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Open back unrounded vowel
ɑ
IPA number	305
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɑ
Unicode (hex)	U+0251
X-SAMPA	A
Braille
Image

IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u Near-close ɪ ʏ ʊ Close-mid e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o Mid e̞ ø̞ ə ɤ̞ o̞ Open-mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ Near-open æ ɐ Open a ɶ ä ɑ ɒ
IPA help  audio full chart template Legend: unrounded • rounded

The open back unrounded vowel, or low 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 letter ⟨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 a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ɒ, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda) there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal and [ʌ]), which can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑ̝⟩ or ⟨ʌ̞⟩.

Features

• Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Latin alpha

Notes

1. While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
2. ^ Mokari & Werner (2016), p. 509.
3. ^ Asu & Teras (2009), p. 368.
4. ^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
5. ^ Shalev, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1993), p. 92.
6. ^ Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /a/".
7. ^ Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 39.
8. ^ Francisco (2019), p. 74.
9. ^ Saborit (2009), p. 10.
10. Rafel (1999), p. 14.
11. ^ Recasens (1996), pp. 90–92.
12. ^ Recasens (1996), pp. 131–132.
13. ^ Mou (2006), p. 65.
14. ^ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 47.
15. ^ Verhoeven (2005), p. 245.
16. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
17. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 78, 104, 133.
18. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 104, 133.
19. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 136.
20. ^ Collins & Mees (1990), p. 95.
21. ^ Lodge (2009), p. 168.
22. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
23. Wells (1982), p. 305.
24. Lass (2002), p. 117.
25. Lass (2002), p. 116-117.
26. Roach (2004), p. 242.
27. ^ "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
28. ^ Árnason (2011), pp. 69, 79.
29. ^ Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 21.
30. Maddieson (1984), cited in Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008:21)
31. Ashby (2011), p. 100.
32. Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 225–227.
33. Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
34. ^ Walker (1984), p. 53.
35. ^ Regueira (1996), p. 122.
36. ^ Freixeiro Mato (2006), pp. 72–73.
37. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), pp. 261–262.
38. Aronson, Howard (1990), Georgian: A Reading Grammar (2nd ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
39. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), pp. 34, 38.
40. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 38.
41. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
42. Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), pp. 342–344.
43. Trudgill (2009), pp. 83–84.
44. Trudgill (2009), p. 81.
45. Arvaniti (2007), pp. 25, 28.
46. Vago (1980), p. 1.
47. Szende (1994), p. 92.
48. ^ Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
49. Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
50. Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676, 682.
51. ^ Peters (2006), p. 119.
52. ^ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
53. ^ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
54. ^ Prehn (2012), p. 157.
55. Zaharani Ahmad (1991).
56. ^ Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 16–17.
57. ^ Kvifte & Gude-Husken (2005), p. 4.
58. Vanvik (1979), pp. 16–17.
59. ^ Galastri (2011), p. 21.
60. Jones & Ward (1969), p. 50.
61. Oftedal (1956), p. 53.
62. ^ Teo (2014), p. 28.
63. Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
64. Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 10.
65. Zimmer & Orgun (1999), p. 155.
66. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
67. Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2014), "Ngôn ngữ biến đổi và số phận của nguyên âm /a/ trong giọng Quảng Nam (Issues in Language change and the phonemic status of /a/ in the Quang Nam dialect)" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 6: 10–18
68. Phạm, Andrea Hòa (2016), "Sự biến âm trong vần tiếng Việt: thổ ngữ làng Hến, huyện Đức Thọ, tỉnh Hà Tĩnh [Sound change in Vietnamese rhymes: the dialect of Hến Village of Đức Thọ District, Hà Tĩnh Province]" (PDF), Tạp Chí Ngôn Ngữ Học (Journal of Vietnamese Linguistics) (in Vietnamese), 11: 7–28
69. de Haan (2010), p. 333.
70. Visser (1997), p. 14.
71. ^ van der Veen (2001), p. 102.

References

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External links

• List of languages with [ɑ] on PHOIBLE

v t e International Phonetic Alphabet (chart)
IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the alphabet Extensions for disordered speech (extIPA) Voice Quality Symbols (VoQS) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Special topics Cursive forms Case variants Obsolete and nonstandard symbols Naming conventions Sinological extensions World Orthography IPA chart for English dialects Encodings ASCII encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode IPA number IPA Braille
Consonants Pulmonic consonants Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal Manner ↓ Bi­labial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Post­alveolar Retro­flex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn­geal/epi­glottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ̊ ɱ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Plosive p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz t̠ʃ d̠ʒ tʂ dʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v t̪θ d̪ð tɹ̝̊ dɹ̝ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡʜ ʡʢ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̠ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ɻ̊˔ ɻ˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ ʔ̞ Tap/flap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̆ Trill ʙ̥ ʙ r̥ r ɽ̊r̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ tꞎ d𝼅 c𝼆 ɟʎ̝ k𝼄 ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ꞎ 𝼅 𝼆 ʎ̝ 𝼄 ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l ɭ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral tap/flap ɺ̥ ɺ 𝼈̥ 𝼈 ʎ̆ ʟ̆ IPA help  audio full chart template Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible. Non-pulmonic consonants BL LD D A PA RF P V U EG Ejective Stop pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ Affricate p̪fʼ t̪θʼ tsʼ t̠ʃʼ tʂʼ tɕʼ kxʼ qχʼ Fricative ɸʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ Lateral affricate tɬʼ c𝼆ʼ k𝼄ʼ q𝼄ʼ Lateral fricative ɬʼ Click (top: velar; bottom: uvular) Tenuis kʘ qʘ kǀ qǀ kǃ qǃ k𝼊 q𝼊 kǂ qǂ Voiced ɡʘ ɢʘ ɡǀ ɢǀ ɡǃ ɢǃ ɡ𝼊 ɢ𝼊 ɡǂ ɢǂ Nasal ŋʘ ɴʘ ŋǀ ɴǀ ŋǃ ɴǃ ŋ𝼊 ɴ𝼊 ŋǂ ɴǂ ʞ   Tenuis lateral kǁ qǁ Voiced lateral ɡǁ ɢǁ Nasal lateral ŋǁ ɴǁ Implosive Voiced ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ Voiceless ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̊ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥ IPA help  audio full chart template Co-articulated consonants Nasal n͡m Labial–alveolar ɳ͡m Labial–retroflex ŋ͡m Labial–velar Plosive t͡pd͡b Labial–alveolar ʈ͡pɖ͡b Labial–retroflex k͡pɡ͡b Labial–velar q͡ʡ Uvular–epiglottal q͡p Labial–uvular Fricative/approximant ɥ̊ɥ Labial–palatal ʍw Labial–velar ɧ Sj-sound (variable) Lateral approximant ɫ Velarized alveolar Implosive ɠ̊͜ɓ̥ ɠ͡ɓ Labial–velar Ejective t͡pʼ Labial–alveolar IPA help full chart template Other Nasal labial–velar approximant Nasal palatal approximant Voiceless bidental fricative Voiceless bilabially post-trilled dental stop Voiceless nasal glottal approximant
Vowels Front Central Back Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u Near-close ɪ ʏ ʊ Close-mid e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o Mid e̞ ø̞ ə ɤ̞ o̞ Open-mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ Near-open æ ɐ Open a ɶ ä ɑ ɒ IPA help  audio full chart template Legend: unrounded • rounded

• Open vowels
• Back vowels
• Unrounded vowels