Open front rounded vowel

"ɶ" redirects here; not to be confused with Œ. For other uses, see oe (disambiguation).
Open front rounded vowel
ɶ
IPA number312
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɶ
Unicode (hex)U+0276
X-SAMPA&
Braille⠔ (braille pattern dots-35) ⠪ (braille pattern dots-246)
IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back
Close
•
•
•
Near-close
•
•
Close-mid
•
•
•
Mid
•
•
Open-mid
•
•
•
Near-open
•
Open
•
•
•

Legend: unrounded • rounded

The open front rounded vowel, or low front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound that has not been confirmed to be phonetic in any spoken language, but is occasionally used in phonemic transcriptions for some Germanic languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɶ⟩, a small capital ⟨Œ⟩. It was added to the IPA vowel chart to balance the quadrilateral by filling in the remaining gap for a rounded equivalent of [a].

While the IPA chart lists this vowel as the rounded equivalent of [a], studies of formant acoustics suggest it is closer to the rounded homologue of [æ].[citation needed]

A phoneme transcribed with ⟨ɶ⟩ is reported for the Amstetten dialect of Bavarian; however, it is phonetically open-mid [œ], pairing with unrounded phonemic /æ/ (phonetic [ɛ]). Similarly, certain studies of Danish and Swedish use ⟨ɶ⟩ to transcribe a phoneme that is phonetically open-mid [œ] or near-open [œ̞] (depending on the analysis), where phonemic /œ/ is phonetically raised closer to mid [œ̝]. In Maastrichtian Limburgish, the vowel transcribed with ⟨ɶː⟩ in the Mestreechter Taol dictionary is phonetically centralized, with a height between open-mid [œ̈ː] and near-open [œ̞̈ː]; phonologically, it is the long counterpart of /œ/.

Some phoneticians, such as Geoffrey K. Pullum, have argued that the co-occurrence of a fully open articulation with rounded lips is a phonetic impossibility. Following the 1989 Kiel Convention, Pullum wrote the following semi-jocular remark:

The [ɶ] symbol for Cardinal 12 survived – the unusable in pursuit of the unspeakable, as Oscar Wilde might have said, since Cardinal 12 is an unpronounceable contradiction in terms with jaws fully open and lips rounded. Perhaps one day it can be acoustically synthesized so we can hear it uttered as nature never intended.

Features

Occurrence

Near-open front rounded vowel
œ̞
ɶ̝

No language has been reported to conclusively have a phonetically true open realization. The table below mainly provides examples of near-open realizations (thus being rounded homologues of [æ], i.e. a near-open front rounded vowel), which are phonetically raised compared to cardinal [ɶ], and also often centralized (similar to [ɞ̞], but not as central). In the case of the latter, these may be transcribed as mid-centralized [ɶ̽] (alternatively, [ɶ̝̈] or [œ̞̈]).

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
DanishSome speakersgrøn[ˈkʁɶ̽nˀ]'green'Near-open and centralized; allophone of /ø/ between [ʁ] and /v/ ([w]), and of /œ/ between [ʁ] and a nasal; though becoming [ʌ̞̈] in the latter environments. Historically also an allophone of /ø/ before /j/, but likewise has merged to [ʌ̞̈]. May instead be analyzed as open-mid [œ]. See Danish phonology
LimburgishWeert dialectbui[bɶ̽j]'shower'Near-open and centralized; allophone of /œ/ before /j/ in non-diphthong sequences. See Weert dialect phonology
Northern AltaiKumandinӧштӱ / öštü[ɶɕty]'enemy'Described by Selyutina (2000) as an open front rounded vowel, but using the transcriptions ⟨ꜵ⟩/⟨ᴔ⟩ instead of ⟨ɶ⟩ and noting that the vowel frequently delabializes to [ɐ], suggesting that it may actually be a near-open realization. Described by later sources as open-mid [œ] instead.
SwedishStockholmöra[ˈɶ̝̂ːrä]'ear'Near-open; realization of the phoneme /øː/ (which Pelzer & Boersma (2019) recommend transcribing instead as /œː/). Corresponds to [œ̫ː] in Linköping and Lund dialects. An acoustic study by Persson (2024) points instead to a potentially open-mid central realization [œ̈ː]. See Swedish phonology

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
  2. ↑ Jones (1956), p. 15: "This cardinal sound is not known to occur in any language."
  3. ↑ Wells (1975), p. 52: "Although it may seldom or never be needed for phonemic transcription, I feel that for completeness' sake, and to fill an awkward gap in our vowel chart, we should recognize this symbol for an open front rounded vowel."
  4. ↑ Traunmüller (1982), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 290
  5. 1 2 Grønnum (1998), p. 100.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Basbøll (2005), pp. 46–48.
  7. ↑ Riad (2014), p. 38.
  8. 1 2 Persson (2024), Fig. 1, 7.
  9. ↑ "Mestreechter Taol".
  10. ↑ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 159, 161–162, 164.
  11. ↑ Pullum (1990), p. 37.
  12. ↑ Grønnum (2005), pp. 60, 288.
  13. ↑ Grønnum (2005), pp. 61, 396.
  14. ↑ Grønnum (2005), p. 333.
  15. ↑ Grønnum (2005), pp. 331–333.
  16. 1 2 Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
  17. ↑ Selyutina (2000), pp. 19, 43.
  18. ↑ "Кумандинский | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  19. ↑ Pelzer & Boersma (2019), pp. 1146–1147.

References