Close central unrounded vowel
The close central unrounded vowel, or high central unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɨ⟩, namely the lower-case letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as barred i.
Close central unrounded vowel | |||
---|---|---|---|
ɨ | |||
IPA Number | 317 | ||
Audio sample | |||
source · help | |||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ɨ | ||
Unicode (hex) | U+0268 | ||
X-SAMPA | 1 | ||
Braille | |||
|
IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Legend: unrounded • rounded |
Occasionally, this vowel is transcribed ⟨ï⟩ (centralized ⟨i⟩) or ⟨ɯ̈⟩ (centralized ⟨ɯ⟩).[2]
The close central unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare post-palatal approximant [j̈].[3]
Some languages feature the near-close central unrounded vowel (), which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with ⓘ⟨ɨ̞⟩ and ⟨ɪ̈⟩, but other transcriptions such as ⟨ɪ̠⟩ and ⟨ɘ̝⟩ are also possible. In many British dictionaries, this vowel has been transcribed ⟨ɪ⟩, which captures its height; in the American tradition it is more often ⟨ɨ⟩, which captures its centrality, or ⟨ᵻ⟩,[4] which captures both. ⟨ᵻ⟩ is also used in a number of other publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells. In the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, ⟨ᵻ⟩ represents variation between /ɪ/ and /ə/.[5]
Features
- Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close 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.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
/ɨ/ is uncommon as a phoneme in Indo-European languages, occurring most commonly as an allophone in some Slavic languages, such as Russian (see ы). However, it is very common as a separate phoneme in the indigenous languages of the Americas and is often in phonemic contrast with other close vowels such as /i/ and /u/ both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (such as Proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman & Smith-Stark (1986) identify the presence of this vowel phoneme as an areal feature of a Mesoamerican Sprachbund (although that is not a defining feature of the entire area).
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acehnese | tupeue | [tupɨə] | 'to know' | Asyik[6] and Al-Ahmadi Al-Harbi[7] describe this sound as such while Durie[8] describes it as closer to [ɯ] | |
Aikanã[9] | tɨi | [ˈtɨi] | 'aunt' | It also happens as allophone of /a/ before [i].[9] | |
Amharic[10] | ሥር/sərə/sîrî | [sɨ̞r] | 'root' | Near-close.[10] | |
Angami | Khonoma[11] | prü | [pɻɨ˨] | 'hail stone' | The height varies between close [ɨ] and mid [ə].[11] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. |
Arhuaco | ikʉ | [ɪk'ɨ] | 'Arhuaco language' | ||
Bantawa | Ilam, Nepal | küma | [kɨma] | 'afraid' | |
Berber | Central Atlas Tamazight[12] | khdim (ⵅⴷⵉⵎ) | [χdɨ̞m] | 'to work' | Epenthetically inserted into consonant clusters before labial and coronal consonants. |
Chinese | Hokkien | 豬/tir | [tɨ˥] | 'pig' | |
Mandarin | 十/shí | [ʂɨ˧˥] | 'ten' | ||
English | Inland Southern American[13] | good | [ɡɨ̞d] | 'good' | Corresponds to [ʊ] in other dialects. See English phonology |
Southeastern English[14] | [ɡɪ̈d] | May be rounded [ʊ̈] instead;[14] it corresponds to [ʊ] in other dialects. See English phonology | |||
London[15][16] | lip | [lɪ̈ʔp] | 'lip' | Possible realization of /ɪ/.[15][16] | |
South African[17] | [lɨ̞p] | For some speakers it can be equal to [ə]. General and Broad varieties of SAE have an allophonic variation, with [ɪ] ([i] in Broad) occurring near velar and palatal consonants, and [ɨ̞~ə] elsewhere. See South African English phonology | |||
Southern American[18] | [lɪ̈p] | Allophone of /ɪ/ before labial consonants, sometimes also in other environments.[18] | |||
Southeastern English[19] | rude | [ɹɨːd] | 'rude' | May be rounded [ʉː], or a diphthong [ʊʉ̯~əʉ̯] instead. | |
Guaraní[20] | yvy | [ɨʋɨ] | 'earth' | ||
Hausa[21] | cin abinci | [t̠ʃin abɨnt̠ʃi] | 'to eat' | Allophone of /i/.[21] | |
Irish | goirt | [ɡɨ̞ɾˠtʲ] | 'salty' | Allophone of /i/ between broad consonants. See Irish phonology | |
Munster[22] | caora | [kɨːɾˠə] | 'sheep' | Allophone of /i/ between broad consonants.[22] See Irish phonology | |
Ulster[23] | Allophone of /ɪ/. Near-close.[23] | ||||
Kalagan[24] | [pɨˈnɨt̪] | 'beard' | |||
Kashmiri[25] | ژٕنُن/tsînun | [t͡sɨnʊn] | 'peach' | ||
Kera[26] | [ɡɨ̀ɡɨ̀r] | 'knee' | |||
Khmer | គិត / kīt | [kɨt] | 'to think' | See Khmer phonology | |
Kurdish[27][28] | Palewani (Southern) | kirmaşan (کرماشان) | [cʰɨɾmäːʃäːn] | 'kermanshah' | Equal to Kurmanji and Sorani [ɪ]. See Kurdish phonology |
Latgalian[29] | dyžan | [ˈd̪ɨʒän̪] | 'very much' | See Latgalian phonology | |
Mah Meri[30] | [d͡ʑäbɨ̞ʔ͡k̚] | 'to be drunk' | |||
Malay | Kelantan-Pattani | ngecat | [ŋɨ.caʔ] | 'to paint' | See Kelantan-Pattani Malay |
Mapudungun[31] | müṉa | [mɘ̝ˈn̪ɐ̝] | 'male cousin on father's side' | Unstressed allophone of /ɘ/.[31] | |
Mongolian[32] | xüçir (хүчир) | [xutʃʰɨɾɘ̆] | 'difficult' | ||
Matis[33] | [kɨˈnɨ] | 'wall' | |||
Mono[34] | dɨ | [dɨ] | 'count' | ||
Paicî[35] | May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɯ⟩. | ||||
Romanian[36] | înot | [ɨˈn̪o̞t̪] | 'I swim' | See Romanian phonology | |
Russian[37] | ты/ty | ⓘ | 'you' (singular/informal) | Occurs only after unpalatalized consonants. Near-close when unstressed.[37] See Russian phonology | |
Sahaptin[38] | kʼsit | [kʼsɨt] | 'cold' | Epenthetic. No lengthened equivalent | |
Sanumá[39] | [taˈaɨ] | 'to see' | The nasal version [ɨ̃] also occurs.[40] | ||
Sümi[41] | sü | [ʃɨ̀] | 'to hurt' | Described variously as close [ɨ][41] and near-close [ɨ̞].[42] | |
Shipibo[43] | tenaitianronki | [ˈt̪ɨnɐi̞ti̞ɐ̃ɽõ̞ɣi̞] | Possible realization of /ɯ/ after coronal consonants.[43] | ||
Sirionó[44] | [eˈsɨ] | 'dry wood' | |||
Swedish | Bohuslän[45] | bli | [blɨᶻː] | 'to become' | A fricated vowel that corresponds to [iː] in Central Standard Swedish.[45] See Swedish phonology |
Närke[45] | |||||
Tajik | Bukharan[46] | ġižġiž (ғижғиж/ğižğiž) | [ʁɨʑʁɨʑ] | 'the sound of wood sawing' | Allophone of /i/ in the environment of uvular consonants.[46] |
Tamil[47] | vāli (வால்) | [väːlɨ] | 'tail' | Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be rounded [ʉ] instead.[47] See Tamil phonology | |
Tera[48] | zu | [zɨ] | 'said' | ||
