Mid front rounded vowel

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Legend: unrounded • rounded

The mid front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages.

Although there is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the "exact" mid front rounded vowel between close-mid and open-mid , ⟨⟩ is generally used. If precision is desired, diacritics can be used, such as ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩.

Some of the vowels listed in the table below may phonetically be more back than typical front vowels, as near-front vowels. See mid near-front rounded vowel for other examples.

Mid front compressed vowel

The mid front compressed vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩. This article uses the first symbol for simplicity. There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨⟩ as ⟨⟩ / ⟨⟩ (simultaneous / and labial compression) or ⟨⟩ / ⟨⟩ ( / modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letters ⟨⟩ / ⟨⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Rounded front vowels are often centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-front.
• Its roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

Occurrence

Because front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have protrusion.