Open-mid central rounded vowel

The open-mid central rounded vowel, or low-mid central rounded vowel,^[1] is a vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɞ⟩. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ɔ̈⟩.

Open-mid central rounded vowel
ɞ
IPA number	395
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɞ
Unicode (hex)	U+025E
X-SAMPA	3\
Braille
Image

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

Spectrogram of [ɞ]

IPA charts were first published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, ⟨ʚ⟩ (that is, a closed variant of ⟨ɛ⟩, much as the high-mid vowel letter ⟨ɵ⟩ is a closed variant of ⟨e⟩), and this variant made its way into Unicode as U+029A ʚ LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED OPEN E. The IPA charts were later changed to the current closed reversed epsilon ⟨ɞ⟩, and this was adopted into Unicode as U+025E ɞ LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED REVERSED OPEN E.

Features

• Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low vowel) and a mid 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[2]		lug	[lɞχ]	'air'	Also been described as mid [ɞ̝], typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech.[3] See Afrikaans phonology
English	Irish[4]	munch	[mɞnt̠͡ʃ]	'munch'	Corresponds to [ʌ] in other varieties. See English phonology
	New Zealand[5]	not	[nɞʔt]	'not'	Possible realization of /ɒ/.[5] See New Zealand English phonology
Faroese[6]		høgur	[ˈhɞːʋʊɹ]	'high'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨øː⟩. See Faroese phonology
French	Parisian[7]	port	[pɞːꭓ]ⓘ	'port', 'harbour'	Described variously as an allophone of /ɔ/ before /ʁ/[8] and as the default allophone of /ɔ/.[7] See French phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect[9]	Wonne	[ˈv̞ɞnə]	'bliss'	May be transcribed as ⟨ɞ̝⟩ though ⟨ɞ⟩ is typically used.[9]
Irish		tomhail	[t̪ˠɞːlʲ]	'consume' (imp.)	See Irish phonology
Kashubian		ptôch	[ptɞx]	'bird'
Koyukon		-ʉghdonaanh	[ɞɣtɔːnæːn̥]	'son-in-law'
Limburgish	Maastrichtian[10]	lui	[lɞː]	'lazy'	Allophone of /œy/ in words with Accent 2. May be slightly diphthongal [ɞɵ] itself. It contrasts with the near-open [ɐ̹ː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless).[11] It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨œː⟩, as it is a phonological front vowel.
Mortlockese[12]		mér	[mɞr]	'to sleep'	Phonemic vowel.
Mwerlap[13]		N̄wërlap	[ŋʷɞrˈlap]	'Merelava'
Navajo[14]		tsosts’id	[tsʰɞstsˈɪt]	'seven'	See Navajo phonology
Northern Tiwa	Taos dialect	ącut'uonbo	[ʔãˌtʃʊt̚ːˈʔuɞnbɑ]	'his-garment-around'	Allophone of /ɑ/. See Taos phonology
Panará[15]		[kɾə'kɞ]		'trousers'	Contrasts with [ə].[16]
Poitevin[citation needed]		o doune	[ɞ dun]	'he gives'
West Frisian	Southwestern dialects[17]	boare	[ˈbɞːrə]	'tomcat'	Corresponds to [wa] in other dialects.[17] See West Frisian phonology