Open-mid back rounded vowel

Open-mid back rounded vowel
ɔ
IPA number	306
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Entity (decimal)	ɔ
Unicode (hex)	U+0254
X-SAMPA	O
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IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u Near-close ɪ ʏ ʊ Close-mid e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o Mid e̞ ø̞ ə ɤ̞ o̞ Open-mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ Near-open æ ɐ Open a ɶ ä ɑ ɒ
IPA help  audio full chart template Legend: unrounded • rounded

Spectrogram of [ɔ]

The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back rounded 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 ⟨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.

In English, the symbol ⟨ɔ⟩ (or ⟨ɔː⟩) is typically associated with the vowel in "thought", but in Received Pronunciation (standard British English), Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English that vowel is produced with considerably stronger lip rounding and higher tongue position than that of cardinal [ɔ], i.e. as close-mid [oː] or somewhat lower. Open-mid [ɔː] or even open [ɒː] realizations are found in North American English (where this vowel is often indistinguishable from the open back unrounded vowel in "bra") and Scottish English as well as Hiberno-English, Northern England English and Welsh English, though in the last three accent groups closer, [oː]-like realizations are also found. In RP, the open-mid realization of /ɔː/ has been obsolete since the 1930s. Pronouncing that vowel as such is subject to correction for non-native speakers aiming at RP.^[2][3][4][5]

In Received Pronunciation and Australian English, the open-mid back rounded vowel occurs as the main allophone of the LOT vowel /ɒ/. The contrast between /ɔː/ and /ɒ/ is thus strongly maintained, with the former vowel being realized as close-mid [oː] and the latter as open-mid [ɔ], similarly to the contrast between /o/ and /ɔ/ found in German, Italian and Portuguese.^[2][3][6]

Features

• 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 back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• 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
Albanian	Tosk	tortë	[ˈtɔɾtə]	'cake'
Armenian	Eastern[7]	հողմ hoġm	[hɔʁm]	'storm'
Assamese		কৰ / kor	[kɔɹ]	'to do'	May also be transcribed as fully low [ɒ] or "over-rounded" [ɒ̹]
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect[8]	wås	[β̞ɔs]	'what'	Contrasts close [u], near-close [o̝], close-mid [o] and open-mid [ɔ] back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded [ä].[8][9] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩.
Bengali[10]		অর্থ ortho	[ɔrt̪ʱɔ]	'meaning'	See Bengali phonology
Breton[11]		roll	[ˈrɔlː]	'list'
Bulgarian[12]		род rod	[rɔt̪]	'kin'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan[13]		soc	[ˈsɔk]	'clog'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	我 ngo^5	[ŋɔː˩˧]	'I, me, my'	See Cantonese phonology
	Hokkien	某 bó͘	[bɔ⁵²]	'wife'	See Hokkien phonology
Cipu	Tirisino dialect[14]	kødø	[kɔ̟̀ɗɔ̟́]	'cut down!'	Near-back.[15]
Danish	Standard[16][17]	kort	[ˈkʰɔːt]	'map'	Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒː⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[18]	och	[ʔɔˤx]^ⓘ	'alas'	'Very tense, with strong lip-rounding',[19] strongly pharyngealized[20] (although less so in standard Belgian[21]) and somewhat fronted.[18][22] See Dutch phonology
	Standard Northern[22]
English	Australian[2]	not	[nɔt]^ⓘ	'not'	See Australian English phonology
	Estuary[23]
	New Zealand[24]				May be somewhat fronted.[25] Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩. See New Zealand English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[3][6]				/ɒ/ has shifted up in emerging RP.
	General American	thought	[θɔːt]	'thought'	Mainly in speakers without the cot–caught merger. It may be lower [ɒ]. (It is rarely lowered to /ɒ/ before liquids /l ɹ/, and may thus be more familiar to many North Americans in r-colored form, /ɔ˞/.)
	Scottish[26]				Most Scottish dialects exhibit the cot-caught merger, the outcome of which is a vowel of [ɔ] quality.
	Sheffield[27]	goat	[ɡɔːt]	'goat'	Common realization of the GOAT vowel particularly for males.
	Newfoundland[28]	but	[bɔt]	'but'	Less commonly unrounded [ʌ].[28] See English phonology
Faroese		lálla	[ˈlɔtla]	'seal flipper'	See Faroese phonology
French	Parisian[29]	sotte	[sɔt]^ⓘ	'silly' (f.)	The Parisian realization has been variously described as a back vowel [ɔ] centralized to [ɞ] before /ʁ/[29] and central [ɞ].[30] See French phonology
Galician		home	[ˈɔmɪ]	'man'	See Galician phonology
Georgian[31]		სწორი stsori	[st͡sʼɔɾi]	'correct'
German	Standard[32]	voll	[fɔl]^ⓘ	'full'	See Standard German phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	कौन /kaun	[kɔːn]	'who'	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	کَون/kaun
Italian[33]		parola	[päˈrɔ̟ːlä]^ⓘ	'word'	Near-back.[33] See Italian phonology
Javanese		ꦫꦱ / råså	[rɔsɔ]	taste, feeling
Kaingang[34]		pó	[ˈpɔ]	'stone'
Kera[35]		[dɔ̟̀l]		'hard earth'	Near-back.[35]
Kokborok		kwrwi	[kɔrɔi]	'not'
Limburgish[36][37]		mòn	[mɔːn]	'moon'	Lower [ɔ̞ː] in the Maastrichtian dialect.[38] The example word is from the Hasselt dialect.
Lower Sorbian[39]		pšosba	[ˈpʂɔz̪bä]	'a request'
Low German	Most dialects	stok	[stɔk]	'stick'	May be more open [ɒ] in the Netherlands or more closed [o̞] in Low Prussian dialects.
	Various dialects	slaap	[slɔːp]	'sleep'	May be as low as [ɒː] and as high as [oː] in other dialects.
	Southern Eastphalian	brâd[40]	[brɔːt]	'bread'	Corresponds to [oː], [ou̯], [ɔu̯], [ɛo̯] in other dialects.
Luxembourgish[41]		Sonn	[zɔn]	'son'	Possible realization of /o/.[41] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Standard	sotong	[sotɔŋ]	'squid'	Possible realization of /o/ and /u/ in closed final syllables. See Malay phonology
	Negeri Sembilan	كيت / kita	[kitɔ]	'we' (inclusive)	See Negeri Sembilan Malay
	Kelantan-Pattani	بياسا / biasa	[bɛsɔ]	'normal'	See Kelatan-Pattani Malay
Nepali		पर	[pɔ̜ɾɔ̜]	'far'	Less rounded. Allophone of /ʌ/ around labial consonants and in isolation.[42]
		लामो	[lämɔ]	'long'	Uncommon post-nasal allophone of /o/, which is commonly raised to [u].[43]
Norwegian	Some dialects[44]	så	[sɔː]	'so'	Present e.g. in Telemark; realized as mid [ɔ̝ː] in other dialects.[44] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan		òda	[ɔðɔ]	'ode'	See Occitan phonology
Odia		ଅର୍ଥ	[ɔɾtʰɔ]	'meaning'
Polish[45]		kot	[kɔt̪]^ⓘ	'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Most dialects[46][47]	fofoca	[fɔˈfɔ̞kɐ]	'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[48]	bronca	[ˈbɾɔ̃kə]	'scolding'	Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel /õ̞/. See Portuguese phonology
Russian	Some speakers[49]	сухой sukhoy	[s̪ʊˈxɔj]	'dry'	More commonly realized as mid [o̞].[49] See Russian phonology
Slovak	Standard[50]	ohúriť	[ˈɔɦu̞ːri̞c]	'to stun'	See Slovak phonology
Swedish	Standard	moll	[mɔlː]	'minor scale'	See Swedish phonology
Tagalog		oyayi	[ʔɔˈjajɪ]	'lullaby'	See Tagalog phonology
Thai		งอ ngo	[ŋɔː˧]	'to bend'	See Thai phonology
Temne[51]		pɔn	[pɔ̟̀n]	'swamp'	Near-back.[51]
Ukrainian[52]		любов lyubov	[lʲuˈbɔw]	'love'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian[39][53]		pos	[pɔs̪]	'dog'	See Upper Sorbian phonology
Welsh		siop	[ʃɔp]	'shop'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian[54]		rôt	[rɔːt]	'rat'	See West Frisian phonology
Yoruba[55]		^[example needed]			Nasalized; may be near-open [ɔ̞̃] instead.[55]

