The open back rounded vowel, or low back rounded 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 ⟨ɒ⟩. It is called Latin turned alpha being a rotated version of Latin alpha. It seems a "turned script a", being a rotated version of "script (cursive) a", which is the variant of a that lacks the extra stroke on top of a "printed a". Latin turned alpha a ⟨ɒ⟩ has its linear stroke on the left, whereas Latin alpha a ⟨ɑ⟩ (for its unrounded counterpart) has its linear stroke on the right.
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- 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.
- It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.
More information Language, Word ...
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
Afrikaans | Standard | daar | [dɒːr] | 'there' | Fully back. Used by some speakers, particularly young female speakers of northern accents. Other speakers use an unrounded vowel [ɑː ~ ɑ̟ː]. See Afrikaans phonology |
Assamese | কৰ / kor | [kɒ̹ɹ] | 'to do' | An "over-rounded" [ɒ̹], with rounding as strong as that for [u]. May also be transcribed [ɔ]. |
Bulgarian | Some Rhodopean dialects | мъж/măž | [ˈmɒʃʲ] | 'man' | Found as the unification of the Proto-Slavic *ǫ, *ę, *ъ and *ь. Standard Bulgarian has /ɤ̞/ for *ǫ and *ъ and /ɛ/ for *ę and *ь. |
Catalan | Majorcan | soc | [ˈsɒk] | 'clog' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. See Catalan phonology |
Menorcan |
Valencian |
Some Valencian speakers | taula | [ˈt̪ɑ̟wɫɒ̝] | 'table' | Can be realized as unrounded [ɑ]. |
Dutch | Leiden | bad | [bɒ̝t] | 'bath' | Near-open fully back; may be unrounded [ɑ̝] instead. It corresponds to [ɑ] in standard Dutch. |
Rotterdam |
Some dialects | bot | [bɒt] | 'bone' | Some non-Randstad dialects, for example those of Den Bosch and Groningen. It is open-mid [ɔ] in standard Dutch. |
English | South African | not | [nɒ̜̈t] | 'not' | Near-back and weakly rounded. Some younger speakers of the General variety may actually have a higher and fully unrounded vowel [ʌ̈]. See South African English phonology |
Conservative Received Pronunciation | [nɒt] | Somewhat raised. Contemporary RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel [ɔ]. It is proposed that the /ɒ/ vowel of Conservative RP, which is normally described as a rounded vowel, is pronounced by some speakers without rounded lips for whom the characteristic quality is rather one of sulcality.[11] See English phonology |
Northern English | May be somewhat raised and fronted. |
Canadian | Lot and thought have the same vowel in Canadian English; see cot–caught merger. |
thought |
[θɒt]ⓘ |
'thought' |
General American |
Vowel /ɔ(:)/ is lowered (phonetic realization of /ɔ(:)/ is much lower in GA than in RP). However, "Short o" before r before a vowel (a short o sound followed by r and then another vowel, as in orange, forest, moral, and warrant) is realized as [oɹ~ɔɹ]. |
Inland Northern American[14] | See Northern cities vowel shift |
Indian |
[t̪ʰɒʈ] | /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ differ entirely by length in Indian English. |
Welsh | [θɒːt] | Open-mid in Cardiff; may merge with /oː/ in northern dialects. |
German | Many speakers | Gourmand | [ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɒ̃ː] | 'gourmand' | Nasalized; common phonetic realization of /ɑ̃ː/. See Standard German phonology |
Many Swiss dialects | maane | [ˈmɒːnə] | 'remind' | The example word is from the Zurich dialect, in which [ɒː] is in free variation with the unrounded [ɑː]. |
Hungarian | Standard | magyar | [ˈmɒ̜̽ɟɒ̜̽r] | 'Hungarian' | Somewhat fronted and raised, with only slight rounding; sometimes transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. Unrounded [ɑ] in some dialects. See Hungarian phonology |
Ibibio | dọ | [dɒ̝́] | 'marry' | Near-open; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. |
Irish | Ulster | ólann | [ɒ̝ːɫ̪ən̪ˠ] | '(he) drinks' | Near-open; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩. |
Istro-Romanian | cåp | [kɒp] | 'head' | See Istro-Romanian pronunciation (in Romanian). |
Jeju[26] |
|
ᄒᆞ나/hawna |
[hɒna] |
"one" |
See Jeju phonology |
Lehali | dön̄ | [ⁿdɒ̝ŋ] | 'yam' | Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory. |
Lemerig | ‘ān̄sār | [ʔɒ̝ŋsɒ̝r] | 'person' | Raised vowel, being the back rounded counterpart of /æ/ in a symmetrical vowel inventory. |
Limburgish | Maastrichtian | plaots | [plɒ̝ːts] | 'place' | Near-open fully back; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔː⟩. Corresponds to [ɔː] in other dialects. |
Malay |
Kedah |
tua |
[tu.ɒ] |
'old' |
Northern Kedah subdialect/dialect. Allophone of /a/ in word-final position in open-ended words and close-ended words that end with a glottal stop /ʔ/ or a glottal fricative /h/. |
Neapolitan[30] |
Vastese |
uâʃtə |
[uˈwɒʃtə] |
'Vasto' |
|
Norwegian | Urban East | topp | [tʰɒ̝pː] | 'top' | Near-open, also described as close-mid back [o]. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. See Norwegian phonology |
Dialects along the Swedish border | hat | [hɒ̜ːt] | 'hate' | Weakly rounded and fully back. See Norwegian phonology |
Persian |
فارسی / fârsi |
[fɒːɾˈsiː] |
'Persian' |
|
Brazilian Portuguese |
Carioca |
ova |
['ɒ'ː.va] |
|
Slovak | Some speakers | a | [ɒ] | 'and' | Under Hungarian influence, some speakers realize the short /a/ as rounded. See Slovak phonology |
Swedish | Central Standard[36] | jаg | [jɒ̝ːɡ] | 'I' | Near-open fully back weakly rounded vowel.[36] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑː⟩. See Swedish phonology |
Gothenburg | [jɒːɡ] | More rounded than in Central Standard Swedish. |
Uzbek | Standard[38] | choy | [t͡ʃɒj] | 'tea' | |
Yoruba | itọju | [itɒ̝ju] | 'care' | Near-open; most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɔ⟩. |
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