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Open front unrounded vowel

The open front unrounded vowel is a sound used in some spoken languages. It is in some dialects of English. It is in almost every language in the world.

Open front unrounded vowel
a
Encoding
X-SAMPAa
 


Characteristics

Template:Vowels

Examples

Many languages have some form of an unrounded open vowel. For languages that have only a single open vowel, the symbol for this vowel ⟨a⟩ may be used because it is the only open vowel whose symbol is part of the basic Latin alphabet. Whenever marked as such, the vowel is closer to a central [ä] than to a front [a]. However, there may not actually be much of a difference. (See Vowel#Acoustics.)

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Afrikaans Standard[1] d'a'k [da̠k] 'roof' Near-front.[1] See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic Standard[2] أنا (anā) [ana(ː)] 'I' 1st person singular pronoun See Arabic phonology
Azerbaijani[3] Standard s'ə's [s̪æ̞s̪] 'sound' Typically transcribed with ⟨æ⟩.
Bulgarian[4] н'а'й (nay) [n̪a̠j] 'most' Near-front.[4]
Catalan Majorcan[5] s'a'c [ˈs̺ac] 'bag' Majorcan /a/-fronting. More central ([ä] or [ɐ̞]) or back ([ɑ]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan. It can be higher ([æ]).[5] See Catalan phonology
Many dialects[6] r'a'ig [ˈr̺at͡ɕ] 'ray' Allophone of /a/ in contact with palatal consonants.[6] It can be higher ([æ]). See Catalan phonology
Chinese Mandarin[7] 安 ('ā'n) [ʔan˥] (help·info) 'safe' Allophone of /a/ before /n/.[7] See Standard Chinese phonology
Dutch Standard[8][9] 'aa's [aːs] 'bait' Ranges from front to central.[10] See Dutch phonology
Utrecht[11] b'a'd [bat] 'bath' Corresponds to [ɑ] in Northern Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
English Australian[12] hat [hat] (help·info) 'hat' Most common pronunciation among younger speakers.[12] Older speakers typically use [æ]. See Australian English phonology
California[13][14] Less open [æ] in other North American varieties. See English phonology and Canadian Shift
Canadian[14][15]
Some Central Ohioan speakers[14]
Some Texan speakers[14]
Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg[16] Closer [æ] in General South African English. See South African English phonology
Received Pronunciation[17] Closer [æ] in Conservative Received Pronunciation. See English phonology
Scouse[18] [haθ̠]
East Anglian[19] br'a' [bɹaː] 'bra' Realized as central [äː] by middle-class speakers.[19]
Inland Northern American[20] Less front [Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:IPA symbol/data' not found. ~ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:IPA symbol/data' not found.] in other American dialects. See Northern Cities Vowel Shift
New Zealand[21] [bɹa̠ː] Varies between open near-front [a̠ː], open central [äː], near-open near-front [ɐ̟ː] and near-open central [ɐː].[21] May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɐː⟩. See New Zealand English phonology
French Conservative Parisian[9][22] p'a'tte [pat̪] 'paw' Contrasts with /ɑ/, but many speakers have only one open vowel (phonetically central [ä]).[23] See French phonology
Quebec[24] 'a'rrêt [aʁɛ] 'stopping' Contrasts with /ɑ/.[24] See Quebec French phonology
German Altbayern accent[25] Wasserm'a'ssen [ˈʋɑsɐmasn̩] 'water masses' Also illustrates the back /ɑ/, with which it contrasts.[25] See Standard German phonology
Many Austrian accents[25] n'ah' [naː] 'near' Less front in other accents.[25] See Standard German phonology
Hindustani Hindi बाप(baap) [baːp] 'father', 'dad' Allophone of [[[:Template:IPAplink]]~Template:IPAplink]. See Hindustani phonology.
Urdu باپ(baap)
Igbo[26] 'á'kụ [ákú̙] 'kernel'
Khmer បាត់ (băt) [ɓat] 'to disappear' See Khmer phonology
បាត (bat) [ɓaːt] 'bottom'
Kurdish Palewani (Southern) گه‌ن (gen) [gan] 'bad' Equal to Sorani (Central) near-front [æ]. See Kurdish phonology
Limburgish Many dialects[27][28][29] b'aa's [ˈba̠ːs] 'boss' Near-front;[27][28][29] realized as central [äː] in some other dialects.[30] The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Low German[31] D'aa'g / D'a'g [dax] 'day' Backness may vary among dialects.[31]
Luxembourgish[32] K'a'p [kʰa̠ːpʰ] 'cap' Near-front; sometimes fronted and raised to [[[Error using {{IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "a̝ː" not found in list|a̝ː]]].[33] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay Standard رق (rak) [raʔ] 'shelf' Can be central [ä]. See Malay phonology
Norwegian Stavangersk[34] h'a'tt [hat] 'hat' See Norwegian phonology
Trondheimsk[35] l'æ'r [læ̞ːɾ] 'leather'
Polish[36] j'a'jo [ˈjajɔ] (help·info) 'egg' Allophone of /ä/ between palatal or palatalized consonants. See Polish phonology
Spanish Eastern Andalusian[37] l'a's m'a'dres [læ̞ˑ ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛˑ] 'the mothers' Corresponds to [ä] in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology
Murcian[37]
Swedish Central Standard[38][39] b'a'nk [baŋk] 'bank' The backness has been variously described as front [a],[38] near-front [a̠][39] and central [ä].[40] See Swedish phonology
Turkish k'â'ğıt [caˈɯt] 'paper' Only occurs with â (a with "circumflex"), which is not originally in the Turkish alphabet. Also described as central [ä].
West Frisian Aastersk[41] k'aa'ks [kaːks] 'ship's biscuit' Contrasts with a back /ɑː/.[41] See West Frisian phonology

