Open-mid back rounded vowel

Open-mid back rounded vowel
ɔ
IPA Number	306
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɔ
Unicode (hex)	U+0254
X-SAMPA	O
Braille
Image

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

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] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩.
Bengali[9]		অর্থ ortho	[ɔrt̪ʰo]	'meaning'	See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian[10]		род rod	[rɔt̪]	'kin'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan[11]		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[12]	kødø	[kɔ̟̀ɗɔ̟́]	'cut down!'	Near-back.[13]
Danish	Standard[14][15]	kort	[ˈkʰɔːt]	'map'	Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒː⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[16]	och	[ʔɔˤx]^ⓘ	'alas'	'Very tense, with strong lip-rounding',[17] strongly pharyngealized[18] (although less so in standard Belgian[19]) and somewhat fronted.[16][20] See Dutch phonology
	Standard Northern[20]
English	Australian[2]	not	[nɔt]^ⓘ	'not'	See Australian English phonology
	Estuary[21]
	New Zealand[22]				May be somewhat fronted.[23] 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[24]				Most Scottish dialects exhibit the cot-caught merger, the outcome of which is a vowel of [ɔ] quality.
	Sheffield[25]	goat	[ɡɔːt]	'goat'	Common realization of the GOAT vowel particularly for males.
	Newfoundland[26]	but	[bɔt]	'but'	Less commonly unrounded [ʌ].[26] See English phonology
Faroese		lálla	[ˈlɔtla]	'seal flipper'	See Faroese phonology
French	Parisian[27]	sotte	[sɔt]^ⓘ	'silly' (f.)	The Parisian realization has been variously described as a back vowel [ɔ] centralized to [ɞ] before /ʁ/[27] and central [ɞ].[28] See French phonology
Galician		home	[ˈɔmɪ]	'man'	See Galician phonology
Georgian[29]		სწორი stsori	[st͡sʼɔɾi]	'correct'
German	Standard[30]	voll	[fɔl]^ⓘ	'full'	See Standard German phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	कौन /kaun	[kɔːn]	'who'	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	کَون/kaun
Italian[31]		parola	[päˈrɔ̟ːlä]^ⓘ	'word'	Near-back.[31] See Italian phonology
Javanese		ꦫꦱ / råså	[rɔsɔ]	taste, feeling
Kaingang[32]		pó	[ˈpɔ]	'stone'
Kera[33]		[dɔ̟̀l]		'hard earth'	Near-back.[33]
Kokborok		kwrwi	[kɔrɔi]	'not'
Limburgish[34][35]		mòn	[mɔːn]	'moon'	Lower [ɔ̞ː] in the Maastrichtian dialect.[36] The example word is from the Hasselt dialect.
Lower Sorbian[37]		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[38]	[brɔːt]	'bread'	Corresponds to [oː], [ou̯], [ɔu̯], [ɛo̯] in other dialects.
Luxembourgish[39]		Sonn	[zɔn]	'son'	Possible realization of /o/.[39] 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
Norwegian	Some dialects[40]	så	[sɔː]	'so'	Present e.g. in Telemark; realized as mid [ɔ̝ː] in other dialects.[40] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan		òda	[ɔðɔ]	'ode'	See Occitan phonology
Odia		ଅର୍ଥ	[ɔɾtʰɔ]	'meaning'
Polish[41]		kot	[kɔt̪]^ⓘ	'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Most dialects[42][43]	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[44]	bronca	[ˈbɾɔ̃kə]	'scolding'	Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel /õ̞/. See Portuguese phonology
Russian	Some speakers[45]	сухой sukhoy	[s̪ʊˈxɔj]	'dry'	More commonly realized as mid [o̞].[45] See Russian phonology
Slovak	Standard[46]	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'
Temne[47]		pɔn	[pɔ̟̀n]	'swamp'	Near-back.[47]
Ukrainian[48]		любов lyubov	[lʲuˈbɔw]	'love'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian[37][49]		pos	[pɔs̪]	'dog'	See Upper Sorbian phonology
Welsh		siop	[ʃɔp]	'shop'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian[50]		rôt	[rɔːt]	'rat'	See West Frisian phonology
Yoruba[51]		^[example needed]			Nasalized; may be near-open [ɔ̞̃] instead.[51]

