The near-close front rounded vowel, or near-high front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Y. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralizedclose front rounded vowel, and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol is near-close near-front rounded vowel. However, acoustic analysis of cardinal vowels as produced by Daniel Jones and John C. Wells has shown that basicallyall cardinal front rounded vowels are near-front in their articulation, so may be just a lowered cardinal , a vowel intermediate between cardinal and cardinal. In many languages that contrast close, near-close and close-mid front rounded vowels there is no appreciable difference in backness between them. In some transcriptions, this vowel is transcribed with or. When that is the case, this article transcribes it with the symbols and , respectively. In some languages however, is used to transcribed a vowel that is as low as close-mid, though it still fits the definition of a lowered and centralized cardinal. It occurs in German Standard German as well as some dialects of English, and it can be transcribed with the symbol in narrow transcription. For the close-mid front rounded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol , see close-mid front rounded vowel. In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with compressed lips. However, in a few cases the lips are protruded. This is the case with Swedish, which contrasts the two types of rounding.
The near-close front compressed vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as, and that is the convention used in this article. There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter as or . The spread-lip diacritic may also be used with a rounded vowel letter as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded. The close-mid front compressed vowel can be transcribed, or.
Features
Occurrence
Because front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have protrusion.
Catford notes that most languages with rounded front and back vowels use distinct types of labialization, protruded back vowels and compressed front vowels. However, a few, such as Scandinavian languages, have protruded front vowels. One of them, Swedish, even contrasts the two types of rounding in front vowels as well as height and duration. As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, the old diacritic for labialization,, will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for protruded front vowels. Another possible transcription is or , but that could be misread as a diphthong. The close-mid front protruded vowel can be transcribed, or. For the close-mid front protruded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol , see close-mid front protruded vowel. Acoustically, this sound is "between" the more typical compressed near-close front vowel and the unrounded near-close front vowel.
