A near-close vowel or a near-high vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted.
Vowel diagram illustrating the /i–ɪ̟–e/ and /u–ʊ̠–o/ contrasts in Sotho, from Doke & Mofokeng (1974:?). The near-close vowels are normally transcribed without diacritics (i.e. as ⟨ɪ⟩ and ⟨ʊ⟩, respectively), or even with the symbols for close central vowels (⟨ɨ⟩ and ⟨ʉ⟩, respectively), though the latter set is not phonetically correct.
Other names for a near-close vowel are lowered close vowel and raised close-mid vowel, though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low as close-mid (sometimes even lower); likewise, the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high as close.
Near-close vowels are also sometimes described as lax variants of the fully close vowels, though, depending on the language, they may not necessarily be variants of close vowels at all.
It is rare for languages to contrast a near-close vowel with a close vowel and a close-mid vowel based on height alone. An example of such language is Danish, which contrasts short and long versions of the close front unrounded /i/, near-close front unrounded /e̝/ and close-mid front unrounded /e/ vowels, though in order to avoid using any relative articulation diacritics, Danish /e̝/ and /e/ are typically transcribed with phonetically inaccurate symbols /e/ and /ɛ/, respectively.[1] This contrast is not present in Conservative Danish, which realizes the latter two vowels as, respectively, close-mid [e] and mid[e̞].[2]
It is even rarer for languages to contrast more than one close/near-close/close-mid triplet. For instance, Sotho has two such triplets: fully front /i–ɪ–e/ and fully back /u–ʊ–o/.[3] In the case of this language, the near-close vowels /ɪ,ʊ/ tend to be transcribed with the phonetically inaccurate symbols /ɨ,ʉ/, i.e. as if they were close central.
It may be somewhat more common for languages to contain allophonic vowel triplets that are not contrastive; for instance, Russian has one such triplet:[4]
close central rounded [ʉ], an allophone of /u/ between soft consonants in stressed syllables;
near-close central rounded [ʉ̞], an allophone of /u/ between soft consonants in unstressed syllables;
close-mid central rounded [ɵ], an allophone of /o/ after soft consonants.
The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines these vowels as mid-centralized (lowered and centralized) equivalents of, respectively, [i], [y] and [u],[5] therefore, an alternative transcription of these vowels is [i̽,y̽,u̽] or the more complex [ï̞,ÿ˕,ü̞]; however, they are not centralized in all languages - some languages have a fully front variant of [ɪ] and/or a fully back variant of [ʊ];[6] the exact backness of these variants can be transcribed in the IPA with [ɪ̟,ʊ̠], [i̞,u̞] or [e̝,o̝].
There also are near-close vowels that don't have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
(IPA letters for rounded vowels are ambiguous as to whether the rounding is protrusion or compression. However, transcription of the world's languages tends to pattern as above.)
Other near-close vowels can be indicated with diacritics of relative articulation applied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as ⟨ɪ̟⟩, ⟨i̞⟩ or ⟨e̝⟩ for a near-close front unrounded vowel, or ⟨ʊ̠⟩, ⟨u̞⟩ or ⟨o̝⟩ for a near-close back rounded vowel.
