Close-mid front rounded vowel

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IPA – number	310
IPA – text	ø
IPA – image
Entity	ø
X-SAMPA	2
Kirshenbaum	Y
Sound sample (help·info)

The close-mid front 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 ø, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 2. The symbol ø is a lowercase letter o with a diagonal stroke through it, derived from the Danish, Faroese, and Norwegian alphabets, which also use this symbol to represent this sound. This symbol is also commonly referred to as "o, slash".

Contents 1 Features 1.1 Occurrence 2 Mid front rounded vowel 2.1 Occurrence 3 References 4 Bibliography

[edit] Features

• Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between close vowel and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its roundedness is exolabial, which means that the lips are rounded but vertically compressed, so that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

[edit] Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Danish		købe	[ˈkøːb̥ə]	'buy'	See Danish phonology
Dutch		keuken	[køːkən]	'kitchen'	See Dutch phonology
Faroese		øl	[øːl]	'beer'
French[1]		peu	[pø]	'few'	See French phonology
German		schön	[ʃøːn]	'beautiful'	See German phonology
Hungarian		nő	[nøː]	'woman'	See Hungarian phonology
Korean		쇠 soe	[søː]	'iron'	May be diphthongized to [we] by younger speakers. See Korean phonology
Ngwe	Mmockngie dialect	[nøɣə̀]		'sun'
Norwegian		søt	[søːt]	'sweet'	See Norwegian phonology
Rotuman		mösʻạki	[møːsʔɔki]	'to put to bed'
Swedish		öl	[øːl] (help·info)	'beer'	See Swedish phonology
Western Lombard		cöör/coeur	[kø:r]	'heart'
Estonian		köök	[kø:k]	'kitchen'

[edit] Mid front rounded vowel

Some languages have a mid front rounded vowel, 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 [ø] is generally used. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic may be used: [ø̞].

[edit] Occurrence

In the following transcriptions, the lowering diacritic has been omitted for the sake of simplicity.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	New Zealand[2]	bird	[bø̈ːd]	'bird'	Centralized; may be Open-mid. See English phonology
Finnish		rölli	[rølːi]	'common bent'	See Finnish phonology
Hungarian		öl	[øl]	'kill'	See Hungarian phonology
Turkish		göz	[ɟøz]	'eye'

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Fougeron, Cecile & Caroline L Smith (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73-76
• Roca, Iggy & Wyn Johnson (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing