Close_back_rounded_vowel

Close back compressed vowel
Close back compressed vowel
u͍
ɯᵝ
Audio sample
	source · help

Close back rounded vowel
Close back rounded vowel
u
IPA Number	308
Audio sample
	source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	u
Unicode (hex)	U+0075
X-SAMPA	u
Braille

Close back rounded vowel

Vowel sound represented by ⟨u⟩ in IPA

The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel,^[1] is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨u⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.

Quick Facts u, IPA Number ...

More information IPA: Vowels, Front ...

In most languages, this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips ('endolabial'). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed ('exolabial').

[u] alternates with labio-velar approximant [w] in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, [u̯] with the non-syllabic diacritic and [w] are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.

Close back compressed vowel

Quick Facts u͍, ɯᵝ ...

Some languages, such as Japanese and Swedish, have a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial.^[75] Only Shanghainese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.^[12]

There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨ɯ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [ɯ] and labial compression) or ⟨ɯᵝ⟩ ([ɯ] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨ ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨u͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, but 'spread' technically means unrounded.

References

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[1] [1]
While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".

[FOOTNOTEDonaldson19932,_5-2] [2]
Donaldson (1993), pp. 2, 5.

[FOOTNOTEDonaldson19935-3] [3]
Donaldson (1993), p. 5.

[FOOTNOTEThelwallSa'Adeddin199038-4] [4]
Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 38.

[FOOTNOTEDum-Tragut200913-5] [5]
Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 13.

[tm82-6] [6]
Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)

[FOOTNOTETernesVladimirova-Buhtz199956-7] [7]
Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999), p. 56.

[FOOTNOTECarbonellLlisterri199254-8] [8]
Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 54.

[FOOTNOTELeeZee2003110–111-9] [9]
Lee & Zee (2003), pp. 110–111.

[FOOTNOTEDuanmu200735–36-10] [10]
Duanmu (2007), pp. 35–36.

[FOOTNOTEZee199959–60-11] [11]
Zee (1999), pp. 59–60.

[FOOTNOTEChenGussenhoven2015328–329-12] [12]
Chen & Gussenhoven (2015), pp. 328–329.

[FOOTNOTEGrønnum1998100-13] [13]
Grønnum (1998), p. 100.

[FOOTNOTEBasbøll200546-14] [14]
Basbøll (2005), p. 46.

[FOOTNOTEGussenhoven199247-15] [15]
Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.

[FOOTNOTEVerhoeven2005245-16] [16]
Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.

[FOOTNOTECoxPalethorpe2007344-17] [17]
Cox & Palethorpe (2007), p. 344.

[FOOTNOTECoxFletcher201765-18] [18]
Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 65.

[FOOTNOTEFinn2004970-19] [19]
Finn (2004), p. 970.

[FOOTNOTELass2002116-20] [20]
Lass (2002), p. 116.

[FOOTNOTEMannellCoxHarrington2009-21] [21]
Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).

[FOOTNOTEWattAllen2003268-22] [22]
Watt & Allen (2003), p. 268.

[FOOTNOTECruttenden201491-23] [23]
Cruttenden (2014), p. 91.

[FOOTNOTERoach2004242-24] [24]
Roach (2004), p. 242.

[FOOTNOTECollinsMees199095-25] [25]
Collins & Mees (1990), p. 95.

[FOOTNOTEConnolly1990125-26] [26]
Connolly (1990), p. 125.

[FOOTNOTETench1990135-27] [27]
Tench (1990), p. 135.

[FOOTNOTEMahboobAhmar20041007-28] [28]
Mahboob & Ahmar (2004), p. 1007.

[29] [29]
Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006). The Atlas of North American English. chpt. 17

[victoriauniv-30] [30]
"NZE Phonology" (PDF). Victoria University of Wellington. p. 3.

[FOOTNOTEBauerWarren2004585-31] [31]
Bauer & Warren (2004), p. 585.

[FOOTNOTEAsuTeras2009368-32] [32]
Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.

[FOOTNOTEIivonenHarnud200560,_66-33] [33]
Iivonen & Harnud (2005), pp. 60, 66.

