Close central unrounded vowel

Occurrence

is uncommon as a phoneme in Indo-European languages, occurring most commonly in some Slavic languages, such as Belarusian and 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 and both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (such as Proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark 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).

The sound of Polish ⟨y⟩ is often represented as , but actually it is a close-mid advanced central unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed . Similarly, European Portuguese unstressed ⟨e⟩, often represented as , is actually a near-close near-back unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed using ad hoc symbols such as (mid-centralized), (fronted) and (less rounded, i.e. unrounded).

Near-close central unrounded vowel

Some languages feature the near-close central unrounded vowel, which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩ and ⟨⟩, but ⟨⟩ is also possible. In many British dictionaries, this vowel has been transcribed ⟨⟩, which captures its height; in the American tradition it is more often ⟨⟩, which captures its centrality, or ⟨⟩, which captures both. ⟨⟩ 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, ⟨⟩ represents variation between and .

Features

• Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
• 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