Open-mid back rounded vowel

IPA number 306

Encoding

Entity (decimal) ɔ

Unicode (hex) U+0254

X-SAMPA O

Kirshenbaum O

Braille

Image

Sound

The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɔ⟩. The IPA symbol is a turned letter c and both the symbol and the sound are commonly called "open-o". The name open-o represents the sound, in that it is like the sound represented by ⟨o⟩, the close-mid back rounded vowel, except it is more open. It also represents the symbol, which can be remembered as an o which has been "opened" by removing part of the closed circular shape.

The IPA prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".

Features 1
Occurrence 2
See also 3
References 4
Bibliography 5

Features

IPA vowel chart

Front

Near-front

Central

Near-back

Back

Close

•iy

•ɨʉ

•ɯu

•ɪʏ

•ɪ̈ʊ̈

•eø

•ɘɵ

•ɤo

•e̞ø̞

•əɵ̞

•ɤ̞o̞

•ɛœ

•ɜɞ

•ʌɔ

•æ

•aɶ

•äɒ̈

•ɑɒ

Near-close

Close-mid

Mid

Open-mid

Near-open

Open

Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded

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• • chart • chart with audio •

Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low vowel) and a mid vowel.
Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Few speakers in the former Transvaal Province^[1]	daar	[dɔːr]	'there'	Much more often open [ɒː]. It is unrounded [ɑː] in standard Afrikaans.^[2] See Afrikaans phonology
Albanian		po	[pɔ]	'yes'
Armenian	Eastern^[3]	հողմ	[hɔʁm]	'storm'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	Urmian dialect	khwara	[χwɔːra]	'white'	Corresponds to [ɒ] in other varieties.
Bamana		wɔɔrɔ	[wɔːrɔ]	'six'
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect^[4]				May be transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɒ⟩.^[4]
Bengali		বস	[bɔʃ]	'sit'	See Bengali phonology
Catalan^[5]		soc	[ˈsɔk]	'clog'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	我/ngo5	[ŋɔː˩˧]	'I'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	我/wǒ	[wɔ˨˩˦]	'I'	See Mandarin phonology
	Min	五/gōo	[ɡɔ˨]	'five'
	Wu	跑/bo	[bɔ˨˩˦]	'run'
Danish	Standard^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]	og	[ɔʊ̯]	'and'	Slightly lowered,^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] also described as [ɒ]^[10] - the way it is most often transcribed. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian^[11]	och		'alas'	'Very tense, with strong lip-rounding',^[12] strongly pharyngealized^[13] (although less so in standard Belgian^[14]) and somewhat fronted.^[11]^[15] See Dutch phonology
	Standard Netherlandic^[15]	och		'alas'
	Amelands	hôl	[hɔːl]	'hollow'
	Belgian	nauw	[nɔ̞ː]	'narrow'	Some dialects. Corresponds to [ɔu] in standard Belgian Dutch.
Dutch Low Saxon		taol	[tɔːɫ]	'language'	May be lower [ɒː] in some dialects.
English	Australian^[16]	not		'not'	See Australian English phonology
	Estuary^[17]
	New Zealand^[18]				May be somewhat fronted.^[19] Often transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɒ⟩.
	Received Pronunciation^[20]				/ɒ/ has shifted up in emerging RP.
	General American^[21]	thought	[θɔːt]	'thought'	Mainly in speakers without the cot–caught merger. It may be from lower [ɒ]. See English phonology
	Norfolk^[22]
	Older Received Pronunciation^[23]				Higher [ɔ̝ː] for most other speakers.
	Scottish^[24]				Many Scottish dialects exhibit the cot-caught merger, the outcome of which is a vowel of [ɔ] quality.
	Sheffield^[25]	goat	[ɡɔːt]	'goat'
	Newfoundland^[26]	but	[bɔt]	'but'	Less commonly unrounded [ʌ].^[26] See English phonology
Faroese		góðan morgun	[ˌɡɔuwan ˈmɔɹɡʊn]	'good morning'
French^[27]		sort	[sɔ̜ːʁ]	'fate'	See French phonology
[28]		რიოსწ	[st͡sʼɔɾi]	'correct'
German	Northern Bernese	grad	[ˈɡ̊rɔd̥]	'just now'	May be lower [ɒ]. See Bernese German phonology
German	Standard^[29]	voll		'full'	See German phonology
Icelandic^[30]^[31]^[32]		loft	[ˈlɔft]	'air'	Often diphthongized to [oɔ] when long.^[33] See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian		kodok	[kɔdɔʔ]	'frog'
Italian^[34]		parola		'word'	Fronted. See Italian phonology
Kaingang^[35]		[ˈpɔ]		'stone'
Lao		ບ	[bɔː]	'origin'
Lingala		mbɔ́ngɔ	[ᵐbɔ́ᵑɡɔ]	'money'
Macedonian		коњ	[kɔɲ]	'horse'	See Macedonian phonology
Norwegian	Some dialects^[36]	så	[sɔː]	'so'	Present e.g. in Telemark; realized as mid [ɔ̝ː] in other dialects.^[36] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan		òme	[ˈɔme]	'man'
Polish^[37]		kot		'cat'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Most dialects^[38]^[39]	fofoca	[fɔˈfɔ̞kə]	'gossip'	Stressed vowel might be lower. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨o⟩ allophones, such as [o̞ o ʊ u], varies according to dialect.
Portuguese	Some speakers^[40]	bronca	[ˈbɾɔ̃kə]	'scolding'	Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel /õ̞/. See Portuguese phonology
Slovak	Standard^[41]	ohúriť	[ˈɔɦu̞ric̟]	'to stun'	Most commonly realized as mid [o̞].^[42] See Slovak phonology
Swedish		moll	[mɔl]	'minor'	See Swedish phonology
Tajik		тоҷикӣ	[tɔːdʒɪˈkiː]	'Tajik language'
Ukrainian		вовк	[ˈvɔwk]	'wolf'	See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek		O'zbek	[ɔzˈbek]	'Uzbek'
Vietnamese		to	[tɔ]	'large'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		bôle	[ˈbɔːɫə]	'bread'
Yoruba^[43]					Nasalized; may be near-open [ɔ̞̃] instead.^[43]

