The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded 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 ⟨ɯ⟩. Typographically, it is a turned letter ⟨m⟩; given its relation to the sound represented by the letter ⟨u⟩, it can be considered a ligature of 2 ⟨u⟩'s.
The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of the voiced velar approximant [ɰ].
Spectrogram of /ɯ/
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 back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
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^Asyik, Abdul Gani. "The Agreement System in Acehnese" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. XI: 1–33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^Al-Harbi, Awwad Ahmad Al-Ahmadi (January 2003). "Acehnese Coda Condition: An Optimality-Theoretic Account" (PDF). Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational and Social Sciences and Humanities. 15 (1): 9–28.
^ a bAlves (2013), p. 269.
^Ghaffarvand-Mokari & Werner 2016, p. 514.
^ a bWells (1982), p. 557.
^ a bWells (1982), p. 536.
^Ladefoged (1999), pp. 42–43.
^ a bWarren, Paul. NZE Phonology (PDF) (Report). Victoria University of Wellington. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2024.
^ a bBauer & Warren (2004), p. 585.
^ a bGordon (2004), p. 290.
^ a bBowerman (2004), p. 936.
^ a bAsu & Teras (2009), p. 369.
^Labrune (2012), p. 25.
^Okada (1999), p. 118.
^dos Anjos (2012), p. 129.
^Lee (1999), p. 122.
^Vasconcelos (2013), p. 182.
^ a bCruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
^Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993), p. 24.
^ a bGöksel & Kerslake (2005:10)
^Kiliç & Öğüt (2004)
^Zimmer & Orgun (1999:155)
References
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