The close central rounded vowel, or high central rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The sound is also commonly referred to by the name of its symbol, "barred u".
The close central rounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare labialized post-palatal approximant .
In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips (endolabial). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed (exolabial).
Close central protruded vowel
The close central protruded vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as , and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, symbol for the close central rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, , can be used as an ad hoc symbol for the close central protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is or (a close central vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.
Features
thumb|left|[[Spectrogram of ]]
Occurrence
Because central rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression.
{| class="wikitable" style="clear: both;"
! colspan="2" | Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| Angami || Khonoma || || || 'deep' || Allophone of after .
|-
| Armenian||Some Eastern dialects ||/yowġ |||| 'oil' || Allophone of after .
|-
| Berber||Ayt Seghrouchen ||ⵍⵍⴰⵢⴳⴳⵓⵔ/llayggur || || 'he goes' || Allophone of after velar consonants.
|-
| Dutch || Standard Northern || || || 'now' || Typically transcribed in IPA with ; also described as close front and near-close front . See Dutch phonology
|-
| rowspan="6" | English || Australian || rowspan="6" | ' || rowspan="5" | || rowspan="6" | 'goose' || See Australian English phonology
|-
| New Zealand || See New Zealand English phonology
|-
| Modern Received Pronunciation || Realized as back in the conservative variety.
|-
| Scouse || May (less commonly) be fully front instead. || Normal allophone of .
|-
| rowspan="2" | Swedish || Bohuslän || rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | 'howl' || rowspan="2" | A fricated vowel that corresponds to in Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology
|-
| Närke
|-
| colspan="2" | Tamil || || || 'tail' || Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be unrounded instead. See Tamil phonology
|}
Close central compressed vowel
As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, (the opposite of ), will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for compressed central vowels. It was only added to Unicode in 2025, however, and it may take some time for font support to catch up.
Another attested transcription is ( modified with labial compression), though this may imply that the vowel is a diphthong (as indeed it is in Swedish).
The central-vowel stroke of may also be used with the front compressed vowel to create the ad hoc symbol , or the diacritic for centralization to create .
Features
Occurrence
This vowel is typically transcribed in IPA with . It occurs in some dialects of Swedish, but see also close front compressed vowel. The close back vowels of Norwegian and Swedish are also compressed. See close back compressed vowel. It also occurs in Japanese as an allophone. Medumba has a compressed central vowel where the corners of the mouth are not drawn together.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
|Norwegian
|Urban East
|
|
|'house'
|Typically transcribed in IPA with . Also described as front . See Norwegian phonology
|-
| Swedish || Some dialects || || || 'ugly' || More front in Central Standard Swedish; typically transcribed in IPA as . See Swedish phonology
|}
<span class="anchor" id="Near-close central rounded vowel"></span>Near-close central protruded vowel
Some languages feature the near-close central rounded vowel, which is slightly lower than a typical . It is most often transcribed in IPA with , and , but is also a possible transcription. The symbol , a conflation of and , is used as an unofficial extension of the IPA to represent this sound by a number of publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells.
Features
Occurrence
{| class="wikitable" style="clear: both;"
! colspan="2" | Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| Dutch || Randstad || || || 'hut' || Found in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Lower in Standard Dutch. || Short allophone of . See Japanese phonology
|}
See also
- Close back compressed vowel
- Close front protruded vowel
Notes
References
- A summary of the presentation can be found here .