Open-mid central unrounded vowel

Open-mid central unrounded vowel
ɜ
ɛ̈
IPA number	326
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɜ
Unicode (hex)	U+025C
X-SAMPA	3
Kirshenbaum	V"
Braille
Image
Sound
source · help

The open-mid central unrounded vowel, or low-mid central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɜ⟩. The IPA symbol is not the digit ⟨3⟩ or the Cyrillic small letter Ze (з; the latter arose from the Greek letter zeta, Ζ ζ). The symbol is instead a reversed Latinized variant of the lowercase epsilon, ɛ. The value was specified only in 1993; until then, it had been transcribed ⟨ɛ̈⟩.

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close i • y ɨ • ʉ ɯ • u ɪ • ʏ ɪ̈ • ʊ̈ ɯ̽ • ʊ e • ø ɘ • ɵ ɤ • o e̞ • ø̞ ə • ɵ̞ ɤ̞ • o̞ ɛ • œ ɜ • ɞ ʌ • ɔ æ •  ɐ • ɞ̞ a • ɶ ä • ɒ̈ ɑ • ɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
This table contains phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• 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
Chinese	Shanghainese[1]	[kɜʔ^4]		'to reform'	Allophone of /ə/ in syllables closed by a glottal stop; may be as open as [ɐ] for some speakers.[2]
Catalan	Northwestern	Marieta	[mɐɾɪ̝ˈë̞t̪ɛ̈]	'little Mary'	Possible word-final allophone of unstressed /a/. See Catalan phonology
Cotabato Manobo[3]		[bätɜʔ]		'child'	Allophone of /a/ before glottal consonants; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[3]
Dinka	Luanyjang[4]	laŋ	[lɜ́ŋ]	'berry'	Short allophone of /a/.[4]
Dutch[5]		grappig	[ˈχɾɑpɜχ]	'funny'	Possible realization of /ə/.[5] See Dutch phonology
English	Received Pronunciation[6]	bird	[bɜːd]	'bird'	Sulcalized (the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]). 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a more open vowel [ɐː], but for most other speakers it's actually mid ([ɜ̝ː]). This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects.
	Norfolk[7]	bet	[bɜ̟ʔ]	'bet'	Somewhat fronted,[7] corresponds to /ɛ/ in other dialects.
	Great Lakes region		[bɜ̟ˀt]		Corresponds to /ɛ/ in other dialects, may be near-open central [ɐ] instead. See Northern Cities Vowel Shift
	Ohio[8]	bust	[bɜst]	'bust'	The most common realization of the vowel transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩ in American English. Nevertheless, it is not a standard pronunciation throughout the whole country.[6][8]
	Most of Texas[8]
	Northern Welsh[9]				Some speakers.[9] Corresponds to [ə] (or a further back vowel) in other Welsh dialects.[10]
	Scottish[11]		[bɜ̠st]		Somewhat retracted; may be more back [ʌ] instead.
German	Chemnitz dialect[12]	passe	[ˈpɜsə]	'I pass'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩. See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Jebero[13]		[ˈkɘnmɜʔ]		'indigenous person'	Allophone of /a/ in closed syllables.[13]
Kaingang[14]		[ˈɾɜ]		'mark'	Varies between central [ɜ] and back [ʌ].[15]
Kalagan Kaagan[16]		[mɜˈt̪äs]		'tall'	Allophone of /a/; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[16]
Kallahan[17]
Ladin	Some dialects	Urtijëi	[uχt̪iˈʒɜj]	'Urtijëi'
Mapudungun[18]		füta	[ˈfɘtɜ]	'elderly person'	Unstressed allophone of /ɐ/.[18]
Northern Tiwa	Taos dialect	[ʔɜ̃̄mˈpʊ̄i̯ˌwæ̀ˑʔɪ̄nã̄]		'his friends'	Allophone of /æ/ and /ɑ/. See Taos phonology
Paicî		[mbʷɜ̄]		'remainder'
Romanian	Standard[19]	măr	[mɜ̠r]	'apple'	Somewhat retracted;[19] also described as mid [ə]. See Romanian phonology
	Transylvanian dialects[20]	așa	[aˈʂɜ]	'such'	Corresponds to [ä] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Sama	Sibutu[21]	[ˈsäpɜw]		'roof'	Allophone of /a/; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʌ⟩.[21]
Vietnamese	Southern	bên	[ˀɓɜːn˧˥]	'side'	Allophone of /e/ before /t, n/. See Vietnamese phonology
Xumi	Upper[22]	[^Rbɜ]		'pot, pan'
Yiddish	Standard[23]	ענלעך	[ˈɛnlɜχ]	'similar'	Unstressed vowel.[23] See Yiddish phonology

References

1. Chen & Gussenhoven (2015:328)
2. Chen & Gussenhoven (2015:328, 330)
3. Kerr (1988), pp. 110, 113.
4. Remijsen & Manyang (2009:117, 119)
5. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 129.
6. Ladefoged (1993:82)
7. Lodge (2009:168)
8. Thomas (2001:27–28)
9. Tench, Paul (1990). "The Pronunciation of English in Abercrave". In Coupland, Nikolas. English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 9781853590313.
10. Wells (1982:380–381)
11. Lodge (2009:167)
12. Khan & Weise (2013:236)
13. Valenzuela & Gussenhoven (2013:101)
14. Jolkesky (2009:676–677, 682)
15. Jolkesky (2009:676, 682)
16. Wendel & Wendel (1978:198)
17. Santiago (2010:1, 8–10)
18. Sadowsky et al. (2013:92)
19. Sarlin (2014:18)
20. Pop (1938:30)
21. Allison (1979:82)
22. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013:388)
23. Kleine (2003:263)

Bibliography

• Allison, E. Joseph (1979), "The phonology of Sibutu Sama: A language of the southern Philippines" (PDF), Studies in Philippine Linguistics, 3 (2): 63–104
• Chen, Yiya; Gussenhoven, Carlos (2015), "Shanghai Chinese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (3): 321–327, doi:10.1017/S0025100315000043
• Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya; Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja (2013), "Xumi, Part 2: Upper Xumi, the Variety of the Upper Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 381–396, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003), The Phonetics of English and Dutch, Fifth Revised Edition (PDF), ISBN 9004103406
• Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP, 3: 675–685
• Kerr, Harland (1988), "Cotabato Manobo Grammar" (PDF), Studies in Philippine Linguistics, 7 (1): 1–123
• Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013), "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145
• Kleine, Ane (2003), "Standard Yiddish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 261–265, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001385
• Ladefoged, Peter (1993), A course in phonetics (3rd ed.), Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers
• Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
• Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
• Remijsen, Bert; Manyang, Caguor Adong (2009), "Luanyjang Dinka" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 39 (1): 113–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003605
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
• Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000369
• Santiago, Paul Julian (2010), The Phonetic Structures of Kalanguya
• Sarlin, Mika (2014), "Sounds of Romanian and their spelling", Romanian Grammar (2nd ed.), Helsinki: Books on Demand GmbH, ISBN 978-952-286-898-5
• Thomas, Erik R. (2001), An acoustic analysis of vowel variation in New World English, Publication of the American Dialect Society, 85, Duke University Press for the American Dialect Society, ISSN 0002-8207
• Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Gussenhoven, Carlos (2013), "Shiwilu (Jebero)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 97–106, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000370
• Wendel, Åsa; Wendel, Dag (1978), "Kaagan-Kalagan phonemic statement" (PDF), Studies in Philippine Linguistics, 2 (1): 191–203
• Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.