Mid central vowel

The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ə⟩, a rotated lowercase letter e.

Mid central vowel
ə
IPA Number	322
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ə
Unicode (hex)	U+0259
X-SAMPA	@
Braille
Image
Audio sample
source · help

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 Vowels beside dots are: unrounded • rounded

While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define the roundedness of [ə],[1] it is more often unrounded than rounded. The phonetician Jane Setter describes the pronunciation of the unrounded variant as follows: "[ə] is a sound which can be produced by basically relaxing the articulators in the oral cavity and vocalising."[2] To produce the rounded variant, all that needs to be done in addition to that is to round the lips.

Afrikaans contrasts unrounded and rounded mid central vowels; the latter is usually transcribed with ⟨œ⟩. The contrast is not very stable, and many speakers use an unrounded vowel in both cases.[3]

Some languages, such as Danish[4] and Luxembourgish,[5] have a mid central vowel that is variably rounded. In some other languages, things are more complicated, as the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height and/or backness. For instance, in Dutch, the unrounded allophone of /ə/ is mid central unrounded [ə], but its word-final rounded allophone is close-mid front rounded [ø̜], close to the main allophone of /ʏ/.[6]

The symbol ⟨ə⟩ is often used for any unstressed obscure vowel, regardless of its precise quality. For instance, the English vowel transcribed ⟨ə⟩ is a central unrounded vowel that can be close-mid [ɘ], mid [ə] or open-mid [ɜ], depending on the environment.[7]

Mid central unrounded vowel

The mid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. If greater precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞]. Another possibility is using the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel with a raising diacritic, [ɜ̝].

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard[3]	lig	[ləχ]	'light'	Also described as open-mid [ɜ].[8] See Afrikaans phonology
	Many speakers[3]	lug		'air'	Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech.[3] See Afrikaans phonology
Catalan	Eastern Catalan[9]	amb	[əm(b)]	'with'	Reduced vowel. The exact height, backness and rounding are variable.[10] See Catalan phonology
	Some Western accents[11]
Chinese	Mandarin[12]	根 / gēn	[kən˥]	'root'	See Standard Chinese phonology
Chuvash		ăман	[əm'an]	'worm'
Danish	Standard[13][14]	hoppe	[ˈhʌ̹pə]	'mare'	Sometimes realized as rounded [ə̹].[4] See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard[6]	renner	[ˈrɛnər]	'runner'	The backness varies between near-front and central, whereas the height varies between close-mid and open-mid. Many speakers feel that this vowel is simply an unstressed allophone of /ʏ/.[6] See Dutch phonology
English	Most dialects[7][15]	Tina	[ˈtʰiːnə]	'Tina'	Reduced vowel; varies in height between close-mid and open-mid. Word-final /ə/ can be as low as [ɐ].[7][15] See English phonology
	Cultivated South African[16]	bird	[bɜ̝ːd]	'bird'	May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel [øː~ ø̈ː]. See South African English phonology
	Norfolk[17]
	Received Pronunciation[18]				Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. It is sulcalized, which means the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]. 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a near-open vowel [ɐː], but for some other speakers it may actually be open-mid [ɜː]. This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects.
	Geordie[19]	bust	[bəst]	'bust'	Spoken by some middle class speakers, mostly female; other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
	Indian[20]				May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ with /ə/ like Welsh English.
	Wales[21]				May also be further back; it corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
	Yorkshire[22]				Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ɜ/ or /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Galician	Some dialects	leite	[ˈlejtə]	'milk'	Alternative realization of final unstressed /e/ or /ɛ/ (normally [i~ɪ~e̝])
		fenecer	[fənəˈs̪eɾ]	'to die'	Alternative realization of unstressed /e/ or /ɛ/ in any position
German	Standard[23]	Beschlag	[b̥əˈʃläːk]	'fitting'	See Standard German phonology
	Southern German accents[24]	oder	[ˈoːdə]	'or'	Used instead of [ɐ].[24] See Standard German phonology
Kensiu[25]		[təh]		'to be bald'	Contrasts with a rhotacized close-mid [ɚ̝].[25]
Kurdish	Sorani (Central)	شه‌و/şew	[ʃəw]	'night'	See Kurdish phonology
	Palewani (Southern)
Luxembourgish[5]		dënn	[d̥ən]	'thin'	More often realized as slightly rounded [ə̹].[5] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Malaysian Malay	pengadil	[pə.ŋä.dɪl]	'referee'	See Malay phonology
Norwegian	Many dialects[26]	sterkeste	[²stæɾkəstə]	'the strongest'	Occurs only in unstressed syllables. The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Some dialects (e.g. Trondheimsk) lack this sound.[27] See Norwegian phonology
Plautdietsch[28]		bediedt	[bəˈdit]	'means'	The example word is from the Canadian Old Colony variety, in which the vowel is somewhat fronted [ə̟].[28]
Portuguese	Brazilian[29]	maçã	[maˈsə]	'apple'	Possible realization of final stressed /ã/.
Romanian[30]		păros	[pəˈros]	'hairy'	See Romanian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[31]		vrt	[ʋə̂rt̪]	'garden'	[ər] is a possible phonetic realization of the syllabic trill /r̩/ when it occurs between consonants.[31] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Swedish	Southern[32]	vante	[²väntə]	'mitten'	Corresponds to a slightly retracted front vowel [ɛ̠] in Central Standard Swedish.[32] See Swedish phonology
Tyap		a̠tan	[ətan]	'ɡood'
Welsh		mynydd	[mənɪð]	'mountain'	See Welsh phonology

