The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid back rounded vowel,[1] is a type of
vowel sound, used in some
spokenlanguages. 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.
In Received Pronunciation and Australian English, the open-mid back rounded vowel occurs as the main allophone of the LOT vowel /ɒ/. The contrast between /ɔː/ and /ɒ/ is thus strongly maintained, with the former vowel being realized as close-mid [
oː] and the latter as open-mid [ɔ], similarly to the contrast between /o/ and /ɔ/ found in
German,
Italian and
Portuguese.[2][3][6]
Its
vowel backness is
back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a
consonant.
Its
roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.
Contrasts close [
u], near-close [
o̝], close-mid [
o] and open-mid [ɔ] back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded [
ä].[8][9] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɒ⟩.
Mainly in speakers without the
cot–caught merger. It may be lower [
ɒ]. (It is rarely lowered to /ɒ/ before
liquids/lɹ/, and may thus be more familiar to many North Americans in
r-colored form, /
ɔ˞/.)
The Parisian realization has been variously described as a back vowel [ɔ] centralized to [
ɞ] before /ʁ/[29] and central [
ɞ].[30] See
French phonology
^
abWikström (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."
^Schambach, Gerog (1858), "Wörterbuch der niederdeutschen Mundart der Fürstenthümer Göttingen und Grubenhagen oder GöttingischGrubenhagen'sches Idiotikon", p. 30.
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