vur | [vɨ̞r] | 'to give' | Allophone of /ɨ/ in closed syllables.[49] | ||
Tsou[50] | hahocngx, hahocngʉ | [ha.ˈho.t͡sŋɨ] | 'man' | /ɨ/, with free variant [ʉ]. Used to be written as <ʉ>, but changed to <x> for more convenient typing.[50] | |
Turkish | Standard[51] | sığ | [sɨː] | 'shallow' | Also described as close back [ɯ][52] and near-close near-back [ɯ̽][53] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɯ⟩. See Turkish phonology |
Balkans[54] | Word-final merger of standard Turkish sounds /i/ and /ɯ/, shift of /y/ and /u/ into single phoneme due to interactions caused by Balkan sprachbund. Dombrowski[54] transcribes this phoneme as /i/. | ||||
Udmurt[55] | urgetė, yrgjete (ургетэ, ыргетэ[56]) | [ɨrɡete] | 'it growls' | ||
Vietnamese[57] | bưng | [ʔɓɨŋ˧˧] | 'to carry' | ||
Wayuu | paanüküin | [pa:nɨkɨinː] | 'your mouth' | ||
Welsh | Northern dialects[58] | llun | [ɬɨːn] | 'picture' | Close when long, near-close when short.[58] Merges with /ɪ/ in southern dialects. See Welsh phonology |
pump | [pɨ̞mp] | 'five' | |||
Yaeyama | pïtu | [pɨtu] | 'person' | ||
Zapotec | Tilquiapan[59] | nɨ | [nɨ] | 'be sour' |
The sound of Polish ⟨y⟩ is often represented as /ɨ/, but actually it is a close-mid advanced central unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed [ɘ̟].[60] Similarly, European Portuguese unstressed ⟨e⟩, often represented as /ɨ/, is actually a near-close near-back unrounded vowel,[61] more narrowly transcribed using ad hoc symbols such as [ɯ̽] (mid-centralized), [ɯ̟] (fronted) and [ʊ̜] (less rounded i.e. unrounded)
See also
Notes
- While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
- See e.g. Cruttenden (2014:133), who transcribes the unrounded central realization of the English GOOSE vowel /uː/ with the symbol [ɯ̈ː].
- Instead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar".
- Pullum & Ladusaw (1996:298)
- Upton (2012), pp. 63, 68.
- Asyik, Abdul Gani (1982), "The agreement system in Acehnese" (PDF), Mon-Khmer Studies, 11: 1–33, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2012, retrieved 9 November 2012
- Al-Ahmadi Al-Harbi, Awwad Ahmad (2003), "Acehnese coda condition: An optimality-theoretic account", Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational and Social Sciences and Humanities, 15: 9–21, archived from the original on 2009-07-29, retrieved 2009-03-06
- Mid-vowels in Acehnese Archived 2010-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
- Tondineli (2020), p. 914.
- Hayward & Hayward (1999), p. 47.
- Blankenship et al. (1993), p. 129.
- Abdel-Massih (1971:15)
- Wells (1982), pp. 534–535.
- Lodge (2009:174)
- Altendorf & Watt (2004:188–189)
- Mott (2012:75)
- Lass (2002), pp. 113–115.
- Wells (1982:534)
- Lodge (2009), p. 174.
- "Phonological inventory of Paraguayan Guarani". South American Phonological Inventory Database. Berkeley: University of California. 2015.
- Schuh & Yalwa (1999), p. 90.
- Ó Sé (2000), p. ?.
- Ní Chasaide (1999:114)
- Wendel & Wendel (1978), p. 198.
- "Koshur: Spoken Kashmiri: A Language Course: Transcription". Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- Pearce (2011), p. 251.
- Thackston (2006a), p. 1.
- Khan & Lescot (1970), pp. 8–16.
