Near-close near-front rounded vowel



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 ⟨ʏ⟩, a small capital version of the Latin letter y, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is.

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralized (lowered and centralized) close front rounded vowel (transcribed  or ), and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʏ⟩ 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 basically all cardinal front rounded vowels (so not just but also ) are near-front (or front-central) in their articulation, so  may be just a lowered cardinal , a vowel that is 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, the vowel is transcribed with ⟨y⟩ or ⟨ø⟩. When that is the case, this article transcribes it with the symbols ⟨y˕⟩ (a lowered ⟨y⟩) and ⟨ø̝⟩ (a raised ⟨ø⟩), respectively. ⟨ʏ⟩ implies too weak a rounding in some cases (specifically in the case of the vowels that are described as tense in Germanic languages, which are typically transcribed with ⟨øː⟩), which would have to be specified as ⟨ʏ̹⟩.

In some languages, however, ⟨ʏ⟩ is used to transcribe a vowel that is as low as close-mid but still fits the definition of a lowered and centralized (or just lowered) cardinal. It occurs in German Standard German as well as some dialects of English (such as Estuary), and it can be transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʏ̞⟩ (a lowered ⟨ʏ⟩) in narrow transcription. For the close-mid front rounded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʏ⟩ (or ⟨y⟩), see close-mid front rounded vowel.

In most languages, the rounded vowel is pronounced with compressed lips (in an exolabial manner). However, in a few cases, the lips are protruded (in an endolabial manner), such as in Swedish, which contrasts the two types of rounding.

Transcription
The near-close front rounded vowel is transcribed with ⟨y⟩, ⟨ʏ⟩ and ⟨ø⟩ in world's languages. However, when the Latin ⟨y⟩ or ⟨ø⟩ are used for this vowel, ⟨ʏ⟩ may still be used for phonological reasons for a vowel that is lower than near-close, potentially leading to confusion. This is the case in several Germanic language varieties, as well as in some transcriptions of Shanghainese.

In the following table, the difference between compressed and protruded vowels is ignored, except in the case of Swedish. Short vowels transcribed with ⟨ʉ⟩, ⟨ʏ⟩, ⟨ɵ⟩ and ⟨œ⟩ in broad transcription are assumed to have a weak rounding in most cases.

Near-close front compressed vowel
The near-close front compressed vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨ʏ⟩, 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 ⟨ɪ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous  and labial compression) or ⟨ɪᵝ⟩ ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨͍⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨ʏ͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.

The close-mid front compressed vowel can be transcribed ⟨ɪ̞͡β̞⟩, ⟨ɪ̞ᵝ⟩ or ⟨ʏ͍˕⟩.

Features
The prototypical has a weak compressed rounding, more like  than the neighboring cardinal vowels.

Occurrence
Because front rounded vowels are assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have protrusion. Vowels transcribed with ⟨y˕⟩ and ⟨ø̝⟩ may have a stronger rounding than the prototypical value of ⟨ʏ⟩.

Near-close front protruded vowel
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 languages, 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 ⟨ʏʷ⟩ or ⟨ɪʷ⟩ (a near-close front vowel modified by endolabialization), but that could be misread as a diphthong.

The close-mid front protruded vowel can be transcribed ⟨ʏ̫˕⟩, ⟨ʏ̞ʷ⟩ or ⟨ɪ̞ʷ⟩.

For the close-mid front protruded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʏ⟩ (or ⟨y⟩), 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.

Features
The prototypical has a weak rounding (though it is compressed, rather than protruded), more like  than the neighboring cardinal vowels.