The open back unrounded vowel, or low back unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɑ⟩. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script a or handwritten 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 a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ⟨ɒ⟩, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

The open back unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the pharyngeal approximant [ʕ̞].[2][3]

Features

  • Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
  • Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.

* Its place of articulation is pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).

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

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
AfrikaansStandard[4]daar[dɑːr]ⓘ'there'The quality varies between open near-back unrounded [ɑ̟ː], open back unrounded [ɑː] and even open back rounded [ɒː].[4] See Afrikaans phonology
Äiwookânongä[kɑnoŋæ]'I want'
ArabicStandard[5]طويل (ṭawīl)[tˤɑˈwiːl]ⓘ'tall'Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology
Essaouira[6]قال (qāl)[qɑːl]'he said'One of the possible realisations of /ā/.[6]
ArmenianEastern[5]հաց (hacʿ)[hɑt͡sʰ]'bread'
Bashkirҡаҙ (qađ)[qɑð]ⓘ'goose'
CatalanMany dialects[7]pal[ˈpɑɫ]'stick'Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[7] See Catalan phonology
Some dialects[8][9]mà[ˈmɑ]'hand'More central ([ä] or [ɐ̞]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan.[9] See Catalan phonology
Majorcan and Valencian (some speakers)[7]lloc[ˈʎ̟ɑk]'place'Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents.[7] It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
Southern Valencian[10]bou[ˈbɑw]'bull'Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w].[10] It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology
ChineseMandarin[11]棒 (bàng)[pɑŋ˥˩]ⓘ'stick'Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/.[11] See Standard Chinese phonology
DutchStandard[12][13]bad[bɑt]ⓘ'bath'Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back.[14][12] In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈].[13] See Dutch phonology
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.
EnglishGeneral American[18]on[ɑn]'on'May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot–caught merger.[clarification needed] See English phonology
Cockney[19]palm[pɑːm]'palm'Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead.
General South African[20]Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. See South African English phonology
Cultivated
South African[21]		[pɑ̟ːm]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 and South African English phonology
Received Pronunciation[22]
Non-local Dublin[23]back[bɑq]'back'Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers.[23]
FaroeseSome dialects[24]vátur[ˈvɑːtʊɹ]'wet'Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language.[24] See Faroese phonology
FrenchConservative Parisian[25][26]pas[pɑ]'not'Contrasts with /a/, but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä].[27] See French phonology
Quebec[28]pâte[pɑːt]ⓘ'paste'Contrasts with /a/.[28] See Quebec French phonology
Galician[29][30]irmán[iɾˈmɑŋ]'brother'Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants.[29][30] See Galician phonology
Georgian[31]გუდა (guda)[k̬ud̪ɑ]'leather bag'Usually not fully back [ɑ], typically [ɑ̟] to [ä].[32] Sometimes transcribed as /a/.
GermanStandard[33]Gourmand[ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː]'gourmand'Nasalized; often realized as rounded [ɒ̃ː].[34] See Standard German phonology
Many speakers[35]nah[nɑː]'near'Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland.[35] Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent.[36] More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology
GreekSfakian[37]μπύρα (býra)[ˈbirɑ]"beer"Corresponds to central [ä ~ ɐ] in Modern Standard Greek.[38][39] See Modern Greek phonology
HindustaniHindiख़ास/khas[xɑːs]ⓘ'special'Allophone of [aː ~ ä]. More likely to be heard in serious speech or poetry. See Hindustani phonology.
Urduخاص/khas
HungarianSome dialects[40]magyar[ˈmɑɟɑr]'Hungarian'Weakly rounded [ɒ] in standard Hungarian.[41] See Hungarian phonology
InuitWest Greenlandic[42]oqarpoq[ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚]'he says'Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars.[42] See Inuit phonology
ItalianSome Piedmont dialectscasa[ˈkɑːzɑ]'house'Allophone of /a/ which in Italian is largely realised as central [ä].
IrishMunster Dialectáit[ɑːtʲ]'place'See Irish phonology
Kaingang[43]ga[ᵑɡɑ]'land, soil'Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].[44]
Khmerស្ករ (skâr)[skɑː]'sugar'See Khmer phonology
Low German[45]al / aal[ɑːl]'all'Backness may vary among dialects.[45]
MalayKedah[46]mata[ma.tɑ]'eye'See Malay phonology
Kelantan-PattaniAllophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Standardqari[qɑ.ri]'qari'Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [ä]. See Malay phonology
Norwegian[47][48]hat[hɑːt]'hate'The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central [äː] in some other dialects.[47][48][49] See Norwegian phonology
PortugueseSome Azorean dialectsnada[ˈnɑðɐ]'nothing'See Portuguese phonology
Paulista[50]vegetal[veʒeˈtɑw]'vegetable'Only immediately before [w].[50]
Russian[51]палка (palka)[ˈpɑɫkə]'stick'Occurs only before the hard /l/, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology
Scottish GaelicLewis[52]balach[ˈpɑl̪ˠəx]'boy'Allophone of [a] in proximity to broad sonorants.
Sema[53]amqa[à̠mqɑ̀]'lower back'Possible realization of /a/ after uvular stops.[53]
SwedishSome dialectsjag[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 (maty)[ˈmɑtɪ]'mother'See Ukrainian phonology
VietnameseSome dialects in North Central and Centralgà[ɣɑ˨˩]'chicken'See Vietnamese phonology[58][59]
West FrisianStandard[60]lang[ɫɑŋ]'long'Also described as central [ä].[61] See West Frisian phonology
Aastersk[62]maat[mɑːt]'mate'Contrasts with a front /aː/.[62] See West Frisian phonology

Near-open back unrounded vowel

In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda)[63][64][65][66] there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨ɑ⟩ and ⟨ʌ⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with [ɑ̝] or [ʌ̞].

