Close front rounded vowel

Vowels

v • d • e

See also: IPA, Consonants

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i · y ɨ · ʉ ɯ · u ɪ · ʏ ʊ e · ø ɘ · ɵ ɤ · o ə ɛ · œ ɜ · ɞ ʌ · ɔ æ ɐ a · ɶ ɑ · ɒ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right
represents a rounded vowel.

IPA – number	309
IPA – text	y
IPA – image
Entity	y
X-SAMPA	y
Kirshenbaum	y
Sound sample (help·info)

The close front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is y, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y.

In most languages this vowel is endolabial (compressed). However, in a few cases it is exolabial (with pursed lips).

[edit] Endolabial (compressed)

[edit] Features

• Its vowel height is close, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its roundedness is endolabial, which means that the lips are rounded but compressed, so that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

[edit] Occurrence

[edit] Exolabial (pursed)

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish endo- and exo-labial rounding, old diacritic for labialization, [  ̫], will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for exolabial.

[edit] Features

• Its vowel height is near-close, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel.
• Its vowel backness is near-front, which means the tongue is positioned almost as far forward as a front vowel.
• Its roundedness is exolabial, which means that the lips are pursed and protrude, with the inner surfaces exposed.

[edit] Occurrence

[edit] See also

• List of phonetics topics

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Fougeron, Cecile & Caroline L Smith (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73-76
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45-47
• Szende, Tamás (1994), "Illustrations of the IPA:Hungarian", Journal of the International Phonetic Alphabet 24 (2): 91-94