See also

• Copyleft symbol
• Index of phonetics articles
• R-colored vowel

Notes

1. While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
2. Harrington, Cox & Evans (1997)
3. Geoff Lindsey (2012) Morgen — a suitable case for treatment, Speech Talk
4. Roach (2004:242)
5. Wells (1982)
6. 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."
7. Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
8. Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
9. Traunmüller (1981)
10. Khan (2010:222)
11. Mikael Madeg, Traité de prononciation du breton du Nord-Ouest à l’usage des bretonnants, Emgleo Breiz, Brest, 2010
12. Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999:56)
13. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:54)
14. McGill (2014), pp. 308–309.
15. McGill (2014), p. 308.
16. Grønnum (1998:100)
17. Basbøll (2005:47)
18. Verhoeven (2005:245)
19. Collins & Mees (2003:132)
20. Collins & Mees (2003:132, 222 and 224)
21. Collins & Mees (2003:222)
22. Gussenhoven (1992:47)
23. Wells (1982:305)
24. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009)
25. Bauer et al. (2007:98)
26. Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006:7)
27. Stoddart, Upton & Widdowson:74) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFStoddartUptonWiddowson (help)
28. Wells (1982:498)
29. Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
30. Collins & Mees (2013:225)
31. Shosted & Chikovani (2006:261–262)
32. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:34)
33. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:119)
34. Jolkesky (2009:676–677, 682)
35. Pearce (2011:251)
36. Verhoeven (2007:221)
37. Peters (2006:118–119)
38. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:158–159)
39. Stone (2002:600)
40. Schambach, Gerog (1858), "Wörterbuch der niederdeutschen Mundart der Fürstenthümer Göttingen und Grubenhagen oder GöttingischGrubenhagen'sches Idiotikon", p. 30.
41. Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFGillesTrouvain2013 (help)
42. Darnal, Arnav. "Spoken and sung vowels produced by bilingual Nepali speakers: A brief comparison". Himalayan Linguistics. 23 (1): 5–11. doi:10.5070/H923161723.
43. Pokharel, Madhav Prasad (1989), Experimental analysis of Nepali sound system (PhD), University of Pune, India
44. Popperwell (2010:26)
45. Jassem (2003:105)
46. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
47. Variação inter- e intra-dialetal no português brasileiro: um problema para a teoria fonológica – Seung-Hwa LEE & Marco A. de Oliveira Archived 2014-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
48. Lista das marcas dialetais e ouros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP (in Portuguese)
49. Jones & Ward (1969:56)
50. Pavlík (2004), pp. 94–95.
51. Kanu & Tucker (2010:249)
52. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
53. Šewc-Schuster (1984:20)
54. Tiersma (1999), p. 10.
55. Bamgboṣe (1969:166) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFBamgboṣe1969 (help)

References

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External links

• List of languages with [ɔ] on PHOIBLE