Near-close back unrounded vowel

The near-close back unrounded vowel or near-high back unrounded vowel,^[1] is a type of a vowel sound, used in a few spoken languages. The International Phonetic Alphabet can represent this sound as ⟨ɯ̞⟩ (lowered [ɯ]) or as ⟨ɤ̝⟩ (raised [ɤ]).

Near-close near-back unrounded vowel
ɯ̞
ɤ̝
ɯ̽
Audio sample
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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 Legend: unrounded • rounded

By analogy to [ʊ], this vowel can be transcribed as a mid-centralized close back unrounded vowel [ɯ] (ɯ̽), a symbol equivalent to a more complex ⟨ɯ̞̈⟩ (lowered and centralized [ɯ]). However, acoustic analysis of cardinal vowels as produced by Daniel Jones and John C. Wells has shown that basically all cardinal back unrounded vowels but the open [ɑ] (so not just [ɯ] but also [ɤ] and [ʌ]) are near-back (or back-central) in their articulation, so that there may be no substantial difference between a near-close back unrounded vowel and its near-back counterpart.^[2] In his Accents of English, John C. Wells transcribes this vowel with a non-IPA symbol ⟨ω⟩.

Theoretically it can also be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʊ̜⟩ (less rounded [ʊ]), but because [ʊ] is defined by the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association as rounded (rather than unspecified for rounding as [ə] and [ɐ]),^[3] the symbol ⟨ʊ̜⟩ can also signify a weakly rounded [ʊ], rather than a fully unrounded vowel that is described in this article.

Features

• Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
• 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.
• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	African-American[4]	hook	[hɯ̞k]	'hook'	Possible realization of /ʊ/.[4]
	California[5]				Often pronounced with spread lips. Corresponds to /ʊ/ in other accents.[5] See English phonology
	Tidewater[6]				May be rounded [ʊ] instead.[6]
	Cardiff[7]		[ɯ̞k]		Also described as close-mid central [ɘ ~ ɵ].[8]
	New Zealand[9][10]	treacle	[ˈtɹ̝̊iːkɯ̞]ⓘ	'treacle'	Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.[9][10] It corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology
	Some Philadelphia speakers[11]	plus	[pɫ̥ɯ̞s]	'plus'	Used particularly by male speakers; can be lower [ʌ̝ ~ ʌ] instead.[11] It corresponds to [ʌ] in other accents. See English phonology
	South African[12]	pill	[pʰɯ̞ɫ]	'pill'	Possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/.[12] Also described as close-mid [ɤ].[13] See South African English phonology
Irish	Ulster[14]	ag gail	[ə ˈɡɯ̞lˠ]	'boiling'	Allophone of /ɪ/.[14] See Irish phonology
Korean[15]		어른/eoreun	[ə̝ːɾɯ̞n]	'seniors'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɯ⟩. See Korean phonology
Portuguese	European[16]	pegar	[pɯ̞ˈɣäɾ]ⓘ	'to hold'	Typically transcibred in IPA with ⟨ɨ⟩ or ⟨ə⟩. Appears only in unstressed syllables.[16] See Portuguese phonology
Turkish	Standard[17]	sığ	[sɯ̞ː]	'shallow'	Also described as close back [ɯ] and close central [ɨ].[18] See Turkish phonology
Vietnamese	Hanoi[19]	từ	[t̻ɯ̞˧˨]	'word'	Common allophone of /ɯ/.[19] See Vietnamese phonology
Yine[20]		[tɯ̞wɯ̞]		'salt'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɯ⟩.[20]