References

^ Donaldson (1993), p. 6.
^ Donaldson (1993), pp. 6–7.
^ Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
^ ^a ^b Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:290)
^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:54)
^ ^a ^b Grønnum (1998:100)
^ ^a ^b Grønnum (2005:268)
^ ^a ^b Grønnum (2003)
^ ^a ^b Basbøll (2005:47)
^ Allan, Holmes & Lundskær-Nielsen (2000:17)
^ ^a ^b Verhoeven (2005:245)
^ Collins & Mees (2003:132)
^ Collins & Mees (2003:132, 222 and 224)
^ Collins & Mees (2003:222)
^ ^a ^b Gussenhoven (1992:47)
^ Harrington, Cox & Evans (1997)
^ Wells (1982a:305)
^ Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009a)
^ Bauer et al. (2007:98)
^ Wikström (2013:45), "It seems to be the case that younger RP or near-RP speakers typically use a closer quality, possibly approaching Cardinal 6 considering that the quality appears to be roughly intermediate between that used by older speakers for the LOT vowel and that used for the THOUGHT vowel, while older speakers use a more open quality, between Cardinal Vowels 13 and 6."
^ Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009b)
^ Lodge (2009:168)
^ Wells (1982a:293)
^ Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006:7)
^ Stoddart, Upton and Widowson in Urban Voices, Arnold, London, 1999, page 74
^ ^a ^b Wells (1982b:498)
^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:261–262)
^ Mangold (2005:37)
^ Árnason (2011:60)
^ Einarsson (1945:10), cited in Gussmann (2011:73)
^ Haugen (1958:65)
^ Árnason (2011:57–60)
^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:119)
^ Jolkesky (2009:676–677 and 682)
^ ^a ^b Popperwell (2010:26)
^ Jassem (2003:105)
^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
^ Variação inter- e intra-dialetal no português brasileiro: um problema para a teoria fonológica – Seung-Hwa LEE & Marco A. de Oliveira
^ Lista das marcas dialetais e ouros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP (Portuguese)
^ Pavlík (2004:94–95)
^ Pavlík (2004:94)
^ ^a ^b Bamgboṣe (1969:166)

Bibliography

Allan, Robin; Holmes, Philip; Lundskær-Nielsen, Tom (2000), Danish: An Essential Grammar, London: Routledge,
Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press,
Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1966), A Grammar of Yoruba, [West African Languages Survey / Institute of African Studies], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (1): 97–102,
Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1–2): 53–56,
Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003), The Phonetics of English and Dutch, Fifth Revised Edition (PDF),
Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94,
Donaldson, Bruce C. (1993), "1. Pronunciation", A Grammar of Afrikaans,
Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Einarsson, Stefán (1945), Icelandic. Grammar texts glossary., Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press,
Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76,
Grønnum, Nina (1998), "Illustrations of the IPA: Danish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 28 (1 & 2): 99–105,
Grønnum, Nina (2003), Why are the Danes so hard to understand?
Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag,
Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47,
Gussmann, Edmund (2011). "Getting your head around: the vowel system of Modern Icelandic" (PDF). Folia Scandinavica Posnaniensia 12: 71–90.
Harrington, J.; Cox, F.; Evans, Z. (1997), "An acoustic phonetic study of broad, general, and cultivated Australian English vowels", Australian Journal of Linguistics 17: 155–84,
Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107,
Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA (Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP) 3: 675–685
Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics,
Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden,
Mannell, R.; Cox, F.; Harrington, J. (2009a), An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, Macquarie University
Mannell, R.; Cox, F.; Harrington, J. (2009b), An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, Macquarie University
Pavlík, Radoslav (2004), "Slovenské hlásky a medzinárodná fonetická abeceda" (PDF), Jazykovedný časopis 55: 87–109
Popperwell, Ronald G. (2010) [First published 1963], Pronunciation of Norwegian, Cambridge University Press,
Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121,
Scobbie, James M; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006), Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: an overview, Edinburgh: QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers
Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264,
Traunmüller, Hartmut (1982), "Vokalismus in der westniederösterreichischen Mundart.", Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 2: 289–333,
Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (2): 245,
Wells, John C. (1982b), Accents of English, III: Beyond the British Isles, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press,
Wikström, Jussi (2013), "An acoustic study of the RP English LOT and THOUGHT vowels", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (1): 37–47,

International Phonetic Alphabet

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Open-mid back rounded vowel