Open-mid back unrounded vowel
| Edit - 2× | Front | N.-front | Central | N.-back | Back |
| Close | |||||
| Near-close | |||||
| Close-mid | |||||
| Mid | |||||
| Open-mid | |||||
| Near-open | |||||
| Open | |||||
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.
represents a rounded vowel.
| IPA – number | 314 |
| IPA – text | ʌ |
| IPA – image |  |
| Entity | ʌ |
| X-SAMPA | V |
| Kirshenbaum | V |
| Sound sample | |
|---|---|
The open-mid 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 ʌ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is V. The IPA symbol is an inverted letter v and both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as either a wedge, a carrot, or a hat.
Contents |
Features
- Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel.
- 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.
- Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
Occurs in
- English: GA, eastern AmE, and Scottish nut [nʌ̟t] (fronted)
- Irish: ola [ʌlˠə], "oil"
- Korean: beol [pʌl], "punishment"
- Russian: голова [gəlʌ̟ˈva], "head" (fronted)
- Vietnamese: tây [tʌ̄j], "west"
Before World War II, Received Pronunciation had /ʌ/ as a phoneme; this sound has since shifted forward to [ɐ]. Despite this change, the symbol <ʌ> is still used (Roca & Johnson 135). This may be due to both tradition as well as the fact that some other dialects retain the older pronunciation.
Reference
- Roca, Iggy & Johnson, Wyn (1999). Course in Phonology. Blackwell Publishing.
Categories
Vowels