Open back unrounded vowel

Open back unrounded vowel
ɑ
IPA number305
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɑ
Unicode (hex)U+0251
X-SAMPAA
Braille
Front Central Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Legend: unrounded  rounded

The open back unrounded vowel, or low 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 ⟨ɑ⟩. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script a or handwritten a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ⟨ɒ⟩, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

The open back unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the pharyngeal approximant [ʕ̞].[2][3]

Features

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Afrikaans Standard[4] daar [dɑːr] 'there' The quality varies between open near-back unrounded [ɑ̟ː], open back unrounded [ɑː] and even open back rounded [ɒː].[4] See Afrikaans phonology
Äiwoo kânongä [kɑnoŋæ] 'I want'
Arabic Standard[5] طويل (awīl) [tˤɑˈwiːl] 'tall' Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology
Essaouira[6] قال (qāl) [qɑːl] 'he said' One of the possible realisations of /ā/.[6]
Armenian Eastern[5] հաց (hacʿ) [hɑt͡sʰ] 'bread'
Bashkir ҡаҙ (qađ) [qɑð] 'goose'
Catalan Many dialects[7] pal [ˈpɑɫ] 'stick' Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[7] See Catalan phonology
Some dialects[8][9] mà [ˈmɑ] 'hand' More central ([ä] or [ɐ̞]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan.[9] See Catalan phonology
Majorcan and Valencian (some speakers)[7] lloc [ˈʎ̟ɑk] 'place' Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents.[7] It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
Southern Valencian[10] bou [ˈbɑw] 'bull' Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w].[10] It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
Chinese Mandarin[11] (bàng) [pɑŋ˥˩] 'stick' Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/.[11] See Standard Chinese phonology
Dutch Standard[12][13] bad [bɑt] 'bath' Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back.[14][12] In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈].[13] See Dutch phonology
Amsterdam[15] aap [ɑːp] 'monkey' Corresponds to [ ~ äː] in standard Dutch.
Antwerp[16]
Utrecht[16]
The Hague[17] nauw [nɑː] 'narrow' Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch.
English General American[18] on [ɑn] 'on' May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger. See English phonology
Cockney[19] palm [pɑːm] 'palm' Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead.
General South African[20] Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. See South African English phonology
Cultivated
South African[21]
[pɑ̟ːm] Typically more front than cardinal [ɑ]. It may be as front as [äː] in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology
Received Pronunciation[22]
Non-local Dublin[23] back [bɑq] 'back' Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers.[23]
Faroese Some dialects[24] vátur [ˈvɑːtʊɹ] 'wet' Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language.[24] See Faroese phonology
French Conservative Parisian[25][26] pas [pɑ] 'not' Contrasts with /a/, but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä].[27] See French phonology
Quebec[28] pâte [pɑːt] 'paste' Contrasts with /a/.[28] See Quebec French phonology
Galician[29][30] irmán [iɾˈmɑŋ] 'brother' Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[29][30] See Galician phonology
Georgian[31] გუდ (guda) [k̬ud̪ɑ] 'leather bag' Usually not fully back [ɑ], typically [ɑ̟] to [ä].[32] Sometimes transcribed as /a/.
German Standard[33] Gourmand [ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː] 'gourmand' Nasalized; often realized as rounded [ɒ̃ː].[34] See Standard German phonology
Many speakers[35] nah [nɑː] 'near' Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland.[35] Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent.[36] More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology
Greek Sfakian[37] μπύρα (býra) [ˈbirɑ] "beer" Corresponds to central [ä ~ ɐ] in Modern Standard Greek.[38][39] See Modern Greek phonology
Hindustani Hindi ख़ास/khas [xɑːs] 'special' Allophone of [ ~ ä]. More likely to be heard in serious speech or poetry. See Hindustani phonology.
Urdu خاص/khas
Hungarian Some dialects[40] magyar [ˈmɑɟɑr] 'Hungarian' Weakly rounded [ɒ] in standard Hungarian.[41] See Hungarian phonology
Inuit West Greenlandic[42] oqarpoq [ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚] 'he says' Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars.[42] See Inuit phonology
Italian Some Piedmont dialects casa [ˈkɑːzɑ] 'house' Allophone of /a/ which in Italian is largely realised as central [ä].
Irish Munster Dialect áit [ɑːtʲ] 'place' See Irish phonology
Kaingang[43] ga [ᵑɡɑ] 'land, soil' Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].[44]
Khmer ស្ករ (skâr) [skɑː] 'sugar' See Khmer phonology
Low German[45] al / aal [ɑːl] 'all' Backness may vary among dialects.[45]
Malay Kedah[46] mata [ma.tɑ] 'eye' See Malay phonology
Kelantan-Pattani Allophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Standard qari [qɑ.ri] 'qari' Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [ä]. See Malay phonology
Norwegian[47][48] hat [hɑːt] 'hate' The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central [äː] in some other dialects.[47][48][49] See Norwegian phonology
Portuguese Some Azorean dialects nada [ˈnɑðɐ] 'nothing' See Portuguese phonology
Paulista[50] vegetal [veʒeˈtɑw] 'vegetable' Only immediately before [w].[50]
Russian[51] палка (palka) [ˈpɑɫkə] 'stick' Occurs only before the hard /l/, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic Lewis[52] balach [ˈpɑl̪ˠəx] 'boy' Allophone of [a] in proximity to broad sonorants.
Sema[53] amqa [à̠mqɑ̀] 'lower back' Possible realization of /a/ after uvular stops.[53]
Swedish Some dialects jag [jɑːɡ] 'I' Weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː] in Central Standard Swedish.[54] See Swedish phonology
Turkish[55] at [ɑt̪] 'horse' Also described as central [ä].[56] See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian[57] мати (maty) [ˈmɑtɪ] 'mother' See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese Some dialects in North Central and Central gà [ɣɑ˨˩] 'chicken' See Vietnamese phonology[58][59]
West Frisian Standard[60] lang [ɫɑŋ] 'long' Also described as central [ä].[61] See West Frisian phonology
Aastersk[62] maat [mɑːt] 'mate' Contrasts with a front //.[62] See West Frisian phonology