- Nau (2011), pp. 9–10.
- Kruspe & Hajek (2009), p. 244.
- Sadowsky et al. (2013:92)
- Iivonen & Harnud (2005), pp. 62, 66–67.
- Ferreira (2005), p. 37.
- Olson (2004), p. 235.
- Gordon & Maddieson (1996), p. 118.
- Sarlin (2014), p. 18.
- Jones & Ward (1969), pp. 33, 38.
- Hargus & Beavert (2002).
- Autuori (2019), p. 45.
- Autuori (2019), pp. 45, 47.
- Teo (2014), p. 28.
- Teo (2012), p. 368.
- Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001), p. 283.
- Firestone (1965), p. ?.
- Riad (2014), p. 21.
- Ido (2014), p. 91.
- Keane (2004), p. 114.
- Tench (2007), p. 230.
- Tench (2007:231)
- 張, 永利; 潘, 家榮 (2018). 南島語言叢書⑦ 鄒語語法概論 (in Chinese) (2nd ed.). New Taipei: Council of Indigenous Peoples. pp. 5–14. ISBN 9789860556889.
- Zimmer & Orgun (1999:155)
- Göksel & Kerslake (2005:10)
- Kılıç & Öğüt (2004)
- Dombrowski, Andrew. "Vowel Harmony Loss in West Rumelian Turkish".
- Iivonen & Harnud (2005), pp. 64, 68.
- ургетыны [Udmurt-Russian dictionary] (in Russian)
- "bưng". en.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- Ball (1984), p. ?.
- Merrill (2008), p. 109.
- Jassem (2003), p. 105.
- Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
References
- Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. (1971), A Reference Grammar of Tamazight, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
- Altendorf, Ulrike; Watt, Dominic (2004), "The dialects in the South of England: 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. 181–196, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- Blankenship, Barbara; Ladefoged, Peter; Bhaskararao, Peri; Chase, Nichumeno (1993), "Phonetic structures of Khonoma Angami", in Maddieson, Ian (ed.), Fieldwork studies of targeted languages, vol. 84, Los Angeles: The UCLA Phonetics Laboratory Group, pp. 127–141
- Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
- Ball, Martin J. (1984), "Phonetics for phonology", in Ball, Martin J.; Jones, G.E (eds.), Welsh Phonology, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, ISBN 978-0-7083-0861-5
- Campbell, Lyle; Kaufman, Terrence; Smith-Stark, Thomas C (1986), "Meso-America as a linguistic area", Language, 62 (3): 530–570, doi:10.2307/415477, JSTOR 415477
- Cruttenden, Alan (2014), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
- Firestone, Homer L. (1965), "Description and classification of Sirionó: A Tupí-Guaraní language.", Janua linguarum, Series Practica, London: Mouton & Co
- Göksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005), Turkish: a comprehensive grammar, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114943
- Gordon, Matthew J.; Maddieson, Ian (1996), "The phonetics of Paici", in Maddieson, Ian (ed.), UCLA working papers in phonetics: Fieldwork studies of targeted languages IV, vol. 93, Los Angeles: The UCLA Phonetics Laboratory Group, pp. 111–124
- Hargus, Sharon; Beavert, Virginia (2002), "Predictable versus Underlying Vocalism in Yakima Sahaptin", International Journal of American Linguistics, 68 (3): 316–340, doi:10.1086/466492, S2CID 143594461
- Hayward, Katrina; Hayward, Richard J. (1999). "Amharic". Handbook of the IPA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 44–51.
