The close central unrounded vowel, or high central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , namely the lower-case letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as barred i.
Occasionally, this vowel is transcribed (centralized ) or (centralized ).
The close central unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare post-palatal approximant .
Features
thumb|left|[[Spectrogram of ]]
Occurrence
is uncommon as a phoneme in Indo-European languages, occurring most commonly in some Slavic languages, such as Belarusian and Russian (see ы). However, it is very common as a separate phoneme in the indigenous languages of the Americas and is often in phonemic contrast with other close vowels such as and both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (such as Proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark identify the presence of this vowel phoneme as an areal feature of a Mesoamerican Sprachbund (although that is not a defining feature of the entire area).
{| class="wikitable" style="clear: both;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| colspan="2" | Acehnese || || || 'to know' || Asyik and Al-Ahmadi Al-Harbi describe this sound as such while Durie describes it as closer to
|-
| colspan="2" |Aikanã
|
|
| 'aunt'
| It also happens as allophone of before .
|-
| Angami || Khonoma || || || 'hail stone' || The height varies between close and mid . Typically transcribed in IPA with .
|-
| colspan="2" |Arhuaco
|
|
| 'Arhuaco language'
|
|-
| Armenian
| Meghri
| ագարակ/agarak
| [hɨˈgɛrak]
| 'farm'
|
|-
| Bantawa || Ilam, Nepal || || || 'afraid' ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | Chinese
| Hokkien||/ || || 'pig' ||
|-
| Mandarin
| /
|
| 'ten'
| Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʐ̩⟩ or ⟨ɻ̍⟩.
|-
| rowspan="2" | English
| Northern England
| || || 'council' || Especially encountered in fast and casual speech. May be encountered in the Midlands to a lesser degree as well.
|-
| Southeastern || || || 'rude' || May be rounded , or a diphthong instead.
|-
| colspan="2" | Guaraní || || || 'earth' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Hausa || ||
| 'to eat' || Allophone of .
|-
| Irish || Munster
|
|
| 'sheep'
| Allophone of between broad consonants. See Irish phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Kalagan || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'beard' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Kashmiri ||/|||| 'peach' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Kera || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'knee' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Khmer || / || || 'to think' || See Khmer phonology
|-
| Kurdish
| Palewani (Southern)
| /
|
| 'Kermanshah'
| Equal to Kurmanji and Sorani . See Kurdish phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Latgalian || || || 'very much' || See Latgalian phonology
|-
| Malay
| Kelantan-Pattani
|
|
| 'to paint'
| See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
|-
| colspan="2" |Malayalam
| ആട്/aadu
|
| 'goat'
| See Malayalam phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Mongolian || / || || 'difficult' ||
|-
| colspan="2" |Matis
| colspan="2" align="center" |
| 'wall'
|
|-
| colspan="2" | Mono || || || 'count' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Mpade || || || 'to eat' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Norwegian || || || 'nice' || Only dialects in Meldal and Gudbrandsdalen
|-
| colspan="2" | Paicî || || || || May be transcribed in IPA with .
|-
| colspan="2" | Romanian || || || 'I swim' || See Romanian phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Russian || /
|| || 'you' (singular/informal) || Occurs only after unpalatalized consonants. Near-close when unstressed. See Russian phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Sahaptin || align="center" | kʼsit
|
| 'cold' || Epenthetic. No lengthened equivalent
|-
| colspan="2" |Sanumá
| colspan="2" align="center" |
| 'to see'
| The nasal version also occurs.
|-
| Scottish Gaelic || Lewis || || || 'more' || Allophone of when short and in proximity to slender consonants.
|-
| colspan="2" | Shipibo || || || || Possible realization of after coronal consonants.
|-
| colspan="2" | Sirionó ||colspan="2" align="center" | || 'dry wood' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Sundanese|| || || 'you' || May be close back , close-mid central , or close-mid back by younger speakers.
|-
| colspan="2" | Sümi || || || 'to hurt' || Described variously as close and near-close .
|-
| rowspan="2" | Swedish || Bohuslän || rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | 'to become' || rowspan="2" | A fricated vowel that corresponds to in Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology
|-
| Närke
|-
| Tajik || Bukharan || /|| || 'the sound of wood sawing' || Allophone of in the environment of uvular consonants.
|-
| colspan="2" | Tamil || vály ) || || 'tail' || Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be rounded instead. See Tamil phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Tera || || || 'said' ||
|-
| colspan="2" |Tsou
| ,
|
| 'man'
| , with free variant . Used to be written as , but changed to for more convenient typing. || || || 'shallow' || Also described as close back and near-close near-back . Typically transcribed in IPA with . See Turkish phonology
|-
|| Balkans || eski || [es.'kɨ]|| 'old' || Word-final merger of standard Turkish sounds and , shift of and into single phoneme due to interactions caused by Balkan sprachbund. Dombrowski || || 'it growls' ||
|-
| colspan="2" |Vietnamese
|
|
| 'to carry'
|
|-
| colspan="2" |Wayuu
|
|
| 'your mouth'
|
|-
| Welsh || Northern dialects || || || 'picture' || Close when long. merges with in southern dialects. See Welsh phonology
|-
| colspan="2" | Yaeyama || || || 'person' ||
|-
| Zapotec || Tilquiapan || || || 'be sour' ||
|}
The sound of Polish is often represented as , but actually it is a close-mid advanced central unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed . Similarly, European Portuguese unstressed , often represented as , is actually a near-close near-back unrounded vowel, more narrowly transcribed using ad hoc symbols such as (mid-centralized), (fronted) and (less rounded, i.e. unrounded).
Near-close central unrounded vowel
Some languages feature the near-close central unrounded vowel, which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with and , but is also possible. In many British dictionaries, this vowel has been transcribed , which captures its height; in the American tradition it is more often , which captures its centrality, or , which captures both. is also used in a number of other publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells. In the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, represents variation between and .
Features
Occurrence
{| class="wikitable" style="clear: both;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| colspan="2" | Amharic || / || || 'root' || Near-close.
|-
| Berber || Central Atlas Tamazight || / || || 'to work' || Epenthetically inserted into consonant clusters before labial and coronal consonants.
|-
| rowspan="5" | English || Inland Southern American || rowspan="2" | || || rowspan="2" | 'good' || Corresponds to in other dialects. See English phonology
|-
| Southeastern English || || May be rounded instead; || rowspan="3" | lip || || rowspan="3" | 'lip' || Possible realization of . || || Allophone of before labial consonants, sometimes also in other environments. || saol || [sɨ̞l]|| 'life'|| Allophone of . Near-close. || || || 'male cousin on father's side' || Unstressed allophone of .
|-
| Welsh || Northern dialects || pump || || 'five' || Near-close when short. merges with in southern dialects. See Welsh phonology
|}
See also
- Index of phonetics articles