Open-mid back rounded vowel

Open-mid back rounded vowel
ɔ
IPA number	306
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɔ
Unicode (hex)	U+0254
X-SAMPA	O
Kirshenbaum	O
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Sound
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The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɔ⟩. 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 ⟨o⟩, 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.

The IPA prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close i • y ɨ • ʉ ɯ • u ɪ • ʏ ɪ̈ • ʊ̈ ɯ̽ • ʊ e • ø ɘ • ɵ ɤ • o e̞ • ø̞ ə • ɵ̞ ɤ̞ • o̞ ɛ • œ ɜ • ɞ ʌ • ɔ æ •  ɐ • ɞ̞ a • ɶ ä • ɒ̈ ɑ • ɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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• Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low vowel) and a mid vowel.

• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.

• Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Few speakers in the former Transvaal Province[1]	daar	[dɔːr]	'there'	Much more often open [ɒː]. It is unrounded [ɑː] in standard Afrikaans.[2] See Afrikaans phonology
Albanian		po	[pɔ]	'yes'
Arabic	Tunisian	mox	[mɔχ]	'brain'	Corresponds to [uː] for some words in other varieties.
Armenian	Eastern[3]	հողմ	[hɔʁm]	'storm'
Assamese		অসমীয়া/Ôxômiya	[ɔxɔmija]	'Assamese'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	Urmian dialect	khwara	[χwɔːra]	'white'	Corresponds to [ɒ] in other varieties.
Bamana		wɔɔrɔ	[wɔːrɔ]	'six'
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect[4]				May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩.[4]
Bengali		অর্থ	[ɔrt̪ʰo]	'meaning'	See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian[5]		род	[rɔt̪]	'kin'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan[6]		soc	[ˈsɔk]	'clog'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	我/ngo5	[ŋɔː˩˧]	'I'	See Cantonese phonology
	Min	五/gōo	[ɡɔ˨]	'five'
	Wu	跑/bo	[bɔ˨˩˦]	'run'
Danish	Standard[7]	og	[ɔʊ̯]	'and'	Also described as near-open [ɔ̞].[8] It is most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[9]	och	[ʔɔˤx]	'alas'	'Very tense, with strong lip-rounding',[10] strongly pharyngealized[11] (although less so in standard Belgian[12]) and somewhat fronted.[9][13] See Dutch phonology
	Standard Netherlandic[13]
	Amelands	hôl	[hɔːl]	'hollow'
	Belgian	nauw	[nɔ̞ː]	'narrow'	Some dialects. Corresponds to [ɔu] in standard Belgian Dutch.
Dutch Low Saxon		taol	[tɔːɫ]	'language'	May be lower [ɒː] in some dialects.
English	Australian[14]	not	[nɔt]	'not'	See Australian English phonology
	Estuary[15]
	New Zealand[16]				May be somewhat fronted.[17] Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩.
	Received Pronunciation[18]				/ɒ/ has shifted up in emerging RP.
	General American[19]	thought	[θɔːt]	'thought'	Mainly in speakers without the cot–caught merger. It may be from lower [ɒ]. See English phonology
	Norfolk[20]
	Older Received Pronunciation[21]				Higher [ɔ̝ː] for most other speakers.
	Scottish[22]				Many Scottish dialects exhibit the cot-caught merger, the outcome of which is a vowel of [ɔ] quality.
	Sheffield[23]	goat	[ɡɔːt]	'goat'
	Newfoundland[24]	but	[bɔt]	'but'	Less commonly unrounded [ʌ].[24] See English phonology
Faroese		góðan morgun	[ˌɡɔuwan ˈmɔɹɡʊn]	'good morning'
French[25]		sort	[sɔ̜ːʁ]	'fate'	See French phonology
Georgian[26]		სწორი	[st͡sʼɔɾi]	'correct'
German	Standard[27]	voll	[fɔl]	'full'	See German phonology
	Northern Bernese	grad	[ˈɡ̊rɔd̥]	'just now'	May be lower [ɒ]. See Bernese German phonology
Icelandic[28][29][30]		loft	[ˈlɔft]	'air'	Often diphthongized to [oɔ] when long.[31] See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian		kodok	[kɔdɔʔ]	'frog'
Italian[32]		parola	[päˈrɔ̟ːlä]	'word'	Fronted. See Italian phonology
Kaingang[33]		[ˈpɔ]		'stone'
Lao		ບ	[bɔː]	'origin'
Limburgish[34][35][36]		mòn	[mɔːn]	'moon'	Corresponds to lower [ɒ̝ː] in the Maastrichtian dialect.[37] The example word is from the Hasselt dialect.[35]
Lingala		mbɔ́ngɔ	[ᵐbɔ́ᵑɡɔ]	'money'
Luxembourgish[38]		Sonn	[zɔn]	'son'	Possible realization of /o/.[38] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		коњ	[kɔɲ]	'horse'	See Macedonian phonology
Norwegian	Some dialects[39]	så	[sɔː]	'so'	Present e.g. in Telemark; realized as mid [ɔ̝ː] in other dialects.[39] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan		òme	[ˈɔme]	'man'
Polish[40]		kot	[kɔt̪]	'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Most dialects[41][42]	fofoca	[fɔˈfɔ̞kə]	'gossip'	Stressed vowel might be lower. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨o⟩ allophones, such as [o̞ o ʊ u], varies according to dialect.
	Some speakers[43]	bronca	[ˈbɾɔ̃kə]	'scolding'	Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel /õ̞/. See Portuguese phonology
Russian	Some speakers[44]	сухой	[s̪ʊˈxɔj]	'dry'	More commonly realized as mid [o̞].[44] See Russian phonology
Slovak	Standard[45]	ohúriť	[ˈɔɦʊːrɪc̟]	'to stun'	Backness varies between back and near-back; most commonly realized as mid [o̞] instead.[45] See Slovak phonology
Spanish	Eastern Andalusian	tos	[tɔː]	'cough'	Allophone of /o/ before word-final underlying /s/, /θ/, and /x/. See Spanish phonology.
	Murcian
Sorbian	Lower[46]	pšosba	[ˈpʂɔz̪bä]	'a request'
	Upper[46][47]	pos	[pɔs̪]	'dog'	See Upper Sorbian phonology
Swedish		moll	[mɔl]	minor	See Swedish phonology
Tajik		тоҷикӣ	[tɔːdʒɪˈkiː]	'Tajik language'
Ukrainian		вовк	[β̞ɔu̯k]	'wolf'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese		to	[tɔ]	'large'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		bôle	[ˈbɔːɫə]	'bread'
Yoruba[48]					Nasalized; may be near-open [ɔ̞̃] instead.[48]

