Open back unrounded vowel | |||
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ɑ | |||
IPA number | 305 | ||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ɑ |
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Unicode (hex) | U+0251 | ||
X-SAMPA | A |
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Kirshenbaum | A |
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Braille | ![]() |
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Sound | |||
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The open back unrounded vowel, or low back unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɑ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script 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 its linear stroke on the bottom right, should not be confused with turned script a, ɒ, which has its linear stroke on the top left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.
The Hamont dialect of Limburgish has been reported to contrast long open front, central and back unrounded vowels,[1] which is extremely unusual.
The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists,[who?] perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".
Features
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Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded | |||||||||||||||||||
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IPA help • IPA key • chart • ![]() |
- Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth – that is, as low as possible in the mouth.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurrence
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Afrikaans | Standard[2][3] | daar | [dɑːr] | 'there' | See Afrikaans phonology |
Angor | ape | [ɑpe] | 'father' | ||
Arabic | Standard[4] | طويل | [tˤɑˈwiːl] | 'tall' | Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology |
Armenian | Eastern[4] | հաց | [hɑt͡sʰ] | 'bread' | |
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Tyari dialects | baba | [bɑːba] | 'father' | Corresponds to [a ~ ä] in other varieties. |
Catalan | Many dialects[5] | pal | [ˈpɑɫ] | 'stick' | Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[5] See Catalan phonology |
Some dialects[6][7] | mà | [ˈmɑ] | 'hand' | More central ([ɑ̟], [ä]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan.[7] | |
Some Valencian and Majorcan speakers[5] | lloc | [ˈl̠ʲɒ̹k] | 'place' | Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents.[5] Can be centralized. | |
Some southern Valencian speakers[8] | bou | [ˈbɒ̹w] | 'bull' | Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w].[8] Can be centralized. | |
Chinese | Mandarin | 棒/bàng | ![]() |
'stick' | Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/. See Standard Chinese phonology |
Danish | Conservative[9] | barn | [ˈb̥ɑːˀn] | 'child' | Near-open;[9] realized as open central [äː] in contemporary Standard Danish.[10][11] See Danish phonology |
Dutch | Standard[12][13] | bad | [bɑt] | 'bath' | Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Netherlandic accent it is fully back.[14][12] In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈].[13] See Dutch phonology |
Leiden[14] | [bɑ̝t] | Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead.[14] See Dutch phonology | |||
Rotterdam[14] | |||||
Amsterdam[15] | aap | [ɑːp] | 'monkey' | Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch. | |
Antwerp[16] | |||||
Utrecht[16] | |||||
The Hague[17] | nauw | [nɑː] | 'narrow' | Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch. | |
English | Cardiff[18] | hot | [hɑ̝̈t] | 'hot' | Somewhat raised and fronted. |
Norfolk[19] | |||||
General American[20] | [hɑt] | May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger. See English phonology | |||
Cockney[21] | bath | [bɑːθ] | 'bath' | Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead. | |
General South African[22] |
Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. | ||||
Cultivated South African[23] |
[bɑ̟ːθ] | 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 | |||
Received Pronunciation[24] | |||||
Non-local Dublin[25] | back | [bɑq] | 'back' | Allophone of /æ/ before velars for some speakers.[25] | |
Estonian[26] | vale | [ˈvɑ̝lɛˑ] | 'wrong' | Near-open.[26] See Estonian phonology | |
Faroese | Some dialects[27] | vátur | [ˈvɑːtʊɹ] | 'water' | Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language.[27] See Faroese phonology |
Finnish[28] | kana | [ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝] | 'hen' | Near-open,[28] also described as open central [ä].[29] See Finnish phonology | |
