The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .
Close-mid back protruded vowel The close-mid back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close-mid back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as , and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, the symbol for the close-mid back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, , can be used as an ad hoc symbol for the close-mid back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is or (a close-mid back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.
In English, the symbol is typically associated with the vowel in the "goat", but in Received Pronunciation and General American, that vowel is a diphthong whose starting point may be unrounded and more centered than . In Received Pronunciation, the closest vowel to cardinal is the vowel found in words such as caught, horse and hoarse. This is transcribed with by most sources, though the actual realization is closer to .
For the close-mid near-back protruded vowel that is usually transcribed with the symbol , see near-close back protruded vowel. If the usual symbol is , the vowel is listed here.
Features
Occurrence Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression.
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Afrikaans Standard 'goat' Typically transcribed in IPA with . The height varies between close-mid and mid . See Afrikaans phonology Bavarian Amstetten dialect, cited in Contrasts close , near-close , close-mid and open-mid back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded . Typically transcribed in IPA with .Bengali'your' See Bengali phonology Bulgarian / 'mouth' Unstressed allophone of and . May be transcribed in IPA with . See Bulgarian phonology Catalan 'I am' See Catalan phonology Danish Standard 'wife' Also described as near-close . See Danish phonology Dutch Standard Belgian 'cabbage' In the Netherlands often diphthongized to . See Dutch phonology English Estuary yawn 'yawn' May be or instead. Cockney Received Pronunciation Typically transcribed with . See English phonology South African General and Broad varieties. Cultivated SAE has a more open vowel. See South African English phonology General Indian go 'go' General Pakistani Varies between . Singaporean Birmingham and the Black Country cut 'cut' Corresponds to in other dialects. Estonian 'chair' See Estonian phonology Faroese 'to endure' May be a diphthong instead. See Faroese phonology French 'network' See French phonology German Standard 'or' See Standard German phonology Upper Saxon 'except' Pharyngealized; corresponds to in Northern Standard German. The example word is from the Chemnitz dialect. Greek Sfakian / 'translate' Corresponds to mid in Modern Standard Greek. See Modern Greek phonology Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) / 'strength, power' See Hindustani phonology Hungarian 'disease' See Hungarian phonology Italian 'shade' See Italian phonology Kaingang 'toad' Khmer / 'molecule' See Khmer phonology Korean / 'song' See Korean phonologyKurdish Kurmanji (Northern) 'day' See Kurdish phonology Sorani (Central) / Latin Classical 'sun' Limburgish Most dialects 'garden' The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. Lower Sorbian '(two) eyes' Diphthongized to in slow speech. Luxembourgish 'sun' Sometimes realized as open-mid . See Luxembourgish phonology Malay 'die' Allophone of in closed-final syllables. May be or depending on the speaker. See Malay phonology Malayalam / 'one' See Malayalam phonology Marathi / 'two' See Marathi phonology Minangkabau 'all' Mpade 'field' Norwegian Most dialects 'law' The quality varies among dialects; in Urban East Norwegian, it has been variously described as close-mid back and mid , in Stavangersk it is a close-mid near-back , whereas in Telemark it is a back open-mid vowel . In some dialects it is replaced by the diphthong . See Norwegian phonology Persian / 'turtle' Portuguese 'dodo' See Portuguese phonology Polish 'spring' Allophone of between palatal or palatalized consonants. See Polish phonology Romanian 'there' See Romanian phonology Saterland Frisian 'to calm' Near-back; typically transcribed in IPA with . Phonetically, it is nearly identical to (). The vowel typically transcribed in IPA with is actually near-close . Shiwiar Allophone of . Slovak Some speakers 'telephone' Realization of reported to occur in dialects spoken near the river Ipeľ, as well as - under Hungarian influence - in some other speakers. Corresponds to mid in standard Slovak. See Slovak phonology Slovene 'my' See Slovene phonology Sotho 'proof' Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels. See Sotho phonology Spanish 'truck' See Spanish phonology Swedish Central Standard 'on' Often a centering diphthong (as in ). See Swedish phonology Ukrainian / 'youth' See Ukrainian phonology Upper Sorbian 'god' Diphthongized to in slow speech. Welsh 'night' See Welsh phonology West Frisian 'billy-goat' See West Frisian phonology Wu Chinese Shanghainese / 'melon' Specifically in Shanghainese. Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel. Yoruba 'help'
Close-mid back compressed vowel
As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, (the opposite of ), will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for compressed back vowels. It was only added to Unicode in 2025, however, and it may take some time for font support to catch up. Compression of the lips can be shown with the letter as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression), though that can suggest that the vowel is a diphthong.
Only Wu Chinese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close-mid back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.
Features
Occurrence Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Wu Chinese Shanghainese / 'capital' Specifically in Shanghainese. Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel.
Notes
References
External links