Open-mid front rounded vowel
IPA number	311
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	œ
Unicode (hex)	U+0153
X-SAMPA	9
Kirshenbaum	W
Image
Sound

The open-mid front rounded vowel, or low-mid 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 ⟨⟩. The symbol œ is a lowercase ligature of the letters o and e. Note that ⟨⟩, a small caps version of the Œ ligature, is used for a distinct vowel sound: the open front rounded vowel.

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low", and these are the only terms found in introductory textbooks on phonetics such as those by Peter Ladefoged.

Contents 1 Features 2 Occurrence 3 References 4 Bibliography

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded rounded
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• Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low vowel) and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Azeri		öküz		'ox'
Armenian	Western Armenian	Էօժենի		'Eugenie'
Chinese	Cantonese	靴 hoe1		'boots'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	月 yuè		'moon'	See Mandarin phonology
	Wu	碗		'bowl'
Danish		høne		'hen'	See Danish phonology
Dutch	Southern	uit		'out'	Some dialects, corresponds to in standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
	The Hague				Corresponds to in standard Dutch.
	Limburg	hut		'hut'	Some dialects. Corresponds to in standard Dutch.
English	Cockney[1]	bird		'bird'	Centralized. May as well be unrounded , or the RP variant .
	New Zealand[2]				Centralized; may be mid. See English phonology
	General SAE[3]	go		'go'	Some speakers. Can be a diphthong of the type ~ instead. Other South African varieties don't monophthongize.
Faroese		løgdu		'laid' (pl.)
French[4]		jeune		'young'	See French phonology
German	Standard[5]	Hölle		'hell'	Centralized and lowered. See German phonology
Lori		shö		'night'
Icelandic		þö		'however'
North Frisian		blömk		'flower'
Norwegian		øl		'beer'	See Norwegian phonology
Mongolian	Chakhar	ᠣᠨᠢᠰᠤ		'lock'	The standard dialect in Inner Mongolia
Occitan	Auvergnat	puei		'then'	Some dialects, especially the northern ones
	Limousin
Western Lombard		fioeu		'son'	Old Milanese; now an allophone of

The vowel transcribed in Central Standard Swedish is in fact mid .^[6]

References

Bibliography

• Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 140, ISBN 0-521-63751-1 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK]
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874
• Lass et al (2002), Language in South Africa, ISBN 9780521791052 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK]
• Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden, p. 37, ISBN 9783411040667 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK]
• Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing
• Wells, J.C. (1982), Accents of English, 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press