Open back rounded vowel

Open back rounded vowel
ɒ
IPA Number313
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɒ
Unicode (hex)U+0252
X-SAMPAQ
Braille⠲ (braille pattern dots-256)⠡ (braille pattern dots-16)

The open back rounded vowel, or low back 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 ⟨ɒ⟩. It is called Latin turned alpha being a rotated version of Latin alpha. It seems a "turned script a", being a rotated version of "script (cursive) a", which is the variant of a that lacks the extra stroke on top of a "printed a". Latin turned alpha aɒ⟩ has its linear stroke on the left, whereas Latin alpha aɑ⟩ (for its unrounded counterpart) has its linear stroke on the right.

  1. ^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".