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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
An open-mid vowel (also mid-open vowel, low-mid vowel, mid-low vowel or half-open vowel) is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned approximately one third of the way from an open vowel to a close vowel.
Examples
Some of the open-mid vowels that have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
- open-mid front unrounded vowel
- open-mid front rounded vowel
- open-mid central unrounded vowel (older publications may use ⟨ɛ̈⟩)
- open-mid central rounded vowel (older publications may use ⟨ɔ̈⟩)
- open-mid back unrounded vowel
- open-mid back rounded vowel
Other open-mid vowels can be indicated with diacritics of relative articulation applied to letters for neighboring vowels.
References
- Ogbonna, Elisha O. (2022). Advanced Igbo Language: A Simplified Guide to Igbo Orthography Phonology, Morphology and Lexicology. La Vergne: Prinoelio Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-77774-614-8.
- Wayland, Ratree (2018). Phonetics: A Practical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-10841-834-8.