Mid central rounded vowel

Mid central rounded vowel
ɵ̞
ə̹
ɞ̝
Audio sample
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Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞]. This vowel can also be represented by adding the more rounded diacritic to the schwa symbol, or by combining the raising diacritic with the open-mid central rounded vowel symbol, although it is rare to use such symbols.

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

• It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard[3]	lug	[lɞ̝χ]	'air'	Also described as open-mid [ɞ],[8] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge /œ/ and /ə/, even in formal speech.[3] See Afrikaans phonology
Danish	Standard[4]	hoppe	[ˈhʌ̹pə̹]	'mare'	Possible realization of /ə/.[4] See Danish phonology
Dutch	Southern[33]	hut	[ɦɵ̞t]	'hut'	Found in certain accents, e.g. in Bruges. Close-mid [ɵ] in Standard Dutch.[33] See Dutch phonology
French[34][35]		je	[ʒə̹]	'I'	Only somewhat rounded;[34] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩ or ⟨ɵ⟩. Also described as close-mid [ɵ].[36] May be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect[37]	Wonne	[ˈv̞ɞ̝nə]	'bliss'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɞ⟩.[37]
Irish	Munster[38]	scoil	[skɞ̝lʲ]	'school'	Allophone of /ɔ/ between a broad and a slender consonant.[38] See Irish phonology
Luxembourgish[5]		dënn	[d̥ə̹n]	'thin'	Only slightly rounded; less often realized as unrounded [ə̜].[5] See Luxembourgish phonology
Norwegian	Urban East[39]	nøtt	[nɞ̝tː]	'nut'	Also described as open-mid front [œʷ];[26][40] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩ or ⟨ø⟩. See Norwegian phonology
Plautdietsch	Canadian Old Colony[41]	butzt	[bɵ̞t͡st]	'bumps'	Mid-centralized from [ʊ], to which it corresponds in other dialects.[41]
Swedish	Central Standard[42][43]	full	[fɵ̞lː]	'full'	Pronounced with compressed lips, more closely transcribed [ɵ̞ᵝ] or [ɘ̞ᵝ]. Less often described as close-mid [ø̈].[44] See Swedish phonology