Features

  • Its vowel height is near-open, also known as near-low, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but is slightly more constricted – that is, the tongue is positioned similarly to a low vowel, but slightly higher.
  • Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.

* Its place of articulation is pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).

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

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Azerbaijani[63]qardaş[ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ]'brother'Near-open.[63]
DutchLeiden[14]bad[bɑ̝t]'bath'Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead.[14] See Dutch phonology
Rotterdam[14]
EnglishCardiff[67]hot[hɑ̽t]'hot'Somewhat raised and fronted.[67][68]
Norfolk[68]
Estonian[64]vale[ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ]'lie'Near-open.[64] See Estonian phonology
Finnish[69]kana[ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝]ⓘ'hen'Near-open,[69] also described as open central [ä].[70] See Finnish phonology
Kazakhalma[ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝]'apple'Can be realised as near-open.[citation needed]
LimburgishMaastrichtian[71]bats[bɑ̽ts]'buttock'The quality varies between open back [ɑ],[72] open near-back [ɑ̟],[73] and near-open near-back [ɑ̽],[71] depending on the dialect.
Luxembourgish[65]Kapp[kʰɑ̝p]'head'Near-open fully back.[65] See Luxembourgish phonology
Toda[66]ஆந[ɑ̝ːn]'elephant'Near-open.[66]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ↑ International Phonetic Association (1999), p. 11.
  3. ↑ Esling, John H. (2010). "Phonetic Notation". In Hardcastle, William J.; Laver, John; Gibbon, Fiona E. (eds.). The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 678–702. doi:10.1002/9781444317251.ch18. ISBN 978-1-4051-4590-9.
  4. 1 2 Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
  5. 1 2 Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 39.
  6. 1 2 Francisco (2019), p. 74.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Saborit (2009), p. 10.
  8. ↑ Rafel (1999), p. 14.
  9. 1 2 Recasens (1996), pp. 90–92.
  10. 1 2 Recasens (1996), pp. 131–132.
  11. 1 2 Mou (2006), p. 65.
  12. 1 2 Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
  13. 1 2 Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
  15. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 78, 104, 133.
  16. 1 2 Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 104, 133.
  17. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 136.
  18. ↑ Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
  19. ↑ Wells (1982), p. 305.
  20. ↑ Lass (2002), p. 117.
  21. ↑ Lass (2002), p. 116-117.
  22. ↑ Roach (2004), p. 242.
  23. 1 2 "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  24. 1 2 Árnason (2011), pp. 69, 79.
  25. ↑ Ashby (2011), p. 100.
  26. ↑ Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 225–227.
  27. ↑ Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
  28. 1 2 Walker (1984), p. 53.
  29. 1 2 Regueira (1996), p. 122.
  30. 1 2 Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
  31. ↑ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.
  32. ↑ Aronson, Howard (1990), Georgian: A Reading Grammar (2nd ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
  33. ↑ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), pp. 34, 38.
  34. ↑ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
  35. 1 2 Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
  36. ↑ Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), pp. 342–344.
  37. ↑ Trudgill (2009), pp. 83–84.
  38. ↑ Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
  39. ↑ Arvaniti (2007), pp. 25, 28.
  40. ↑ Vago (1980), p. 1.
  41. ↑ Szende (1994), p. 92.
  42. 1 2 Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
  43. ↑ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
  44. ↑ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676, 682.
  45. 1 2 Prehn (2012), p. 157.
  46. ↑ Zaharani Ahmad (1991).
  47. 1 2 Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
  48. 1 2 Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 4.
  49. ↑ Vanvik (1979), pp. 16–17.
  50. 1 2 Galastri (2011), p. 21.
  51. ↑ Jones & Ward (1969), p. 50.
  52. ↑ Oftedal (1956), p. 53.
  53. 1 2 Teo (2014), p. 28.
  54. ↑ Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
  55. ↑ Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
  56. ↑ Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
  57. ↑ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  58. ↑ Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2014), "Ngôn ngữ biến đổi và số phận của nguyên âm /a/ trong giọng Quảng Nam (Issues in Language change and the phonemic status of /a/ in the Quang Nam dialect)" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 6: 10–18
  59. ↑ Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2016), "Sự biến âm trong vần tiếng Việt: thổ ngữ làng Hến, huyện Đức Thọ, tỉnh Hà Tĩnh [Sound change in Vietnamese rhymes: the dialect of Hến Village of Đức Thọ District, Hà Tĩnh Province]" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ Học (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 11: 7–28
  60. ↑ de Haan (2010), p. 333.
  61. ↑ Visser (1997), p. 14.
  62. 1 2 van der Veen (2001), p. 102.
  63. 1 2 3 Mokari & Werner (2016), p. 509.
  64. 1 2 3 Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.
  65. 1 2 3 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
  66. 1 2 3 Shalev, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1993), p. 92.
  67. 1 2 Collins & Mees (1990), p. 95.
  68. 1 2 Lodge (2009), p. 168.
  69. 1 2 Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
  70. ↑ Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
  71. 1 2 Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
  72. ↑ Peters (2006), p. 119.
  73. ↑ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.

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source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowel