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Close back rounded vowel
Vowel sound represented by ⟨u⟩ in IPA
Vowel sound represented by ⟨u⟩ in IPA
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| ipa symbol | u |
| ipa number | 308 |
| decimal | 117 |
| x-sampa | u |
| braille | u |
| imagefile | IPA Unicode 0x0075.svg |
|x-sampa=u
The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .
In most languages, this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips ('endolabial'). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed ('exolabial').
alternates with labio-velar approximant in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, with the non-syllabic diacritic and are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.
Close back protruded vowel
The close back protruded vowel is the most common variant of the close back rounded vowel. It is typically transcribed in IPA simply as (the convention used in this article). As there is no dedicated IPA diacritic for protrusion, the symbol for the close back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, , can be used as an ad hoc symbol . Another possible transcription is or (a close back vowel modified by endolabialization), but that could be misread as a diphthong.
Features
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard | boek | 'book' | ||
| Arabic | Standard | جنوب / ar | 'south' | ||
| Armenian | Eastern | դուռ / hy | 'door' | ||
| Bengali | তবু | 'still' | See Bengali phonology | ||
| Bavarian | Traunmüller | 1982}}, cited in | und | 'and' | |
| Bulgarian | луд / bg | 'crazy' | See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Catalan | suc | 'juice' | See Catalan phonology | ||
| Chinese | Mandarin | 土 / cmn | 'earth' | ||
| Cantonese | 夫 / yue | 'man' | See Cantonese phonology | ||
| Shanghainese | 瓜 / wuu | 'melon' | Height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel. | ||
| Chuvash | урам | 'street' | |||
| Danish | Standard | du | 'you' | ||
| Dutch | Standard | voet | 'foot' | ||
| English | Australian | *book* | 'book' | ||
| Cape Flats | May be advanced to , or lowered and unrounded to . See South African English phonology | ||||
| Cultivated South African | *boot* | 'boot' | Typically more front than cardinal . See White South African English phonology and American English phonology. | ||
| General American | |||||
| Geordie | May be central instead. | ||||
| Irish | Realized as central in Ulster. | ||||
| Some Multicultural London speakers | More commonly front . | ||||
| Conservative Received Pronunciation | Realized as central in modern RP. | ||||
| Welsh | |||||
| Pakistani | |||||
| Greater New York City | |||||
| New Zealand | *treacle* | 'treacle' | Possible realization of the unstressed vowel , which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid. Corresponds to in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology | ||
| Estonian | sule | 'feather' (gen. sg.) | See Estonian phonology | ||
| Finnish | kukka | 'flower' | See Finnish phonology | ||
| Faroese | gulur | 'yellow' | See Faroese phonology | ||
| French | où | 'where' | See French phonology | ||
| Georgian | გუდა / ka | 'leather bag' | |||
| German | Standard | Fuß | 'foot' | ||
| Many speakers | Stunde | 'hour' | The usual realization of in Switzerland, Austria and partially also in Western and Southwestern Germany (Palatinate, Swabia). See Standard German phonology | ||
| Greek | Modern Standard | που / el | 'where' | ||
| Hindustani | Hindi | ख़ून(khoon) | 'blood' | ||
| Urdu | خون(khoon) | ||||
| Hungarian | út | 'way' | See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Icelandic | þú | 'you' | See Icelandic phonology | ||
| Indonesian | Standard Indonesian | unta | 'camel' | ||
| Italian | tutto | 'all', 'everything' | See Italian phonology | ||
| Kaingang | 'in the belly' | ||||
| Kazakh | туған / kk | 'native' | Transcribed phonemically as . | ||
| Khmer | ភូមិ / km | 'village' | See Khmer phonology | ||
| Korean | 눈 / ko | 'snow' | See Korean phonology | ||
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | çû | 'wood' | ||
| Sorani (Central) | چوو / ku | ||||
| Palewani (Southern) | |||||
| Latin | Classical | sus | 'pig' | ||
| Limburgish | sjoen | 'beautiful' | Back or near-back, depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | ||
| Lower Sorbian | zub | 'tooth' | |||
| Luxembourgish | Luucht | 'air' | See Luxembourgish phonology | ||
| Malay | ubat | 'medicine' | See Malay phonology | ||
| Malayalam | ഉപ്പ് | 'salt' | See Malayalam phonology | ||
| Mongolian | үүр / mn | 'nest' | |||
| Mpade | kusumu | 'mouse' | |||
| Nogai | сув | 'water' | |||
| Persian | دور / fa | 'far' | See Persian phonology | ||
| Polish | buk | 'beech tree' | Also represented orthographically by . See Polish phonology | ||
| Portuguese | tu | 'you' | See Portuguese phonology | ||
| Romanian | unu | 'one' | See Romanian phonology | ||
| Russian | узкий / ru / ru | 'narrow' | See Russian phonology | ||
| Scottish Gaelic | ùbhlan | 'apples' | Normal realisation of in most dialects. In Lewis and Wester Ross as an allophone in proximity to broad sonorants; elsewhere fronted to or . | ||
| Serbo-Croatian | дуга / duga | 'rainbow' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | ||
| Shiwiar | |||||
| Spanish | curable | 'curable' | See Spanish phonology | ||
| Sotho | tumo | 'fame' | Contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels. See Sotho phonology | ||
| Swahili | ubongo | 'brain' | |||
| Tagalog | utang | 'debt' | |||
| Thai | Standard | ชลบุรี / th | 'Chonburi' | ||
| Turkish | uzak | 'far' | See Turkish phonology | ||
| Udmurt | урэтэ / udm | 'to divide' | |||
| Ukrainian | рух / uk | 'motion' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Upper Sorbian | žuk | 'beetle' | |||
| Urdu | دُور / ur | 'far' | See Urdu phonology | ||
| Welsh | mwg | 'smoke' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| West Frisian | jûn | 'evening, tonight' | See West Frisian phonology | ||
| Yoruba | itọju | ||||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | gdu | 'all' |
Close back compressed vowel
Some languages, such as Japanese and Swedish, have a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial. Only Shanghainese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.
As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, (the opposite of ), will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for compressed back vowels. It was only added to Unicode in 2025, however, and it may take some time for font support to catch up. Compression of the lips can be shown with the letter as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression), though that can suggest that the vowel is a diphthong (as indeed it is in Swedish).
Features
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | Shanghainese | 都/tub | 'capital' | |
| Japanese | 空気 / ja | 'air' | Near-back; may be realized as central by younger speakers. See Japanese phonology | |
| Lizu | 'feather' | Near-back. | ||
| Norwegian | mot | 'courage' | The example word is from Urban East Norwegian, in which the vowel can be diphthongized to . See Norwegian phonology | |
| Swedish | Central Standard | oro | 'unease' |
Citations
References
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References
- {{Vowel terminology
- {{Harvcoltxt. Traunmüller. 1982, cited in {{Harvcoltxt. Ladefoged. Maddieson. 1996
- Hickey, Raymond. (2004). "A Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 1: Phonology". De Gruyter.
- Hickey, Raymond. (2004). "A Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 1: Phonology". De Gruyter.
- (2006). "The Atlas of North American English".
- "NZE Phonology". Victoria University of Wellington.
- {{Harvcoltxt. Einarsson. 1945. Gussmann. 2011
- "Indonesian Alphabet and Pronunciation".
- Fattah describes the sound as being ''voyelle longue centrale arrondie (p. 116)''.
- "Aspiration".
- While {{Harvcoltxt. Vanvik. 1979 does not describe the exact type of rounding of this vowel, some other sources (e.g. {{Harvcoltxt. Haugen. 1974. Kristoffersen. 2000
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