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⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3\. 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]	but	[bɞθ̠]	'but'	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