See also

• Copyleft symbol
• index of phonetics articles

References

1. Donaldson (1993), p. 6.
2. Donaldson (1993), pp. 6–7.
3. Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
4. Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
5. Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999:56)
6. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:54)
7. Grønnum (1998:100)
8. Basbøll (2005:47)
9. Verhoeven (2005:245)
10. Collins & Mees (2003:132)
11. Collins & Mees (2003:132, 222 and 224)
12. Collins & Mees (2003:222)
13. Gussenhoven (1992:47)
14. Harrington, Cox & Evans (1997)
15. Wells (1982a:305)
16. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009a)
17. Bauer et al. (2007:98)
18. Wikström (2013:45), "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."
19. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009b)
20. Lodge (2009:168)
21. Wells (1982a:293)
22. Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006:7)
23. Stoddart, Upton and Widowson in Urban Voices, Arnold, London, 1999, page 74
24. Wells (1982b:498)
25. Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
26. Shosted & Chikovani (2006:261–262)
27. Mangold (2005:37)
28. Árnason (2011:60)
29. Einarsson (1945:10), cited in Gussmann (2011:73)
30. Haugen (1958:65)
31. Árnason (2011:57–60)
32. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:119)
33. Jolkesky (2009:676–677 and 682)
34. Verhoeven (2007:221)
35. Peters (2006:118–119)
36. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:110)
37. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:158–159)
38. Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70)
39. Popperwell (2010:26)
40. Jassem (2003:105)
41. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
42. Variação inter- e intra-dialetal no português brasileiro: um problema para a teoria fonológica – Seung-Hwa LEE & Marco A. de Oliveira
43. Lista das marcas dialetais e ouros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP (Portuguese)
44. Jones & Ward (1969:56)
45. Pavlík (2004:94–95)
46. Stone (2002:600)
47. Šewc-Schuster (1984:20)
48. Bamgboṣe (1969:166)

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