Open-mid central unrounded vowel

The open-mid central unrounded vowel, or low-mid central unrounded 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 ⟨ɜ⟩ (formerly ⟨ᴈ⟩). The IPA symbol is not the digit ⟨3⟩ or the Cyrillic small letter Ze (з). The symbol is instead a reversed Latinized variant of the lowercase epsilon, ɛ. The value was specified only in 1993; until then, ⟨ɜ⟩ was an alternative symbol for the mid central unrounded vowel [ə].

Open-mid central unrounded vowel
ɜ
IPA number	326
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɜ
Unicode (hex)	U+025C
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

The ⟨ɜ⟩ letter may be used with a raising diacritic ⟨ɜ̝⟩, to denote the mid central unrounded vowel. It may also be used with a lowering diacritic ⟨ɜ̞⟩, to denote the near-open central unrounded vowel.

Conversely, ⟨ə⟩, the symbol for the mid central vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic ⟨ə̞⟩ to denote the open-mid central unrounded vowel, although that is more specifically written with an additional unrounding diacritic ⟨ə̞͑⟩ to explicitly denote the lack of rounding (the canonical value of IPA ⟨ə⟩ is undefined for rounding).

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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard[2]	lig	[lə̞χ]	'light'	Also described as mid [ə],[3] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. See Afrikaans phonology
Cotabato Manobo[4]		[bätɜʔ]		'child'	Allophone of /a/ before glottal consonants; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[4]
Dutch[5]		grappig	[ˈχɾɑpə̞χ]	'funny'	Possible realization of /ə/.[5] See Dutch phonology
Emilian	Bolognese	métter	[ˈmet̪ːɜr]	'to put'	[citation needed]
English	Ohio[6]	bud	[bɜd]	'bud'	One realization of the vowel transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩ in American English, typical of Midland or Southern American English. It is not a standard pronunciation throughout the whole country.[7][6]
	Most Texas speakers[6]
	Northern Wales[8]				Some speakers.[8] Corresponds to /ə/ in other Welsh dialects.[9]
	Scottish[10]		[bɜ̠d]		Somewhat retracted; may be more back /ʌ/ instead.
German	Chemnitz dialect[11]	passe	[ˈb̥ɜsə]	'[I] pass'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩.
	Many speakers[12]	herrlich	[ˈhɜːlɪç]	'fantastic'	Common alternative to the diphthong [ɛɐ̯].[12] See Standard German phonology
Hausa[13]		[example needed]			Possible allophone of /a/, which can be as close as [ə] and as open as [ä].[13]
Jebero[14]		[ˈkɘnmɜʔ]		'indigenous person'	Allophone of /a/ in closed syllables.[14]
Kaingang[15]		[ˈɾɜ]		'mark'	Varies between central [ɜ] and back [ʌ].[16]
Kalagan Kaagan[17]		[mɜˈt̪äs]		'tall'	Allophone of /a/; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[17]
Kallahan[18]		[example needed]
Ladin	Gherdëina	Urtijëi	[uʀtiˈʒɜi̯]	Urtijëi	When stressed usually spelled with the letter ë.
Neapolitan	Central Basilicatan varieties (Appennine Area)	pesäre	[pəˈsɜrə] or [pəˈsɜ̃rə]	'to weigh'	Nasalization [ɜ̃] occurs in dialects such as Accetturese.[19]
Paicî[20]		rë	[ɾɜ]	'they' (prefix)	May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.
Romanian	Standard[21]	măr	[mə̞r]	'apple'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. See Romanian phonology
	Transylvanian varieties of Romanian[22]	așa	[aˈʂɜ]	'such'	Corresponds to [ä] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Sama	Sibutu[23]	[ˈsäpɜw]		'roof'	Allophone of /a/; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[23]
Sindhi[24]			[sə̞rə̞]	'funeral'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩.
Temne[25]		pʌs	[pɜ́s]	'brew'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[25]
Yiddish	Standard[26]	ענלעך	[ˈɛnlɜχ]	'similar'	Unstressed vowel.[26] See Yiddish phonology

See also

• R-colored vowel, a related phoneme in rhotic dialects of English