Mid central vowel Totally Explained

Everything about The Mid Central Vowel totally explained

The mid central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ə, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is @. The IPA symbol is a turned printed letter 'e'. The same symbol may be used for the rounded and the unrounded mid central vowel.

Mid central unrounded vowel

The mid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. However, this symbol doesn't specifically represent an unrounded vowel, and is frequently used for almost any unstressed obscure vowel. If precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞].

Features

Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.
Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	RP	fur	[fɜ̝ː]	'fur'	See English phonology
Portuguese	European	pagar	[pɜ̝ˈgaɾ]	'to pay'	May be closer to the near-open vowel [ɐ] in Brazilian Portuguese. See Portuguese phonology

Mid central rounded vowel

Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there's no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞].

Features

Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurrence

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	kopen	[ˈkopə]	'to buy'	See Dutch phonology
French	je	[ʒɵ̞]	'I'	This may be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology
Russian	тётя	[ˈtʲɵ̞tʲə]	'aunt'	Allophone of /o/ in the environment of palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Swedish	energi	[ˌɛnːərˈɦiː]	'energy'	Unstressed allophone of /ɛ/, see Swedish phonology

Further Information

Get more info on 'Mid Central Vowel'.

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