The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-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 . This is a mirrored letter e and should not be confused with the schwa , which is a turned e. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed . Certain older sources transcribe this vowel .
The letter may be used with a lowering diacritic , to denote the mid central unrounded vowel.
Features
thumb|left|[[Spectrogram of ]]
Occurrence
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan=2 | Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| colspan=2 | Chuvash || пӗррехинче || [pɘrrɛχint͡ɕɛ] || 'once' ||
|-
| colspan=2 | Cotabato Manobo || || || || May be transcribed in IPA with .
|-
| Dinka || Luanyjang || ŋeŋ || || 'jawbone' || Short allophone of . || bird || || 'bird' || Typically transcribed in IPA with . Optionally rounded. See Australian English phonology
|-
| Cardiff || foot || || 'foot' || Less often rounded ; corresponds to in other dialects. See English phonology
|-
| New Zealand || bit || || 'bit' || Merger of and found in other dialects. See New Zealand English phonology
|-
| Southern American || nut || || 'nut' || Some dialects. || sáile || || 'salt water' || Usually transcribed in IPA with . It is an allophone of next to non-palatal slender consonants. || align="center" | ɨx[e/ï][k/c/q]
|
| 'bat' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Kaingang || align="center" | me
||| 'tail' || Varies between central and back .
|-
| colspan="2" | Kalagan Kaagan || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'lost' || Allophone of in word-final stressed syllables before ; can be transcribed in IPA with . || Katë || || 'Katë' || Can also be realized as .
|-
| colspan="2" | Kazakh || тілі || || 'language' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Kensiu || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'to trim' || Rhotacized; may be transcribed in IPA with . || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'fire' || Allophone of ; typically transcribed in IPA with . || /eoreun || || 'adult' || May be transcribed in IPA with . See Korean phonology
|-
| rowspan="2" |Kurdish
|Kurmanji
| rowspan="2" |/
| rowspan="2" |[dɘl]
| rowspan="2" |'heart'
| rowspan="2" |Allophone of . Sorani alphabet does not transcribe this vowel phoneme in text.
|-
|Sorani
|-
| colspan="2" | Lizu || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'eagle' || Allophone of after velar stops. || || || 'to give (something)' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Mongolian || || || 'jump' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Mono || || || 'be (equative)' || May be transcribed in IPA with . || || || 'mouse' || Somewhat fronted; || || || ||
|-
| colspan=2| Temne || || || 'incite' || Typically transcribed in IPA with . || || || 'wife' || Typically transcribed in IPA with . See Vietnamese phonology
|-
| Xumi || Upper || colspan=2 align=center | || 'upstairs' || Nasalized; occurs only in this word.
|-
| Zapotec || Tilquiapan || || || 'and' || Most common realization of .