[FOOTNOTESuomiToivanenYlitalo200821-34] [34]
Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.

[FOOTNOTEÁrnason201168,_74-35] [35]
Árnason (2011), pp. 68, 74.

[FOOTNOTEFougeronSmith199373-36] [36]
Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.

[FOOTNOTECollinsMees2013225-37] [37]
Collins & Mees (2013), p. 225.

[FOOTNOTEShostedChikovani2006261–262-38] [38]
Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.

[FOOTNOTEHall200387,_107-39] [39]
Hall (2003), pp. 87, 107.

[FOOTNOTEDudenredaktionKleinerKnöbl201534-40] [40]
Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 34.

[FOOTNOTEDudenredaktionKleinerKnöbl201564-41] [41]
Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.

[FOOTNOTEArvaniti200728-42] [42]
Arvaniti (2007), p. 28.

[FOOTNOTETrudgill200981-43] [43]
Trudgill (2009), p. 81.

[FOOTNOTESzende199492-44] [44]
Szende (1994), p. 92.

[FOOTNOTEÁrnason201160-45] [45]
Árnason (2011), p. 60.

[46] [46]
Einarsson (1945:10), cited in Gussmann (2011:73)

[47] [47]
"Indonesian Alphabet and Pronunciation". mylanguages.org. Retrieved 2021-05-17.

[FOOTNOTERogersd'Arcangeli2004119-48] [48]
Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 119.

[FOOTNOTEJolkesky2009676–677,_682-49] [49]
Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.

[FOOTNOTEThackston2006a1-50] [50]
Thackston (2006a), p. 1.

[FOOTNOTEKhanLescot19708–16-51] [51]
Khan & Lescot (1970), pp. 8–16.

[52] [52]
Fattah describes the sound as being voyelle longue centrale arrondie (p. 116).

[FOOTNOTEWheelock's_Latin1956-53] [53]
Wheelock's Latin (1956).

[FOOTNOTEGussenhovenAarts1999159-54] [54]
Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.

[FOOTNOTEPeters2006119-55] [55]
Peters (2006), p. 119.

[FOOTNOTEStone2002600-56] [56]
Stone (2002), p. 600.

[FOOTNOTEGillesTrouvain201370-57] [57]
Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.

[FOOTNOTEIivonenHarnud200562,_66–67-58] [58]
Iivonen & Harnud (2005), pp. 62, 66–67.

[FOOTNOTEJassem2003105-59] [59]
Jassem (2003), p. 105.

[FOOTNOTECruz-Ferreira199591-60] [60]
Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.

[FOOTNOTESarlin201418-61] [61]
Sarlin (2014), p. 18.

[FOOTNOTEJonesWard196967-62] [62]
Jones & Ward (1969), p. 67.

[FOOTNOTELandauLončarićaHorgaŠkarić199967-63] [63]
Landau et al. (1999), p. 67.

[FOOTNOTEFast_Mowitz19752-64] [64]
Fast Mowitz (1975), p. 2.

[FOOTNOTEMartínez-CeldránFernández-PlanasCarrera-Sabaté2003256-65] [65]
Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 256.

[FOOTNOTEDokeMofokeng1974?-66] [66]
Doke & Mofokeng (1974), p. ?.

[FOOTNOTETingsabadhAbramson199324-67] [67]
Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993), p. 24.

[FOOTNOTEZimmerOrgun1999155-68] [68]
Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.

[FOOTNOTEGökselKerslake200511-69] [69]
Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 11.

[FOOTNOTEIivonenHarnud200564,_68-70] [70]
Iivonen & Harnud (2005), pp. 64, 68.

[FOOTNOTEDanyenkoVakulenko19954-71] [71]
Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.

[FOOTNOTEŠewc-Schuster198420-72] [72]
Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 20.

[FOOTNOTEBamgboṣe1966166-73] [73]
Bamgboṣe (1966), p. 166.

[FOOTNOTEMerrill2008109-74] [74]
Merrill (2008), p. 109.

[FOOTNOTELadefogedMaddieson1996295-75] [75]
Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 295.

[FOOTNOTEOkada1999118-76] [76]
Okada (1999), p. 118.

