Open front unrounded vowel

Vowel sound represented by ⟨a⟩ in IPA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Open front unrounded vowel

The open front unrounded vowel, or low front unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. It is one of the eight primary cardinal vowels, not directly intended to correspond to a vowel sound of a specific language but rather to serve as a fundamental reference point in a phonetic measuring system.[2]

Quick Facts a, IPA number ...
Open front unrounded vowel
a
IPA number304
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)a
Unicode (hex)U+0061
X-SAMPAa
Braille
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More information IPA: Vowels, Front ...
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Sagittal section of a vocal tract pronouncing the IPA sound a. A wavy glottis in this diagram indicates a voiced sound.

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is a, a double-story lowercase a. In the IPA vowel chart it is positioned at the lower-left corner. However, the accuracy of the quadrilateral vowel chart is disputed, and the sound has been analyzed acoustically as extra-open at a position where the front/back distinction has lost its significance. There are also differing interpretations of the exact quality of the vowel: the classic sound recording of [a] by Daniel Jones is slightly more front but not quite as open as that by John Wells.[3]

In practice, the symbol a is often used to represent an open central unrounded vowel.[4] This is the usual practice, for example, in the historical study of the English language. The loss of separate symbols for open and near-open front vowels is usually considered unproblematic, because the perceptual difference between the two is quite small, and very few languages contrast the two. If there is a need to specify the backness of the vowel as fully front one can use the symbol æ̞, which denotes a lowered near-open front unrounded vowel, or with the IPA "advanced" diacritic.

Features

  • 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 front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. This subsumes central open (central low) vowels because the tongue does not have as much flexibility in positioning as it does in the mid and close (high) vowels; the difference between an open front vowel and an open back vowel is similar to the difference between a close front and a close central vowel, or a close central and a close back vowel.
  • It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Summarize
Perspective

Many languages have some form of an unrounded open vowel. For languages that have only a single open vowel, the symbol for this vowel a may be used because it is the only open vowel whose symbol is part of the basic Latin alphabet. Whenever marked as such, the vowel is closer to a central [ä] than to a front [a]. However, there may not actually be much of a difference. (See Vowel#Acoustics.)

More information Language, Word ...
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
AfrikaansStandard[5]dak[da̠k]'roof'Near-front.[5] See Afrikaans phonology
ArabicStandard[6]أنا/anā[ana(ː)]'I' 1st person singular pronounSee Arabic phonology
Azerbaijani[7]Standardsəs[s̪æ̞s̪]'sound'Typically transcribed with æ.
Bulgarian[8] най/nay[n̪a̠j]'most'Near-front.[8]
ChineseCantonese / saa1[saː˥]'sand'See Cantonese phonology
Mandarin[9] / ān[ʔan˥]'safe'Allophone of /a/ before /n/.[9] See Standard Chinese phonology
Chuvash сас [sas] 'sound, noise'
DutchStandard[10][11]aas[aːs]'bait'Ranges from front to central.[12] See Dutch phonology
Utrecht[13]bad[bat]'bath'Corresponds to [ɑ] in Northern Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
EnglishAustralian[14]hat[hat]'hat'Most common pronunciation among younger speakers.[14] Older speakers typically use [æ]. See Australian English phonology
California[15][16]Less open [æ] in other North American varieties. See English phonology and Canadian Shift
Canadian[16][17]
Some Central Ohioan speakers[16]
Some Texan speakers[16]
Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg[18]Closer [æ] in General South African English. See South African English phonology
Received Pronunciation[19]Closer [æ] in Conservative Received Pronunciation. See English phonology
Scouse[20][haθ̠]
East Anglian[21]bra[bɹaː]'bra'Realized as central [äː] by middle-class speakers.[21]
Inland Northern American[22]Less front [ɑ ~ ä] in other American dialects. See Northern cities vowel shift
New Zealand[23][bɹa̠ː]Varies between open near-front [a̠ː], open central [äː], near-open near-front [ɐ̟ː] and near-open central [ɐː].[23] May be transcribed in IPA with ɐː. See New Zealand English phonology
FrenchConservative Parisian[11][24]patte[pat̪]'paw'Contrasts with /ɑ/, but many speakers have only one open vowel (phonetically central [ä]).[25] See French phonology
Quebec[26]arrêt[aʁɛ]'stopping'Contrasts with /ɑ/.[26] See Quebec French phonology
GermanAltbayern accent[27]Wassermassen[ˈʋɑsɐmasn̩]'water masses'Also illustrates the back /ɑ/, with which it contrasts.[27] See Standard German phonology
Many Austrian accents[27]nah[naː]'near'Less front in other accents.[27] See Standard German phonology
Igbo[28]ákụ[ákú̙]'kernel'
Khmerបាត់ / băt[ɓat]'to disappear'See Khmer phonology
បាត / bat[ɓaːt]'bottom'
Kurdish Palewani (Southern) گه‌ن/gen [gan] 'bad' Equal to Sorani (Central) near-front [æ]. See Kurdish phonology
LimburgishMany dialects[29][30][31]baas[ˈba̠ːs]'boss'Near-front;[29][30][31] realized as central [äː] in some other dialects.[32] The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Low German[33]Daag / Dag[dax]'day'Backness may vary among dialects.[33]
Luxembourgish[34]Kap[kʰa̠ːpʰ]'cap'Near-front; sometimes fronted and raised to [a̝ː].[35] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay Kedah beras [bəɣaʲh] 'raw rice' Considerably more front than in Standard Malay where it is usually central [ä]. In final syllables that are open ended or end in a glottal stop, it is realised as a back [ɒ]. See Kedah Malay
Mpade[36]takʼwa[takʼʷa]'to vomit'
NorwegianStavangersk[37]hatt[hat]'hat'See Norwegian phonology
Trondheimsk[38]lær[læ̞ːɾ]'leather'
Polish[39]jajo[ˈjajɔ]'egg'Allophone of /ä/ between palatal or palatalized consonants. See Polish phonology
SpanishEastern Andalusian[40]las madres[læ̞ˑ ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛˑ]'the mothers'Corresponds to [ä] in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology
Murcian[40]
SwedishCentral Standard[41][42]bank[baŋk]'bank'The backness has been variously described as front [a],[41] near-front [a̠][42] and central [ä].[43] See Swedish phonology
Tagalogdalaga[dɐˈlaɰɐ]'maiden'See Tagalog phonology
West FrisianAastersk[44]kaaks[kaːks]'ship's biscuit'Contrasts with a back /ɑː/.[44] See West Frisian phonology
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Notes

References

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