- Ido, Shinji (2014), "Bukharan Tajik", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 44 (1): 87–102, doi:10.1017/S002510031300011X
- Iivonen, Antti; Harnud, Huhe (2005), "Acoustical comparison of the monophthong systems in Finnish, Mongolian and Udmurt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (1): 59–71, doi:10.1017/S002510030500191X, S2CID 145733117
- Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
- Jones, Daniel; Ward, Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
- Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549
- Khan, Celadet Bedir; Lescot, Roger (1970), Grammaire Kurde (Dialecte kurmandji) (PDF), Paris: La librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient Adrien Maisonneuve, retrieved 28 October 2017
- Kılıç, Mehmet Akif; Öğüt, Fatih (2004). "A high unrounded vowel in Turkish: is it a central or back vowel?" (PDF). Speech Communication. 43 (1–2): 143–154. doi:10.1016/j.specom.2004.03.001 – via Elsevier ScienceDirect.
- Kruspe, Nicole; Hajek, John (2009), "Mah Meri", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 39 (2): 241–248, doi:10.1017/S0025100309003946
- Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
- Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
- Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
- Mott, Brian (2012), "Traditional Cockney and popular London speech", Dialectologia, RACO (Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert), 9: 69–94, ISSN 2013-2247
- Nau, Nicole (2011), A short grammar of Latgalian, Munich: Lincom Europa, ISBN 978-3-86288-055-3
- Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999), "Irish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 111–16, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
- Ó Sé, Diarmuid (2000), Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne (in Irish), Dublin: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann, ISBN 978-0-946452-97-2
- Olson, Kenneth S. (2004), "Mono" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 233–238, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001744
- Pearce, Mary (2011), "Kera", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 41 (2): 249–258, doi:10.1017/S0025100311000168, S2CID 232344047
- Pullum, Geoffrey K.; Ladusaw, William A. (1996), Phonetic Symbol Guide, Chicago, IL, USA: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226685366
- Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
- Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000369
- Sarlin, Mika (2014) [First published 2013], "Sounds of Romanian and their spelling", Romanian Grammar (2nd ed.), Helsinki: Books on Demand GmbH, pp. 16–37, ISBN 978-952-286-898-5
- Schuh, Russell G.; Yalwa, Lawan D. (1999), "Hausa", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 90–95, ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0
- Tench, Paul (2007), "Tera", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 228–234, doi:10.1017/s0025100307002952
- Teo, Amos B. (2012), "Sumi (Sema)", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42 (3): 365–373, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000254
- Teo, Amos B. (2014), A phonological and phonetic description of Sumi, a Tibeto-Burman language of Nagaland (PDF), Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics, ISBN 978-1-922185-10-5
- Thackston, W.M. (2006a), —Sorani Kurdish— A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2021, retrieved 29 October 2017
- Upton, Clive (2012), "An evolving standard British English pronunciation model", in Hickey, Raymond (ed.), Standards of English: Codified Varieties Around the World, Cambridge University Press, pp. 55–71, doi:10.1017/CBO9781139023832.004, ISBN 978-0-521-76389-9
- Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001), "Shipibo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 281–285, doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109
- Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52128541-0.
- Wendel, Åsa; Wendel, Dag (1978), "Kaagan-Kalagan phonemic statement" (PDF), Studies in Philippine Linguistics, 2 (1): 191–203, archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-11, retrieved 2017-03-08
- Zimmer, Karl; Orgun, Orhan (1999), "Turkish" (PDF), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 154–158, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-25, retrieved 2019-01-21
- Autuori, Joana Dworecka (2019). Fonologia e morfossintaxe da língua Sanöma (Yanomami) (PhD) (in Brazilian Portuguese). University of São Paulo. doi:10.11606/T.8.2019.tde-18122019-164856.
- Tondineli, Patrícia Goulart (2020), "O sistema fonológico das vogais orais na língua indígena Aikanã", Linguagem e Ensino (in Brazilian Portuguese), 23 (4): 900–917, doi:10.15210/RLE.V23I4.18288
- Ferreira, Rogério Vicente (2005). Língua Matis (Pano): Uma descrição gramatical (PhD) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Campinas: University of Campinas. doi:10.47749/T/UNICAMP.2005.351333. hdl:20.500.12733/1600991.