Open Front Unrounded Vowel Media

  • Sagittal section of a vocal tract pronouncing the IPA sound ⟨a⟩. A wavy glottis in this diagram indicates a voiced sound.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wissing (2016), section "The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/".
  2. ↑ Thelwall & Sa'Adeddin (1990), p. 38.
  3. ↑ Mokari & Werner (2016), p. ?.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999), p. 56.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Recasens (1996), pp. 90–92.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Saborit (2009), p. 10.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mou (2006), p. 65.
  8. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 95, 104, 132-133.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ashby (2011), p. 100.
  10. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 104.
  11. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 131.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 179.
  13. ↑ Gordon (2004), p. 347.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Thomas (2004:308): A few younger speakers from, e.g., Texas, who show the LOT/THOUGHT merger have TRAP shifted toward [a], but this retraction is not yet as common as in some non-Southern regions (e.g., California and Canada), though it is increasing in parts of the Midwest on the margins of the South (e.g., central Ohio).
  15. ↑ Boberg (2005), pp. 133–154.
  16. ↑ Bekker (2008), pp. 83–84.
  17. ↑ Case Studies – Received Pronunciation Phonology – RP Vowel SoundsBritish Library. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  18. ↑ Watson, Kevin. Liverpool English. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (3) (2007). p. 351–360. doi:10.1017/s0025100307003180.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Trudgill (2004), p. 172.
  20. ↑ W. Labov, S. Ash and C. Boberg. A national map of the regional dialects of American English (1997)Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Bauer et al. (2007), p. 98.
  22. ↑ Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 225–227.
  23. ↑ Collins & Mees (2013), pp. 226–227.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Walker (1984), p. 53.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 64.
  26. ↑ Ikekeonwu (1999), p. 109.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 110.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 159.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Peters (2006), p. 119.
  30. ↑ Verhoeven (2007), p. 221.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Prehn (2012), p. 157.
  32. ↑ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
  33. ↑ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 70–71.
  34. ↑ Vanvik (1979), p. 17.
  35. ↑ Vanvik (1979), p. 15.
  36. ↑ Jassem (2003), p. 106.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Zamora Vicente (1967), p. ?.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Bolander (2001), p. 55.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Rosenqvist (2007), p. 9.
  40. ↑ Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 van der Veen (2001), p. 102.

External links

List of languages with [a] on PHOIBLE

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