Close central unrounded vowel

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Vowels

Close central unrounded vowel

The close central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɨ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 1. The IPA symbol is the letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as "barred-i".

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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are spread.

Occurrence

/ɨ/ is a rare phoneme in most Indo-European languages. However, it is very common as a separate phoneme in the indigenous languages of the Americas and is often in phonemic contrast with other close vowels such as /i/ and /u/ both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (e.g. proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman & Smith-Stark (1986) identify the presence of this vowel phoneme as an areal feature of a Mesoamerican Sprachbund (although this is not a defining feature of the entire area).

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Amharic		ሥር	[sɨr]	'root'	Often transcribed as <ə>
Angor		hüfı	[xɨβə]	'hot'
English		roses	[ˈɹoʊzɨz]	'roses'	Reduced vowel in some dialects; corresponds to unstressed [ɪ] in other dialects. See English phonology.
Guaraní		yvy	[ɨʋɨ]	'earth'
Irish		saol	[sɨɫ]	'life'	See Irish phonology
Kaingang		fy	[ɸɨ]	'seed'
Mapudungan		trukür	[tʴuˈkɨɹ]	'fog'	See Mapudungun phonology
Polish^[1]		mysz	[mɨʂ] (help·info)	'mouse'	See Polish phonology
Romanian		înspre	[ɨnspre]	'toward'	See Romanian phonology
Russian^[2]		ты	[tɨ]	'you' (singular)	Only occurs after unpalatalized nonvelar consonants. See Russian phonology
Sahaptin		[kʼsɨt]		'cold'
Sirionó^[3]		[eˈsɨ]		'dry wood'
Tupi		yby	[ɨβɨ]	'earth'
Võro		sysar	[sɨsarʲ]	'sister'
Welsh	Northern dialects^[4]	llun	[ɬɨːn]	'picture'

Near-close central unrounded vowel

The near-close central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Alphabet can represent this sound as < ɪ̈ > (centralized ɪ) or < ɨ̞ > (lowered ɨ). In many British dictionaries, this vowel has been transcribed ɪ, which captures its height; in the American tradition it is more often ɨ, which captures its centrality. Recently the OED has adopted an unambiguous but unofficial extension of the IPA, ᵻ (ɪ̵), that is a conflation of the other two symbols.

Features

Its vowel height is near-close, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted.
Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are spread.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English		parallelepiped	[ˌpæɹəlɛlɪ̈ˈpɪpɪ̈d]	'parallelepiped'	Reduced vowel for speakers who contrast schwa with "schwi." See English phonology
Russian^[5]		жена	[ʐɨ̞ˈna]	'wife'	Only occurs after unpalatalized consonants and in unstressed syllables. See Russian phonology
Welsh	Northern dialects^[6]	example needed	--	--

References

Bibliography

Ball, Martin J. (1984), "Phonetics for phonology", written at Cardiff, in Ball, Martin J. & G.E Jones, Welsh Phonology, University of Wales Press, ISBN 0-7083-0861-9
Campbell, Lyle; Terrence Kaufman & Thomas C Smith-Stark (1986), "Meso-America as a linguistic area", Language 62 (3): 530-570
Firestone, Homer L. (1965), "Description and classification of Sirionó: A Tupí-Guaraní language.", written at London, Janua linguarum, Series Practica, Mouton & Co
Gómez, Paula. (1999). Huichol de San Andrés Cohamiata, Jalisco. Archivo de lenguas indígenas de México. México: El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios.
Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103-107
Jones, Daniel & Ward Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
Koehn, Edward; & Koehn, Sally. (1986). Apalai. In D. C. Derbyshire & G. K. Pullum (Eds.), Handbook of Amazonian linguistics (Vol. 1, pp. 33-127). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Payne, Doris L.; & Payne, Thomas E. (1990). Yagua. In D. C. Derbyshire & G. K. Pullum (Eds.), Handbook of Amazonian linguistics (Vol. 2, pp. 252-474). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.br:Vogalenn serr a-greiz plaen