short o" before r before a vowel (a short o sound followed by r and then another vowel, as in orange, forest, moral, and warrant) is realized as [oɹ~ɔɹ].
	Inland Northern American[10]				See Northern cities vowel shift
	Indian[11]		[t̪ʰɒʈ]		/ɒ/ and /ɔː/ differ entirely by length in Indian English.
	Welsh[12][13]		[θɒːt]		Open-mid in Cardiff; may merge with /oː/ in northern dialects.
German	Many speakers[14]	Gourmand	[ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɒ̃ː]	'gourmand'	Nasalized; common phonetic realization of /ɑ̃ː/.[14] See Standard German phonology
	Many Swiss dialects[15]	maane	[ˈmɒːnə]	'remind'	The example word is from the Zurich dialect, in which [ɒː] is in free variation with the unrounded [ɑː].[16]
Istro-Romanian[17]		cåp	[kɒp]	'head'	See Istro-Romanian pronunciation (in Romanian).
Jeju[18]		ᄒᆞ나 (haona)	[hɒna]	'one'	See Jeju phonology
Malay	Kedah	tua	[tu.ɒ]	'old'	Northern Kedah subdialect/dialect. Allophone of /a/ in word-final position in open-ended words and close-ended words that end with a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a glottal fricative /h/.
Mansi	Central/Northern	ам	[ɒm]	'me'	The pronunciation of 'a' sometimes varies between /ɒ/ and /o/.
Neapolitan[19]	Vastese	uâʃtə	[uˈwɒʃtə]	'Vasto'
Norwegian	Dialects along the Swedish border[20]	hat	[hɒ̜ːt]	'hate'	Weakly rounded and fully back.[20] See Norwegian phonology
Persian		ف‍‍ارسی (fârsi)	[fɒːɾˈsiː]	'Persian'
Brazilian Portuguese	Carioca	ova	[ˈɒːva]	'fish roe'	Allophone of /ɔ/. See Portuguese phonology
Slovak	Some speakers[21]	a	[ɒ]	'and'	Under Hungarian influence, some speakers realize the short /a/ as rounded.[21] See Slovak phonology
Swedish	Gothenburg[22]	jag	[jɒːɡ]	'I'	More rounded than in Central Standard Swedish.[22]
Uzbek	Standard[23]	choy	[t͡ʃɒj]	'tea'

Near-open back rounded vowel

Near-open back rounded vowel
ɒ̝
ɔ̞

In some languages there is the near-open back rounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨ɒ⟩ and ⟨ɔ⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with [ɒ̝] or [ɔ̞].

Features

• Its vowel height is near-open, also known as near-low, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but is slightly more constricted – that is, the tongue is positioned similarly to a low vowel, but slightly higher.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan	Balearic (except Ibizan)[24][25]	dones	[ˈd̪ɔ̞nəs̺]	'women'	Main realization of /ɔ/ (also represented as /ɒ/). May be unrounded [ɑ] in Majorcan and some Southern Valencian dialects. See Catalan phonology
	Valencian (general pronunciation)[24][25]		[ˈd̪ɔ̞nes̺]
	Valencian (some speakers)[26]	taula	[ˈt̪ɑwɫɔ̞̈]	'table'	Can be realized as unrounded and/or fronted.
Dutch	Leiden[27]	bad	[bɒ̝t]	'bath'	Near-open fully back; may be unrounded [ɑ̝] instead.[27] It corresponds to [ɑ] in standard Dutch.
	Rotterdam[27]
Hungarian	Standard[28]	magyar	[ˈmɒ̜̽ɟɒ̜̽r]	'Hungarian'	Somewhat fronted and raised, with only slight rounding; sometimes transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. Unrounded [ɑ] in some dialects.[29] See Hungarian phonology
Ibibio[30]		dọ	[dɒ̝́]	'marry'	Near-open;[30] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩.
Irish	Ulster[31]	ólann	[ɒ̝ːɫ̪ən̪ˠ]	'(he) drinks'	Near-open;[31] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩.
Lehali[32]		dön̄	[ⁿdɒ̝ŋ]	'yam'	Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory.[32]
Lemerig[33]		‘ān̄sār	[ʔɒ̝ŋsɒ̝r]	'person'	Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory.[33]
Limburgish	Maastrichtian[34]	plaots	[plɒ̝ːts]	'place'	Near-open fully back; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩.[34] Corresponds to [ɔː] in other dialects.
Norwegian	Urban East[35][36]	topp	[tʰɒ̝pː]	'top'	Near-open,[35][36] also described as close-mid back [o].[37] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard[38][22]	jag	[jɒ̝͑ːɡ]	'I'	Near-open fully back weakly rounded vowel.[38] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑː⟩. See Swedish phonology
Yoruba[39]		itọju	[itɒ̝ju]	'care'	Near-open; most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩.

