The open-mid central rounded vowel, or low-mid central rounded vowel,[1] is a vowel sound, used in some spokenlanguages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɞ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3\. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ɔ̈⟩.
IPA charts were first published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, ⟨ʚ⟩ (that is, a closed variant of ⟨ɛ⟩, much as the high-mid vowel letter ⟨ɵ⟩ is a closed variant of ⟨e⟩), and this variant made its way into Unicode as U+029AʚLATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED OPEN E. The IPA charts were later changed to the current closed reversed epsilon ⟨ɞ⟩, and this was adopted into Unicode as U+025EɞLATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED REVERSED OPEN E.
Also been described as mid [ɞ̝], typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech.[3] See Afrikaans phonology
Allophone of /œy/ in words with Accent 2. May be slightly diphthongal [ɞɵ] itself. It contrasts with the near-open [ɐ̹ː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless).[11] It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨œː⟩, as it is a phonological front vowel.
^McDonough, Ladefoged & George (1993). The authors gave a narrow transcription of [ɵ], though at the time the IPA had only this one symbol for a mid central rounded vowel, and it is clear from the discussion and formant charts that this vowel a centralized open-mid vowel.
Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199229314
Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 97–102, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830
Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2013) [First published 2003], Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students (3rd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-50650-2
Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2), University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies: 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045
Hoekstra, Jarich (2003), "Frisian. Standardization in progress of a language in decay" (PDF), Germanic Standardizations. Past to Present, vol. 18, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 193–209, ISBN 978-90-272-1856-8
Hof, Jan Jelles (1933), Friesche Dialectgeographie(PDF), The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-07
Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013). "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 43 (2): 231–241. doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145.
McDonough, Joyce; Ladefoged, Peter; George, Helen (1993), "Navajo Vowels and Phonetic Universal Tendencies", UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages, 84: 143–150
Peterson, Hjalmar P. (2000), "Mátingar af sjálvljóðum í føruyskum", Málting, 28: 37–43
Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, vol. II: The British Isles, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-28541-0
Wissing, Daan (2012), "Integrasie van artikulatoriese en akoestiese eienskappe van vokale: 'n beskrywingsraamwerk", LitNet Akademies (in Afrikaans), 9 (2), Stellenbosch: LitNet: 701–743, ISSN 1995-5928, archived from the original on 15 April 2017, retrieved 16 April 2017
Wissing, Daan (2016). "Afrikaans phonology – segment inventory". Taalportaal. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
Vasconcelos, Eduardo A. (2013). Investigando a hipótese Cayapó do Sul-Panará (PhD). Campinas: University of Campinas. doi:10.47749/T/UNICAMP.2013.929939. hdl:20.500.12733/1622968.
