Close vowel
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Aclose vowel,also known as ahigh vowel(in U.S. terminology[1]), is any in a class ofvowelsounds used in many spokenlanguages.The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth as it can be without creating a constriction. A constriction would produce a sound that would be classified as aconsonant.
The term "close"/ˈkloʊs/is recommended by theInternational Phonetic Association.Close vowels are often referred to as "high" vowels, as in the Americanist phonetic tradition, because the tongue is positioned high in the mouth during articulation.[2]
In the context of thephonologyof any particular language, ahigh vowelcan be any vowel that is more close than amid vowel.That is,close-mid vowels,near-close vowels,and close vowels can all be considered high vowels.
Partial list[edit]
The six close vowels that have dedicated symbols in theInternational Phonetic Alphabetare:
- close front unrounded vowel[i]
- close front compressed vowel[y]
- close central unrounded vowel[ɨ]
- close central protruded vowel[ʉ]
- close back unrounded vowel[ɯ]
- close back protruded vowel[u]
(IPA letters forrounded vowelsare ambiguous as to whether the rounding is protrusion or compression. However, transcription of the world's languages tends to pattern as above.)
There also are close vowels that do not have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
- close front protruded vowel[ʉ̟](yʷ)
- close central compressed vowel[ÿ](ɏ)
- close back compressed vowel[ɯᵝ](u͍)
Other close vowels can be indicated with diacritics ofrelative articulationapplied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as ⟨i̠⟩ or ⟨ɪ̝⟩ for a close near-front unrounded vowel.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"VOWEL QUALITY".Oxford University Press.Retrieved20 April2017.
- ^Ottenheimer, Harriet (2011).The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology Workbook/Reader.Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. p. 44.ISBN9781111828851.