Mid central vowel

Mid central vowel
ə
IPA number	322
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ə
Unicode (hex)	U+0259
X-SAMPA	@
Kirshenbaum	@
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Sound
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IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close i • y ɨ • ʉ ɯ • u ɪ • ʏ ɪ̈ • ʊ̈ ɯ̽ • ʊ e • ø ɘ • ɵ ɤ • o e̞ • ø̞ ə • ɵ̞ ɤ̞ • o̞ ɛ • œ ɜ • ɞ ʌ • ɔ æ •  ɐ • ɞ̞ a • ɶ ä • ɒ̈ ɑ • ɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ə⟩, a rotated lowercase letter e.

While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define the roundedness of [ə],^[1] it is more often unrounded than rounded. The phonetician Jane Setter describes the pronunciation of the unrounded variant as follows: "[ə] is a sound which can be produced by basically relaxing the articulators in the oral cavity and vocalising."^[2]

Some languages, such as Danish^[3] and Luxembourgish,^[4] have a mid central vowel that is variably rounded. In some other languages, things are more complicated, as the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height and/or backness. For instance, in Dutch, the unrounded allophone of /ə/ is mid central [ə], but its word-final rounded allophone is close-mid near-front [ø̠].^[5]

The symbol ⟨ə⟩ is often used for any unstressed obscure vowel, regardless of its precise quality. For instance, the English vowel transcribed ⟨ə⟩ is a central unrounded vowel that can be close-mid [ɘ], mid [ə] or open-mid [ɜ], depending on the environment.^[6]

Mid central unrounded vowel

The mid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. If greater precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞]. Another possibility is using the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel with a raising diacritic, [ɜ̝].

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		зы	[zəː]	'one'
Albanian		është	[ˈəʃtə]	'is'
Armenian		ընկեր	[əŋˈkɛɹ]	'friend'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		?/sətwa	[sətwɐ]	'winter'	Most speakers. Usually raised to [ɪ] in some Tyari dialects.
Bulgarian[7]		пара	[ˈparə]	'steam'	Possible realization of unstressed /ɤ/ and /a/ in post-stressed syllables.[7] See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan	Eastern Catalan[8]	amb	[əm(b)]	'with'	Reduced vowel. See Catalan phonology
	Most Balearic speakers[8]	sec	[ˈsək̟]	'dry'
	Central Valencian[9]	poc	[ˈpɒ̝kːə]	'little'	Vocalic release found in final consonants. It may vary in quality.
Chinese	Mandarin	根/gēn	[kən˥]	'root'	See Standard Chinese phonology
Danish	Standard[10][11]	hoppe	[ˈhɒ̜̽b̥ə]	'mare'	Sometimes realized as rounded [ɵ̞].[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch[5]		renner	[ˈrɛnər]	'runner'	See Dutch phonology
English	Most dialects	Tina	[ˈtʰiːnə]	'Tina'	Reduced vowel; varies in quality. See English phonology
	Cultivated South African[12]	bird	[bəːd]	'bird'	May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel [øː~ ø̈ː].
	Norfolk[13]
	Received Pronunciation[14]				Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. It is sulcalized, which means the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]. 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a near-open vowel [ɐː], but for some other speakers it may actually be open-mid [ɜː]. This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects.
	Indian[15]	bust	[bəst]	'bust'	May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ʌ/ and /ə/ like Welsh English.
	Wales[16]				May also be further back; it corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.
	Yorkshire[17]				Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Estonian[18]		kõrv	[kərv]	'ear'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩; can be mid back [ɤ̞] or close back [ɯ] instead, depending on the speaker.[18] See Estonian phonology
Garhwali	Standard	कूड़ा	[kuɽə]	'houses'	Plural of 'कूडु' or 'House'.[19]
German	Standard[20][21]	bitte	[ˈbɪtə]	'please'	Also described as close-mid [ɘ].[22] See Standard German phonology
	Chemnitz dialect[23]	Wonne	[ˈʋɞ̝n̪ə]	'bliss'	See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Hindustani		दस/دَس	[ˈd̪əs]	'ten'	See Hindustani phonology
Inuit	West Greenlandic[24]				Allophone of /i/ before and especially between uvulars.[24] See Inuit phonology
Kabardian		щы	[ɕəː]	'three'
Kashubian		jãzëk	[jãzək]	'language'
Kensiu[25]		[təh]		'to be bald'
Limburgish[26][27][28][29]		besjeemp	[bəˈʃeːmp]	'embarrassed'	Occurs only in unstressed syllables.[26][30][31][32] The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Luxembourgish[4][33]		dënn	[d̥ən]	'thin'	More often realized as slightly rounded [ɵ̞].[4] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		к’смет	[ˈkəs̪mɛt̪]	'luck' (archaic)	Not considered a vowel phoneme. See Macedonian phonology
Malay		Melayu	[məlaju]	'Malay'
Marathi		अकरा	[əkˈra]	'eleven'	See Marathi phonology.
Neapolitan		guaglione	[gwaˈʎːonə]	'boy'
Palauan		tilobęd	[tilobəd]	'came'
Pashto		غوښه	[ˈɣwəʂa]	'meat'	See Pashto dialects
Piedmontese		përché	[pərˈke]	'why'	May be realized as [a] or [ɑ] instead, depending on the variety.
Portuguese	European[34]	pagar	[pɜ̝ˈɣaɾ]	'to pay'	Often corresponds to a near-open vowel [ɐ] in Brazilian Portuguese.[35] See Portuguese phonology
	São Paulo[36]	cama	[ˈkəmɐ]	'bed'	Shorter nasal resonance or complete oral vowel in São Paulo and Southern Brazil, while nasal vowel in many other Portuguese dialects.
	Southern Brazil
	Some speakers[37]	conviver	[kũviˈveə̯ɾ]	'to coexist'	Primarily in Portugal, but also stereotyped as a characteristic of the dialect of Rio de Janeiro (where [ə] for /ɐ/ is also dominant).[38]
Punjabi		ਅਮਨ	[əmən]	'peace'
Romanian		măr	[mər]	'apple'	Also described as open-mid [ɜ]. See Romanian phonology
Russian		это	[ˈɛt̪ə]	'this'	Unstressed allophone of several vowels. See Russian phonology
Sema[39][40]		akütsü	[ɐ˩ kə t͡sɨ̞]	'black'	Possible word-medial allophone of /ɨ/.[39][40]
Swedish		begå	[bəˈɡoː]	'to commit'	Unstressed allophone of /ɛ/, see Swedish phonology
Vastese[41]
Welsh		Cymru	[ˈkəmrɨ]	'Wales'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		gewoan	[ɡəˈʋoə̯n]	'normal'