[FOOTNOTEChirkovaChen201378-77] [77]
Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 78.

[FOOTNOTEVanvik197913,_17-78] [78]
Vanvik (1979), pp. 13, 17.

[79] [79]
While Vanvik (1979) does not describe the exact type of rounding of this vowel, some other sources (e.g. Haugen (1974:40) and Kristoffersen (2000:16)) state explicitly that it is compressed.

[FOOTNOTEVanvik197917-80] [80]
Vanvik (1979), p. 17.

[FOOTNOTEEngstrand1999140-81] [81]
Engstrand (1999), p. 140.

[FOOTNOTERosenqvist20079-82] [82]
Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.

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Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard^[2]	boek	[bu̜k]	'book'	Only weakly rounded.^[3] See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic	Standard^[4]	جنوب/ǧanuub	[d͡ʒaˈnuːb]	'south'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern^[5]	դուռ/dur	[dur]	'door'
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect^[6]	und	[und̥]	'and'	Contrasts close [u], near-close [o̝], close-mid [o] and open-mid [ɔ] back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded [ä].^[6]
Bulgarian^[7]		луд/lud	[ɫut̪]	'crazy'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan^[8]		suc	[s̺uk]	'juice'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Mandarin^[9]^[10]	土 / tǔ	[tʰu˨˩˦]	'earth'	See Standard Chinese phonology
	Cantonese^[11]	夫 / fū	[fuː˥]^ⓘ	'man'	See Cantonese phonology
	Shanghainese^[12]	瓜/ku	[ku˩]	'melon'	Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel.^[12]
Chuvash		урам	[ur'am]	'street'
Danish	Standard^[13]^[14]	du	[tu]	'you'	See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard^[15]^[16]	voet	[vut]^ⓘ	'foot'	Somewhat fronted in Belgian Standard Dutch.^[16]
English	Australian^[17]^[18]	book	[buk]	'book'	Corresponds to [ʊ] in other accents. See Australian English phonology
	Cape Flats^[19]	book	[buk]	'book'	May be advanced to [ʉ], or lowered and unrounded to [ɤ].^[19] See South African English phonology
	Cultivated South African^[20]	boot	[bu̟ːt]	'boot'	Typically more front than cardinal [u]. Instead of being back, it may be central [ʉː] in Geordie and RP, and front [yː] in Multicultural London. See English phonology and South African English phonology
	General American^[21]
	Geordie^[22]
	Multicultural London^[23]
	Received Pronunciation^[24]
	Welsh^[25]^[26]^[27]
	Pakistani^[28]		[buːʈ]
	Greater New York City		[buːt]^[29]
	New Zealand^[30]^[31]	treacle	[ˈtɹ̝̊iːku]	'treacle'	Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid.^[30]^[31] Corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology
Estonian^[32]		sule	[ˈsule̞]	'feather' (gen. sg.)	See Estonian phonology
Finnish^[33]^[34]		kukka	[ˈkukːɑ]	'flower'	See Finnish phonology
Faroese^[35]		gulur	[ˈkuːlʊɹ]	'yellow'	See Faroese phonology
French^[36]^[37]		où	[u]^ⓘ	'where'	See French phonology
Georgian^[38]		გუდა/guda	[ɡudɑ]	'leather bag'
German	Standard^[39]^[40]	Fuß	[fuːs]^ⓘ	'foot'	See Standard German phonology
German	Many speakers^[41]	Stunde	[ˈʃtundə]	'hour'	The usual realization of /ʊ/ in Switzerland, Austria and partially also in Western and Southwestern Germany (Palatinate, Swabia).^[41] See Standard German phonology
Greek	Modern Standard^[42]^[43]	που / pou	[pu]	'where'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian^[44]		út	[uːt̪]	'way'	See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic^[45]^[46]		þú	[θ̠u]	'you'	See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian^[47]	Standard Indonesian	unta	[unta]	'camel'	See Indonesian phonology
