Mid vowel
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
A mid vowel (or a true-mid vowel) is any in a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned midway between an open vowel and a close vowel.
Other names for a mid vowel are lowered close-mid vowel and raised open-mid vowel, though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low as open-mid; likewise, the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high as close-mid.
Vowels
The only mid vowel with a dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the mid central vowel with ambiguous rounding .
The IPA divides the vowel space into thirds, with the close-mid vowels such as or and the open-mid vowels such as or equidistant in formant space between open or and close or . Thus a true mid front unrounded vowel can be transcribed as either a lowered ⟨e̞⟩ (with a lowering diacritic) or as a raised ⟨ɛ̝⟩ (with a raising diacritic). Typical truly mid vowels are thus:
- mid front unrounded vowel or
- mid front rounded vowel or
- mid central unrounded vowel or (most commonly written ⟨ə⟩)
- mid central protruded vowel or (most commonly written ⟨ɵ⟩ as if it were close-mid)
- mid central compressed vowel
- mid back unrounded vowel or
- mid back rounded vowel or
Languages
Few languages contrast all three heights of mid vowel, because it is rare for a language to distinguish more than four heights of true front or back vowels.
The Kensiu language spoken in Malaysia and Thailand is highly unusual in that it phonemically contrasts true-mid vowels with close-mid and open-mid vowels without differences in other parameters such as backness or roundedness.
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References
- ^ Wayland, Ratree (2018). Phonetics: A Practical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-10841-834-8.
- ^ Rogers, Henry (2000). The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics. Harrow: Longman. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-31787-775-2.