See also

• Turned a
• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
2. Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
3. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 293–294.
4. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 132.
5. Lass (2002), p. 115.
6. Roach (2004), p. 242.
7. Lass, Roger (1984). Phonology: an introduction to basic concepts. p. 124.
8. Lodge (2009), p. 163.
9. Boberg (2004), p. 359.
10. Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (1997), A national map of the regional dialects of American English, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, retrieved May 27, 2013
11. Sailaja (2009), pp. 24–25.
12. Connolly (1990), p. 125.
13. Tench (1990), p. 135.
14. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
15. Krech et al. (2009), p. 263.
16. Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 248.
17. Pop (1938), p. 29.
18. Yang, Changyong; Yang, Sejung; O'Grady, William (2020). Jejueo: the language of Korea's Jeju Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-7443-8.
19. "Vastesi Language - Vastesi in the World". Vastesi in the World. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
20. Popperwell (2010), p. 23.
21. Kráľ (1988), p. 54.
22. Riad (2014), pp. 35–36.
23. Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963). Uzbek Structural Grammar. Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 18. Bloomington: Indiana University. p. 17.
24. Recasens (1996), pp. 130–131.
25. Rafel (1999), p. 14.
26. Saborit (2009), pp. 25–26.
27. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
28. Szende (1994), p. 92.
29. Vago (1980), p. 1.
30. Urua (2004), p. 106.
31. Ní Chasaide (1999), p. 114.
32. François (2011), p. 194.
33. François (2011), pp. 195, 208.
34. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 158–159.
35. Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 17.
36. Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 2.
37. Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
38. Engstrand (1999), pp. 140–141.
39. Bamgboṣe (1966), p. 166.

References

• Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1966), A Grammar of Yoruba, [West African Languages Survey / Institute of African Studies], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 97–102, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830
• Boberg, Charles (2004), "English in Canada: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, p. 359, ISBN 978-3-11-017532-5
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
• Connolly, John H. (1990), "Port Talbot English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 121–129, ISBN 978-1-85359-032-0
• Cox, Felicity; Fletcher, Janet (2017) [First published 2012], Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-316-63926-9
• Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4
• Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0
• Fleischer, Jürg; Schmid, Stephan (2006), "Zurich German", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 243–253, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002441
• François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl:1885/29283, S2CID 42217419
• Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2): 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-11, retrieved 2016-01-11
• Hay, Jennifer; Maclagan, Margaret; Gordon, Elizabeth (2008), New Zealand English, Dialects of English, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-2529-1
• Horvath, Barbara M. (2004), "Australian English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 625–644, ISBN 978-3-11-017532-5
• Kráľ, Ábel (1988), Pravidlá slovenskej výslovnosti, Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo
• Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), "7.3.10 Norwegisch", Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
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• Kvifte, Bjørn; Gude-Husken, Verena (2005) [First published 1997], Praktische Grammatik der norwegischen Sprache (3rd ed.), Gottfried Egert Verlag, ISBN 978-3-926972-54-5
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
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• Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
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• Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999), "Irish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 111–16, ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0
• Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
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• Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
• Saborit, Josep (2009), Millorem la pronúncia (in Catalan), Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
• Sailaja, Pingali (2009), Indian English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, pp. 17–38, ISBN 978-0-7486-2594-9
• Scobbie, James M.; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006), Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: an overview, Edinburgh: QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers
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• Tench, Paul (1990), "The Pronunciation of English in Abercrave", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 130–141, ISBN 978-1-85359-032-0
• Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001550
• Vago, Robert M. (1980), The Sound Pattern of Hungarian, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press
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External links

• List of languages with [ɒ] on PHOIBLE