Italian^[48]		tutto	[ˈt̪ut̪t̪o]	'all', 'everything'	See Italian phonology
Kaingang^[49]		[ˈndukːi]	'in the belly'
Kazakh		туған/tuğan	[t̪ʰuˈʁɑ̝̃n̪]	'native'	Transcribed phonemically as ⟨ʊw⟩
Khmer		ភូមិ / phumĭ	[pʰuːm]	'village'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		눈 / nun	[nuːn]	'snow'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish^[50]^[51]^[52]	Kurmanji (Northern)	çû	[tʃʰuː]	'wood'	See Kurdish phonology
	Sorani (Central)	چوو/çû
	Palewani (Southern)	چوو/çû
Latin	Classical^[53]	sus	[suːs]	'pig'
Limburgish^[54]^[55]		sjoen	[ʃu̟n]	'beautiful'	Back^[55] or near-back,^[54] depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Lower Sorbian^[56]		zub	[z̪up]	'tooth'
Luxembourgish^[57]		Luucht	[luːχt]	'air'	See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay		ubat	[u.bät]	'medicine'	See Malay phonology
Malayalam		ഉപ്പ്	upːɨ̆	'Salt'	See Malayalam phonology
Mongolian^[58]		үүр/üür	[uːɾɘ̆]	'nest'
Nogai		сув	[suː]	'water'
Persian		دور/dur	[duɾ]	'far'	See Persian phonology
Polish^[59]		buk	[buk]^ⓘ	'beech tree'	Also represented orthographically by ⟨ó⟩. See Polish phonology
Portuguese^[60]		tu	[ˈtu]	'you'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian^[61]		unu	[ˈun̪u]	'one'	See Romanian phonology
Russian^[62]		узкий/uzkiy/uzkij	[ˈus̪kʲɪj]^ⓘ	'narrow'	See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian^[63]		дуга / duga	[d̪ǔːɡä]	'rainbow'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Shiwiar^[64]		^{[example needed]}
Spanish^[65]		curable	[kuˈɾäβ̞le̞]	'curable'	See Spanish phonology
Sotho^[66]		tumo	[tʼumɔ]	'fame'	Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels.^[66] See Sotho phonology
Swahili		ubongo	[ubongo]	'brain'
Tagalog		utang	[ˈʔutɐŋ]	'debt'
Thai	Standard^[67]	ชลบุรี/chonburi	[tɕ͡ʰōn.bū.rīː]^ⓘ	'Chonburi'
Turkish^[68]^[69]		uzak	[uˈz̪äk]	'far'	See Turkish phonology
Udmurt^[70]		урэтэ/urėtė	[urete]	'to divide'
Ukrainian^[71]		рух/rukh	[rux]	'motion'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian^[56]^[72]		žuk	[ʒuk]	'beetle'
Urdu		دُور/dur	[duɾ]	'far'	See Urdu phonology
Welsh		mwg	[muːɡ]	'smoke'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		jûn	[juːn]	'evening, tonight'	See West Frisian phonology
Yoruba^[73]		itọju	[itɔju]
Zapotec	Tilquiapan^[74]	gdu	[ɡdu]	'all'

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Chinese	Shanghainese^[12]	都/tub	[tɯᵝ˩]	'capital'	Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel.^[12]
Japanese^[76]		空気 / kūki	[kɯ̟ᵝːki]^ⓘ	'air'	Near-back; may be realized as central [ɨᵝ] by younger speakers.^[76] See Japanese phonology
Lizu^[77]		[^Fmɯ̟ᵝ]^{[clarification needed]}		'feather'	Near-back.^[77]
Norwegian^[78]^[79]		mot	[mɯᵝːt]	'courage'	The example word is from Urban East Norwegian, in which the vowel can be diphthongized to [ɯᵝə̯].^[80] See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard^[81]^[82]	oro	[²ɯᵝːrɯᵝː]	'unease'	Often realized as a sequence [ɯᵝβ̞] or [ɯᵝβ]^[81] (hear the word: [²ɯᵝβrɯᵝβ]^ⓘ). See Swedish phonology

Close_back_rounded_vowel

Close back rounded vowel

Close back protruded vowel

Features

Occurrence

Close back compressed vowel

Features

Occurrence

See also

Citations

References

External links

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