 | This article relies on a single source. (February 2026) |
A raised vowel is a vowel sound in which the body of the tongue is raised upward and backward toward the dorsum (soft palate). The most raised cardinal vowels are [u ɯ]; also quite raised are [ʊ], [o ɤ] and [ʉ ɨ].
Raised vowels and retracted vowels constitute the traditional, but articulatorily inaccurate, category of back vowels; they may also overlap many of the central vowels.