Jump to content

Near-open front unrounded vowel

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Near-open front unrounded vowel
æ
Audio sample
Encoding
X-SAMPA{

The near-open front unrounded vowel or near-low front unrounded vowel is a sound that the mouth can make. It is used in some spoken languages. It is in English, usually written as a, as in cat.

Characteristics

[change | change source]
  • The vowel height is near-open, also known as near-low, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as an open vowel (low vowel).
  • The vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned in the front.
  • It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Examples

[change | change source]
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
AfrikaansStandard[1]perd[pæːrt]'horse'Allophone of /ɛ/, in some dialects, before /k χ l r/. See Afrikaans phonology
Äiwoo ikuwä [ikuwæ] 'I go' Distinguished from both [a] and [ɑ ~ ɒ].
ArabicStandard[2]كتاب (kitāb)[kiˈtæːb]'book'Allophone of /a/ in the environment of plain labial and coronal consonants as well as /j/ (depending on the speaker's accent). See Arabic phonology
Azerbaijani Azərbaycan[ɑːzæɾbɑjˈd͡ʒɑn] 'Azerbaijan'
Bambam[3]bätä[ˈbætæ]'stem'
Bashkir[4] йәй (yäy) [jæj]ⓘ 'summer'
Bengali[5]ব্যাঙ/bêṅ[bæŋ]'frog'Also pronounced as /ɛ/. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian Moesian dialects млечен (mlečen) [mlæt͡ʃɛn] 'made from milk' Descendant of Proto-Slavic *ě in places where Standard Bulgarian would have /ɛ/. See Yat.
Rup dialectsDescendant of Proto-Slavic *ě in all positions. See Yat.
Teteven dialectмъж (măž)[mæʃ]'man'In place of Standard Bulgarian [ɤ̞] (written as ъ).
Erkech dialect
CatalanMajorcan (some speakers)[6]sac[ˈs̺æc]'bag'Majorcan /a/-fronting. See Catalan phonology
Valencian[7][8][9][10]raig[ˈr̺æt͡ɕ]'ray'Palatal variant of /a/. It can be more open ([a]). See Catalan phonology
terra[ˈt̪ær̺æ̈]'Earth, land'Final unstressed /a/ (usually involving vowel harmony). Can be realized as rounded and/or back. See Catalan phonology
tesi[ˈt̪ɛ̞z̺ɪ]'thesis'Main realization of /ɛ/. Slightly more open and centralized (near-front) [æ̠] before liquids and in monosyllabics. See Catalan phonology
Balearic (except Ibizan)[9][10]Main realization of /ɛ/. See Catalan phonology
Chechenаьрзу (ärzu)[ærzu]'eagle'
DanishStandard[11][12]dansk[ˈtænˀsk]'Danish'Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩ – the way it is realized by certain older or upper-class speakers.[13] See Danish phonology
Dutch[14]pen[pæn]'pen'Allophone of /ɛ/ before /n/ and coda /l/. In non-standard accents this allophone is generalized to other positions, where [ɛ] is used in Standard Dutch.[15] See Dutch phonology
EnglishCultivated New Zealand[16]cat[kʰæt]ⓘ'cat'Higher in other New Zealand varieties. See New Zealand English phonology
General American[17]See English phonology
Conservative Received Pronunciation[18]Fully open [a] in contemporary RP.[18] See English phonology
Estonian[19]väle[ˈvæ̈le̞ˑ]'agile'Near-front.[19] See Estonian phonology
Finnish[20]mäki[ˈmæki]'hill'See Finnish phonology
FrenchParisian[21]bain[bæ̃]'bath'Nasalized; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ̃⟩. See French phonology
Quebec[22]ver[væːʁ]'worm'Allophone of /ɛ/ before /ʁ/ or in open syllables, and of /a/ in closed syllables.[22] See Quebec French phonology
GermanStandard Austrian[23]erlauben[æˈlɑɔ̯bn̩]'allow'Variant of pretonic [ɛɐ̯].[23] See Standard German phonology
West Central German accents[24]oder[ˈoːdæ]'or'Used instead of [ɐ].[24] See Standard German phonology
Northern accents[25]alles[ˈæləs]'everything'Lower and often also more back in other accents.[25] See Standard German phonology
Western Swiss accents[26]spät[ʃpæːt]'late'Open-mid [ɛː] or close-mid [eː] in other accents; contrasts with the open-mid /ɛː/.[27] See Standard German phonology
GreekMacedonia[28]γάτα (gáta)[ˈɣætæ]'cat'See Modern Greek phonology
Thessaly[28]
Thrace[28]
Pontic[29]καλάθια (kaláthia)[kaˈlaθæ]'baskets'
HindustaniHindiन्यूज़ीलैंड (Nyu Zilaind)[njuːziːlænd]'New Zealand'An allophone of [ɛː] that appears in English loanwords. See Hindustani phonology.
Urduنیوزی لینڈ (Nyu Zilaind)
Hungarian[30]nem[næm]'no'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. See Hungarian phonology
Kanoê[31] [example needed] [æː] 'tobacco'
Kazakh әйел (äiel) [æ̝ˈje̘l̪ʲ] 'woman' Varies between near-open and open-mid.
Kurdish Sorani (Central) گاڵته (galte) [gäːɫtʲæ] 'joke' Equal to Palewani (Southern) front [a]. See Kurdish phonology
Lakon[32]rävräv[ræβræβ]'evening'
Limburgish[33][34][35]twelf[ˈtβ̞æ̠ləf]'twelve'Front[34][35] or near-front,[33] depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect, in which the vowel is near-front.
Lithuanianjachtą[ˈjæːxt̪aː]'yacht' (accusative)See Lithuanian phonology
Low SaxonIncluding Sallandicgläzen[xɫæːzn̩]'glasses'
Luxembourgish[36]Käpp[kʰæpʰ]'heads'See Luxembourgish phonology
NorwegianUrban East[37][38]lær[læːɾ]'leather'See Norwegian phonology
Persian[39][40]هشت (hašt)[hæʃt]'eight'
PortugueseSome dialects[41]pedra[ˈpæðɾɐ]'stone'Stressed vowel. In other dialects closer /ɛ/. See Portuguese phonology
Some European speakers[42]também[tɐˈmæ̃]'also'Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel /ẽ̞/.
RomanianBukovinian dialect[43]piele[ˈpæle]'skin'Corresponds to [je] in standard Romanian. Also identified in some Central Transylvanian sub-dialects.[43] See Romanian phonology
Russian[44][45]пять (pjatʹ)[pʲætʲ]ⓘ'five'Allophone of /a/ between palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Serbo-CroatianZeta-Raška dialect[46]дан / dan[d̪æn̪]'day'Regional reflex of Proto-Slavic *ь and *ъ. Sometimes nasalised.[46]
Sinhala[47]ඇය (æya)[æjə]'she'
Slovak mäso [mæso] 'meat, flesh' In conversation sometimes pronounced as [e] or [a]. See Slovak phonology
SwedishCentral Standard[48][49][50]ära[²æːɾä]ⓘ'hono(u)r'Allophone of /ɛː, ɛ/ before /r/. See Swedish phonology
Stockholm[50]läsa[²læːsä]'to read'Realization of /ɛː, ɛ/ for younger speakers. Higher [ɛː, ɛ̝ ~ ɛ] for other speakers
Turkish[51]sen[s̪æn̪]'you'Allophone of /e/ before syllable-final /m, n, l, r/. In a limited number of words (but not before /r/), it is in free variation with [e̞].[51] See Turkish phonology

