| Close central rounded vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʉ | |||
| IPA Number | 318 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ʉ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0289 | ||
| X-SAMPA | } | ||
| Braille |   | ||
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| IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
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The close central rounded vowel, or high central rounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʉ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is }. The sound is also commonly referred to by the name of its symbol, "barred u".
The close central rounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare labialized post-palatal approximant [ẅ].[2]
In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips (endolabial). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed (exolabial).
Some languages feature the near-close central rounded vowel (), which is slightly lower. It is most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʉ̞⟩, ⟨ʊ̈⟩ and ⟨ʊ̟⟩, but ⟨ɵ̝⟩ is also a possible transcription. The symbol ⟨ᵿ⟩, a conflation of ⟨ʊ⟩ and ⟨ʉ⟩, is used as an unofficial extension of the IPA to represent this sound by a number of publications, such as Accents of English by John C. Wells. In the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, ⟨ᵿ⟩ represents free variation between /ʊ/ and /ə/.
- ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
- ^ Instead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar".