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Open back unrounded vowel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: IPA, Consonants
| Edit - 2× | Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back |
| Close | |||||
| Near‑close | |||||
| Close‑mid | |||||
| Mid | |||||
| Open‑mid | |||||
| Near‑open | |||||
| Open | |||||
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.
represents a rounded vowel.
| IPA – number | 305 |
| IPA – text | ɑ |
| IPA – image |  |
| Entity | ɑ |
| X-SAMPA | A |
| Kirshenbaum | A |
| Sound sample | |
|---|---|
The open back 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 ɑ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A. The symbol ɑ is called script a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter 'a', which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has its linear stroke on the right, should not be confused with turned script a ɒ, which has its linear stroke on the left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.
- Its vowel height is open, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth.
- Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant
- Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angor | ape | [ɑpe] | 'father' | ||
| Dutch | bad | [bɑt] | 'bath' | Backness varies among dialects. See Dutch phonology | |
| English | CaE | ball | [bɑːl] | 'ball' | See English phonology |
| RP and GA | spa | [spɑː] | 'spa' | ||
| Finnish | kana | [kɑnɑ] | 'hen' | See Finnish phonology | |
| French | pâte | [pɑt] | 'dough' | Only in dialects that distinguish pâte from patte. See French phonology | |
| Hungarian | bal | [bɑ̽l] | 'left' | See Hungarian phonology | |
| Navajo | ashkii | [ɑʃkɪː] | 'boy' | ||
| Norwegian | hat | [hɑːt] | 'hate' | See Norwegian phonology | |
| Russian | палка | ['pɑlkə] | 'stick' | Only occurs both before /ɫ/ and after an unpalatalized consonant. See Russian phonology | |
| Vietnamese | tai | [tɑ̄j] | 'ear' | See Vietnamese phonology | |