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. Khan (2010:222)
10. Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999:56)
11. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:54)
12. McGill (2014), pp. 308–309.
13. McGill (2014), p. 308.
14. Grønnum (1998:100)
15. Basbøll (2005:47)
16. Verhoeven (2005:245)
17. Collins & Mees (2003:132)
18. Collins & Mees (2003:132, 222 and 224)
19. Collins & Mees (2003:222)
20. Gussenhoven (1992:47)
21. Wells (1982:305)
22. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009)
23. Bauer et al. (2007:98)
24. Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006:7)
25. Stoddart, Upton & Widdowson:74) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFStoddartUptonWiddowson (help)
26. Wells (1982:498)
27. Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
28. Collins & Mees (2013:225)
29. Shosted & Chikovani (2006:261–262)
30. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:34)
31. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:119)
32. Jolkesky (2009:676–677, 682)
33. Pearce (2011:251)
34. Verhoeven (2007:221)
35. Peters (2006:118–119)
36. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:158–159)
37. Stone (2002:600)
38. Schambach, Gerog (1858), "Wörterbuch der niederdeutschen Mundart der Fürstenthümer Göttingen und Grubenhagen oder GöttingischGrubenhagen'sches Idiotikon", p. 30.
39. Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFGillesTrouvain2013 (help)
40. Popperwell (2010:26)
41. Jassem (2003:105)
42. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
43. 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
44. Lista das marcas dialetais e ouros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP (in Portuguese)
45. Jones & Ward (1969:56)
46. Pavlík (2004), pp. 94–95.
47. Kanu & Tucker (2010:249)
48. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
49. Šewc-Schuster (1984:20)
50. Tiersma (1999), p. 10.
51. Bamgboṣe (1969:166) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFBamgboṣe1969 (help)

References

• Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1966), A Grammar of Yoruba, [West African Languages Survey / Institute of African Studies], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
• Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 97–102, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830
• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2013) [First published 2003], Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students (3rd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-50650-2
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
• Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
• Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
• Grønnum, Nina (1998), "Illustrations of the IPA: Danish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1 & 2): 99–105, doi:10.1017/s0025100300006290, S2CID 249412109
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
• Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2), University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies: 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045
• Harrington, J.; Cox, F.; Evans, Z. (1997), "An acoustic phonetic study of broad, general, and cultivated Australian English vowels", Australian Journal of Linguistics, 17 (2): 155–84, doi:10.1080/07268609708599550
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
• Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA, 3, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP: 675–685
• Jones, Daniel; Ward, Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521153003
• Kanu, Sullay M.; Tucker, Benjamin V. (2010), "Temne", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 247–253, doi:10.1017/S002510031000006X
• Khan, Sameer ud Dowla (2010), "Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 221–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100310000071
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
• Mannell, R.; Cox, F.; Harrington, J. (2009), An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, Macquarie University
• McGill, Stuart (2014), "Cicipu", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 44 (3): 303–318, doi:10.1017/S002510031400022X
• Pavlík, Radoslav (2004), "Slovenské hlásky a medzinárodná fonetická abeceda" (PDF), Jazykovedný časopis, 55: 87–109
• Pearce, Mary (2011), "Kera", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 41 (2): 249–258, doi:10.1017/S0025100311000168, S2CID 232344047
• Peters, Jörg (2006), "The dialect of Hasselt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 117–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002428
• Popperwell, Ronald G. (2010) [First published 1963], Pronunciation of Norwegian, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-15742-1
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
• Scobbie, James M; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006), Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: an overview, Edinburgh: QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers
• Šewc-Schuster, Hinc (1984), Gramatika hornjo-serbskeje rěče, Budyšin: Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
• Stoddart, Jana; Upton, Clive; Widdowson, J.D.A. (1999), "Sheffield dialect in the 1990s: revisiting the concept of NORMs", Urban Voices, London: Arnold, pp. 72–89
• Stone, Gerald (2002), "Sorbian (Upper and Lower)", in Comrie, Bernard; Corbett, Greville G. (eds.), The Slavonic Languages, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 593–685, ISBN 9780415280785
• Ternes, Elmer; Vladimirova-Buhtz, Tatjana (1999), "Bulgarian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 55–57, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
• Tiersma, Peter Meijes (1999) [First published 1985 in Dordrecht by Foris Publications], Frisian Reference Grammar (2nd ed.), Ljouwert: Fryske Akademy, ISBN 90-6171-886-4
• Traunmüller, Hartmut (1982), "Vokalismus in der westniederösterreichischen Mundart.", Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik, 2: 289–333
• Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 245, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173
• Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759, 10.1017/CBO9780511611766. ISBN 0-52128540-2 , 0-52128541-0 .
• Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 82-990584-0-6
• Verhoeven, Jo (2007), "The Belgian Limburg dialect of Hamont", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (2): 219–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100307002940
• Wikström, Jussi (2013), "An acoustic study of the RP English LOT and THOUGHT vowels", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 37–47, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000345, S2CID 146863401

External links

• List of languages with [ɔ] on PHOIBLE