See also

• Schwa

Notes

1. International Phonetic Association (1999), p. 167.
2. "A World of Englishes: Is /ə/ "real"?". Retrieved 8 March 2016.
3. Wissing (2016), section "The rounded and unrounded mid-central vowels".
4. Basbøll (2005), p. 143.
5. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
6. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 129.
7. Wells (2008), p. XXV.
8. Wissing (2012), p. 711.
9. Recasens (1996), pp. 59–60, 104–105.
10. Recasens (1996), p. 106.
11. Recasens (1996), p. 98.
12. Lee & Zee (2003), p. 110.
13. Allan, Holmes & Lundskær-Nielsen (2011), p. 2.
14. Basbøll (2005), pp. 57, 143.
15. Gimson (2014), p. 138.
16. Lass (2002), p. 116.
17. Lodge (2009), p. 168.
18. Roach (2004), p. 242.
19. Watt & Allen (2003), p. 268. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFWattAllen2003 (help)
20. Sailaja (2009), pp. 24–25.
21. Wells (1982), pp. 380–381.
22. Stoddart, Upton & Widdowson (1999), pp. 74, 76.
23. Krech et al. (2009), p. 69.
24. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 40.
25. Bishop (1996), p. 230.
26. Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 20.
27. Vanvik (1979), p. 21.
28. Cox, Driedger & Tucker (2013), p. 224.
29. Battisti, Elisa; Gomes de Oliveira, Samuel; Battisti, Elisa; Gomes de Oliveira, Samuel (2019-06-01). "ELEVAÇÃO DA VOGAL /a/ EM CONTEXTO NASAL EM PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO: ESTUDO PRELIMINAR". Lingüística. 35 (1): 35–55. doi:10.5935/2079-312x.20190003. ISSN 2079-312X.
30. Chițoran (2001:7) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFChițoran2001 (help)
31. Landau et al. (1999), p. 67. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFLandauLončarićHorgaŠkarić1999 (help)
32. Riad (2014), p. 22.
33. Collins & Mees (2003:128, 131). The source describes the Standard Dutch vowel as front-central [ɵ̟], but more sources (e.g. van Heuven & Genet (2002) and Verhoeven (2005)) describe it as central [ɵ]. As far as the lowered varieties of this vowel are concerned, Collins and Mees do not describe their exact backness.
34. Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
35. Lodge (2009), p. 84.
36. "english speech services | Le FOOT vowel". Retrieved 20 October 2018.
37. Khan & Weise (2013), p. 236.
38. Ó Sé (2000), p. ?.
39. Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16-17.
40. Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 2.
41. Cox, Driedger & Tucker (2013), pp. 224–225.
42. Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
43. Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.
44. Andersson (2002), p. 272.

References

• Allan, Robin; Holmes, Philip; Lundskær-Nielsen, Tom (2011) [First published 2000], Danish: An Essential Grammar (2nd ed.), Abingdon: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-203-87800-2
• Andersson, Erik (2002), "Swedish", in König, Ekkehard; van der Auwera, Johan (eds.), The Germanic Languages, Routledge language family descriptions, Routledge, pp. 271–312, ISBN 0-415-28079-6
• Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
• Bishop, Nancy (1996), "A preliminary description of Kensiu (Maniq) phonology" (PDF), Mon–Khmer Studies Journal, 25
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
• Cox, Cristopher; Driedger, Jacob M.; Tucker, Benjamin V. (2013), "Mennonite Plautdietsch (Canadian Old Colony)", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 221–229, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000121
• Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4
• Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Gimson, Alfred Charles (2014), Cruttenden, Alan (ed.), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X
• International Phonetic Association (1999), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
• Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013), "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145
• Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
• Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000), The Phonology of Norwegian, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5
• Kvifte, Bjørn; Gude-Husken, Verena (2005) [First published 1997], Praktische Grammatik der norwegischen Sprache (3rd ed.), Gottfried Egert Verlag, ISBN 3-926972-54-8
• Landau, Ernestina; Lončarića, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
• Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
• Lee, Wai-Sum; Zee, Eric (2003), "Standard Chinese (Beijing)", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 109–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001208
• Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
• Ó Sé, Diarmuid (2000), Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne (in Irish), Dublin: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann, ISBN 0-946452-97-0
• Recasens, Daniel (1996), Fonètica descriptiva del català (in Catalan), Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ISBN 84-7283-312-7
• Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
• Rosenqvist, Håkan (2007), Uttalsboken: svenskt uttal i praktik och teori, Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, ISBN 978-91-27-40645-2
• Sailaja, Pingali (2009), Indian English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, pp. 17–38, ISBN 978-0-7486-2594-9
• 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
• van Heuven, Vincent J.; Genet, Roos (2002). Wat is het beste IPA-symbool voor de u van put?. Dag van de Fonetiek. Utrecht. A summary of the presentation can be found here.
• Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 82-990584-0-6
• 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. Volume 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Volume 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52128540-2, 0-52128541-0.
• Wells, J.C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180
• Wissing, Daan (2012), "Integrasie van artikulatoriese en akoestiese eienskappe van vokale: 'n beskrywingsraamwerk", LitNet Akademies (in Afrikaans), Stellenbosch: LitNet, 9 (2): 701–743, ISSN 1995-5928, archived from the original on 15 April 2017, retrieved 16 April 2017
• Wissing, Daan (2016). "Afrikaans phonology – segment inventory". Taalportaal. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.

External links

• List of languages with [ə] on PHOIBLE