References

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ Donaldson (1993:3)
  2. ↑ Holes (2004:60)
  3. ↑ Campbell (1991:5)
  4. ↑ Berta (1998:183)
  5. ↑ "Bengali romanization table" (PDF). Bahai Studies. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  6. ↑ Simonet, Ramírez Martínez & Torres-Tamarit (2025).
  7. ↑ Saborit (2009), pp. 24–25.
  8. ↑ Saborit (2009), pp. 25–26.
  9. 1 2 Recasens (1996), p. 81.
  10. 1 2 Rafel (1999), p. 14.
  11. ↑ Cite error: The named reference gr100 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  12. ↑ Basbøll (2005:45)
  13. ↑ Basbøll (2005:32)
  14. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003:92, 129)
  15. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003:92, 128–129, 131)
  16. ↑ Gordon & Maclagan (2004:609)
  17. ↑ Wells (1982:486)
  18. 1 2 Cruttenden (2014:119–120)
  19. 1 2 Asu & Teras (2009:368)
  20. ↑ Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
  21. ↑ Collins & Mees (2013:226)
  22. 1 2 Walker (1984:75)
  23. 1 2 Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:342)
  24. 1 2 Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:40)
  25. 1 2 Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:64)
  26. ↑ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:65)
  27. ↑ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015:34, 64–65)
  28. 1 2 3 Newton (1972:11)
  29. ↑ Revithiadou & Spyropoulos (2009:41)
  30. ↑ Szende (1994:92)
  31. ↑ Bacelar (2004:60)
  32. ↑ François (2005:466)
  33. 1 2 Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
  34. 1 2 Peters (2006:119)
  35. 1 2 Verhoeven (2007:221)
  36. ↑ Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70)
  37. ↑ Vanvik (1979:13)
  38. ↑ Popperwell (2010:16, 21–22)
  39. ↑ Majidi & Ternes (1991)
  40. ↑ Campbell (1995)
  41. ↑ Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction – by Milton M. Azevedo Page 186.
  42. ↑ Lista das marcas dialetais e outros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP (in Portuguese)
  43. 1 2 Pop (1938), p. 29.
  44. ↑ Jones & Ward (1969:50)
  45. ↑ Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015:224–225)
  46. 1 2 Okuka 2008, p. 171.
  47. ↑ Perera & Jones (1919:5)
  48. ↑ Eliasson (1986:273)
  49. ↑ Thorén & Petterson (1992:15)
  50. 1 2 Riad (2014:38)
  51. 1 2 Göksel & Kerslake (2005:10)
[change | change source]
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel&oldid=10808650"