Doke, Clement Martyn; Mofokeng, S. Machabe (1974), Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar (3rd ed.), Cape Town: Longman Southern Africa, ISBN0-582-61700-6
International Phonetic Association (1999), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN0-521-65236-7
Jones, Daniel; Ward, Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press, ISBN0-521-06736-7
Lee, Hyun Bok (1999), "Korean", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge University Press, pp. 120–122, ISBN0-521-63751-1
January 19, 2024
near, close, vowel, vowelsfront, central, backclose, unear, close, ʊclose, omid, open, ɔnear, open, ɐopen, ɒipa, help, audio, full, chart, template, legend, unrounded, roundedthis, article, contains, phonetic, transcriptions, international, phonetic, alphabet,. IPA VowelsFront Central BackClose i y ɨ ʉ ɯ uNear close ɪ ʏ ʊClose mid e o ɘ ɵ ɤ oMid e o e ɤ o Open mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔNear open ae ɐOpen a ɶ a ɑ ɒIPA help audio full chart template Legend unrounded roundedThis article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters A near close vowel or a near high vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages The defining characteristic of a near close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel but slightly less constricted Vowel diagram illustrating the i ɪ e and u ʊ o contrasts in Sotho from Doke amp Mofokeng 1974 The near close vowels are normally transcribed without diacritics i e as ɪ and ʊ respectively or even with the symbols for close central vowels ɨ and ʉ respectively though the latter set is not phonetically correct Other names for a near close vowel are lowered close vowel and raised close mid vowel though the former phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as low as close mid sometimes even lower likewise the latter phrase may also be used to describe a vowel that is as high as close Near close vowels are also sometimes described as lax variants of the fully close vowels though depending on the language they may not necessarily be variants of close vowels at all It is rare for languages to contrast a near close vowel with a close vowel and a close mid vowel based on height alone An example of such language is Danish which contrasts short and long versions of the close front unrounded i near close front unrounded e and close mid front unrounded e vowels though in order to avoid using any relative articulation diacritics Danish e and e are typically transcribed with phonetically inaccurate symbols e and ɛ respectively 1 This contrast is not present in Conservative Danish which realizes the latter two vowels as respectively close mid e and mid e 2 It is even rarer for languages to contrast more than one close near close close mid triplet For instance Sotho has two such triplets fully front i ɪ e and fully back u ʊ o 3 In the case of this language the near close vowels ɪ ʊ tend to be transcribed with the phonetically inaccurate symbols ɨ ʉ i e as if they were close central It may be somewhat more common for languages to contain allophonic vowel triplets that are not contrastive for instance Russian has one such triplet 4 close central rounded ʉ an allophone of u between soft consonants in stressed syllables near close central rounded ʉ an allophone of u between soft consonants in unstressed syllables close mid central rounded ɵ an allophone of o after soft consonants Partial list editThe near close vowels that have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are near close near front unrounded vowel ɪ near close near front compressed vowel ʏ near close near back rounded vowel ʊ The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines these vowels as mid centralized lowered and centralized equivalents of respectively i y and u 5 therefore an alternative transcription of these vowels is i y u or the more complex i y u however they are not centralized in all languages some languages have a fully front variant of ɪ and or a fully back variant of ʊ 6 the exact backness of these variants can be transcribed in the IPA with ɪ ʊ i u or e o There also are near close vowels that don t have dedicated symbols in the IPA near close near front protruded vowel ʏʷ near close central unrounded vowel ɨ ᵻ near close central compressed vowel ʏ near close central protruded vowel ʉ ᵿ near close near back unrounded vowel ɯ or ɯ near close near back compressed vowel ʊᵝ IPA letters for rounded vowels are ambiguous as to whether the rounding is protrusion or compression However transcription of the world s languages tends to pattern as above Other near close vowels can be indicated with diacritics of relative articulation applied to letters for neighboring vowels such as ɪ i or e for a near close front unrounded vowel or ʊ u or o for a near close back rounded vowel References edit Basboll 2005 pp 45 48 50 52 Ladefoged amp Johnson 2010 p 227 Doke amp Mofokeng 1974 p Jones amp Ward 1969 pp 62 67 68 International Phonetic Association 1999 p 13 Example languages with a fully front ɪ Danish and Sotho Sources Basboll 2005 45 Doke amp Mofokeng 1974 Example languages with a fully back ʊ Korean and Sotho Sources Lee 1999 121 Doke amp Mofokeng 1974 Bibliography editBasboll Hans 2005 The Phonology of Danish ISBN 0 203 97876 5 Doke Clement Martyn Mofokeng S Machabe 1974 Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar 3rd ed Cape Town Longman Southern Africa ISBN 0 582 61700 6 International Phonetic Association 1999 Handbook of the International Phonetic Association A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 65236 7 Jones Daniel Ward Dennis 1969 The Phonetics of Russian Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 06736 7 Ladefoged Peter Johnson Keith 2010 A Course in Phonetics 6th ed Boston Massachusetts Wadsworth Publishing ISBN 978 1 4282 3126 9 Lee Hyun Bok 1999 Korean Handbook of the International Phonetic Association Cambridge University Press pp 120 122 ISBN 0 521 63751 1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Near close vowel amp oldid 1095138278, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