French | Conservative Parisian[30] | pas | [pɑ] | 'not' | Contrasts with [a], but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä]. See French phonology |
Quebec | pâte | [pɑːt] | 'paste' | See Quebec French phonology | |
Galician[31][32] | irmán | [iɾˈmɑŋ] | 'brother' | Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[31][32] See Galician phonology | |
Georgian[33] | გუდა | [ɡudɑ] | 'leather bag' | ||
German | Some dialects | Tag | [tʰɑːk] | 'day' | In other dialects it is more front. See German phonology. |
Zurich dialect[34] | mane | [ˈmɑːnə] | 'remind' | Allophone of /ɒ/, in free variation with [ɒ].[34] | |
Inuit | West Greenlandic[35] | [example needed] | Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars.[35] See Inuit phonology | ||
Kaingang[36] | [ˈᵑɡɑ] | 'terra' | Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].[37] | ||
Limburgish[1][38][39][40] | bats | [bɑts] | 'buttock' | Backness varies from fully back [ɑ] to almost central [ɑ̟], depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.[40] | |
Luxembourgish[41][42] | Kapp | [kʰɑp] | 'head' | Described variously as open near-back[41] and near-open back.[42] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
Malay | Kedah dialect[43] | mata | [matɑ] | 'eye' | See Malay phonology |
Navajo | ashkii | [ɑʃkɪː] | 'boy' | See Navajo phonology | |
Norwegian | Standard Eastern[44][45][46] | hat | [hɑːt̻] | 'hate' | See Norwegian phonology |
Fredrikstad[47] | |||||
Stavangersk[48] | |||||
Trondheimsk[47] | |||||
Plautdietsch | Gott | [ɡɑ̽t] | 'God' | ||
Russian[49] | палка | [ˈpɑɫkə] | 'stick' | Occurs only both before /ɫ/ and after an unpalatalized consonant. See Russian phonology | |
Sema[50] | amqa | [à̠mqɑ̀] | 'lower back' | Possible allophone of /a/ after uvular stops.[50] | |
Slovak[51][52] | a | [ɑ̟] | 'and' | Near-back; possible realization of /a/.[51][53] See Slovak phonology | |
Swedish | Some dialects | jаg | [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 | [ˈmɑtɪ] | 'mother' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
West Frisian | lang | [ɫɑŋ] | 'long' |
See also
References
- ^ a b Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
- ^ Lass (1984), pp. 76, 93–94 and 105.
- ^ Donaldson (1993), p. 7.
- ^ a b Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 39.
- ^ a b c d Saborit (2009), p. 10.
- ^ Rafel (1999), p. 14.
- ^ a b Recasens (1996), pp. 90–92.
- ^ a b Recasens (1996), pp. 131–132.
- ^ a b Ladefoged & Johnson (2010:227)
- ^ Grønnum (1998:100)
- ^ Basbøll (2005:46)
- ^ a b Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
- ^ a b Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
- ^ a b c d Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 78, 104, 133.
- ^ a b Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 104, 133.
- ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 136.
- ^ Coupland (1990), p. 95.
- ^ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
- ^ Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
- ^ Wells (1982), p. 305.
- ^ Lass (2002), p. 117.
- ^ Lass (2002), p. 116-117.
- ^ Roach (2004), p. 242.
- ^ a b "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
- ^ a b Asu & Teras (2009:368)
- ^ a b Árnason (2011:69, 79)
- ^ a b Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
- ^ Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
- ^ Ashby (2011), p. 100.
- ^ a b Regueira (1996), p. 122.
- ^ a b Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
- ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.
- ^ a b Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 248.
- ^ a b Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
- ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677 and 682.
- ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676 and 682.
- ^ Peters (2006), p. 119.
- ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
- ^ a b Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
- ^ a b Trouvain & Gilles (2009), p. 75.
- ^ a b Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
- ^ Zaharani Ahmad (1991).
- ^ Berulfsen (1969), p. 10.
- ^ Skaug (2003), pp. 15–19.
- ^ Popperwell (2010), pp. 16, 23–24.
- ^ a b Vanvik (1979), p. 16.
- ^ Vanvik (1979), p. 17.
- ^ Jones & Ward (1969), p. 50.
- ^ a b Teo (2014:28)
- ^ a b Kráľ (1988:54)
- ^ Pavlík (2004:95)
- ^ Pavlík (2004:94–95)
- ^ Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
- ^ Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
- ^ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
- ^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
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