Mid central rounded vowel

Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞]. This vowel can also be represented by adding the more rounded diacritic to the schwa symbol, or by combining the raising diacritic with the open-mid central rounded vowel symbol, although it is rare to use such symbols.

Features

• Its vowel height is mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel.

• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

• It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Danish	Standard[3]	hoppe	[ˈhɒ̜̽b̥ɵ̞]	'mare'	Possible realization of /ə/.[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[42]	neus	[nɵ̞ːs]	'nose'	Also described as close-mid near-front [ø̠ː]; usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨øː⟩. Diphthongized to [ø̠ʏ̯] in the Standard Netherlandic accent.[43][44] See Dutch phonology
English	Some speakers of New England English[45]	most	[mɵ̞st]	'most'	Diphthongized to [ɵ̞ə̯] before /n, t, d/; many speakers tend to merge it with /oʊ/.[45] See English phonology
French[46]		je	[ʒɵ̞]	'I'	Only somewhat rounded;[46] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɵ⟩ or ⟨ə⟩. May be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology
German	Chemnitz dialect[23]	Wonne	[ˈʋɵ̞n̪ə]	'bliss'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɞ⟩. See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Irish	Munster[47]	scoil	[skɵ̞lʲ]	'school'	Allophone of /ɔ/ between a broad and a slender consonant.[47] See Irish phonology
Luxembourgish[4]		dënn	[d̥ɵ̞n]	'thin'	Slightly rounded; less often realized as unrounded [ə].[4] See Luxembourgish phonology
Swedish	Central Standard[48]	full	[fɵ̞lː]	'full'	Pronounced with compressed lips, more closely transcribed [ɵ̞ᵝ] or [ɘ̞ᵝ]. See Swedish phonology

See also

• Schwa

References

Bibliography

International Phonetic Alphabet
IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Voice Quality Symbols Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille
Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Retroflex Alveolo- palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal / Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̼̊ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v tθ dð tθ̠ dð̠ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡħ ʡʕ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʔ̞ Approximant ʋ̥ ʋ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮ Trill ʙ r̼ r̥ r ɽr̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈɭ̊˔ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̼ l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ̥ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ̼ ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Simple clicks ʘ ʘ̬ ʘ̃ ǀ ǀ̬ ǀ̃ ǃ ǃ̬ ǃ̃ ǂ ǂ̬ ǂ̃ ǁ ǁ̬ ǁ̃ ǃ˞ ǃ̬˞ ǃ̃˞ Other clicks ʘ̃ˀ ʘˀ ˀʘ̃ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qχ ʘ͡qʼ ʘ͡qχʼ ¡ ʞ Implosives ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̥ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥  Ejectives pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ tɕʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ̊ ɥ ɫ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m ɧ t͡p d͡b n͡m q͡ʡ — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible or not distinctive. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated
Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close i • y ɨ • ʉ ɯ • u ɪ • ʏ ɪ̈ • ʊ̈ ɯ̽ • ʊ e • ø ɘ • ɵ ɤ • o e̞ • ø̞ ə • ɵ̞ ɤ̞ • o̞ ɛ • œ ɜ • ɞ ʌ • ɔ æ •  ɐ • ɞ̞ a • ɶ ä • ɒ̈ ɑ • ɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view