Near-open back unrounded vowel

Near-open back unrounded vowel
ɑ̝
ʌ̞

In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda)[63][64][65][66] there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨ɑ⟩ and ⟨ʌ⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with [ɑ̝] or [ʌ̞].

Features

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Azerbaijani[63] qardaş [ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ] 'brother' Near-open.[63]
Dutch Leiden[14] bad [bɑ̝t] 'bath' Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead.[14] See Dutch phonology
Rotterdam[14]
English Cardiff[67] hot [hɑ̽t] 'hot' Somewhat raised and fronted.[67][68]
Norfolk[68]
Estonian[64] vale [ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ] 'lie' Near-open.[64] See Estonian phonology
Finnish[69] kana [ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝] 'hen' Near-open,[69] also described as open central [ä].[70] See Finnish phonology
Kazakh alma [ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝] 'apple' Can be realised as near-open.
Limburgish Maastrichtian[71] bats [bɑ̽ts] 'buttock' The quality varies between open back [ɑ],[72] open near-back [ɑ̟],[73] and near-open near-back [ɑ̽],[71] depending on the dialect.
Luxembourgish[65] Kapp [kʰɑ̝p] 'head' Near-open fully back.[65] See Luxembourgish phonology
Toda[66] [ɑ̝ːn] 'elephant' Near-open.[66]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ^ International Phonetic Association (1999), p. 11.
  3. ^ Esling, John H. (2010). "Phonetic Notation". In Hardcastle, William J.; Laver, John; Gibbon, Fiona E. (eds.). The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 678–702. doi:10.1002/9781444317251.ch18. ISBN 978-1-4051-4590-9.
  4. ^ a b Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
  5. ^ a b Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 39.
  6. ^ a b Francisco (2019), p. 74.
  7. ^ a b c d Saborit (2009), p. 10.
  8. ^ Rafel (1999), p. 14.
  9. ^ a b Recasens (1996), pp. 90–92.
  10. ^ a b Recasens (1996), pp. 131–132.
  11. ^ a b Mou (2006), p. 65.
  12. ^ a b Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
  13. ^ a b Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
  14. ^ a b c d Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
  15. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 78, 104, 133.
  16. ^ a b Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 104, 133.
  17. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 136.
  18. ^ Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
  19. ^ Wells (1982), p. 305.
  20. ^ Lass (2002), p. 117.
  21. ^ Lass (2002), p. 116-117.
  22. ^ Roach (2004), p. 242.
  23. ^ a b "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  24. ^ a b Árnason (2011), pp. 69, 79.
  25. ^ Ashby (2011), p. 100.
  26. ^ Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 225–227.
  27. ^ Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
  28. ^ a b Walker (1984), p. 53.
  29. ^ a b Regueira (1996), p. 122.
  30. ^ a b Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
  31. ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.
  32. ^ Aronson, Howard (1990), Georgian: A Reading Grammar (2nd ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
  33. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), pp. 34, 38.
  34. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
  35. ^ a b Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
  36. ^ Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), pp. 342–344.
  37. ^ Trudgill (2009), pp. 83–84.
  38. ^ Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
  39. ^ Arvaniti (2007), pp. 25, 28.
  40. ^ Vago (1980), p. 1.
  41. ^ Szende (1994), p. 92.
  42. ^ a b Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
  43. ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
  44. ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676, 682.
  45. ^ a b Prehn (2012), p. 157.
  46. ^ Zaharani Ahmad (1991).
  47. ^ a b Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
  48. ^ a b Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 4.
  49. ^ Vanvik (1979), pp. 16–17.
  50. ^ a b Galastri (2011), p. 21.
  51. ^ Jones & Ward (1969), p. 50.
  52. ^ Oftedal (1956), p. 53.
  53. ^ a b Teo (2014), p. 28.
  54. ^ Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
  55. ^ Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
  56. ^ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
  57. ^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  58. ^ Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2014), "Ngôn ngữ biến đổi và số phận của nguyên âm /a/ trong giọng Quảng Nam (Issues in Language change and the phonemic status of /a/ in the Quang Nam dialect)" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 6: 10–18
  59. ^ Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2016), "Sự biến âm trong vần tiếng Việt: thổ ngữ làng Hến, huyện Đức Thọ, tỉnh Hà Tĩnh [Sound change in Vietnamese rhymes: the dialect of Hến Village of Đức Thọ District, Hà Tĩnh Province]" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ Học (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 11: 7–28
  60. ^ de Haan (2010), p. 333.
  61. ^ Visser (1997), p. 14.
  62. ^ a b van der Veen (2001), p. 102.
  63. ^ a b c Mokari & Werner (2016), p. 509.
  64. ^ a b c Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.
  65. ^ a b c Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
  66. ^ a b c Shalev, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1993), p. 92.
  67. ^ a b Collins & Mees (1990), p. 95.
  68. ^ a b Lodge (2009), p. 168.
  69. ^ a b Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
  70. ^ Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
  71. ^ a b Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
  72. ^ Peters (2006), p. 119.
  73. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.

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