Close front unrounded vowel

The close front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is i, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is i.

The vowel [i] is very common, occurring phonemically in almost all languages with three or more vowels and phonetically in many more languages.

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 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 vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are spread.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ажьырныҳәа	[aʑirnuħʷo]	'January'	See Abkhaz phonology
Afrikaans		dankie		'thank you'
Albanian		mali	[mali]	'the mountain'
Arabic	Standard	دين	[d̪iːn]	'religion'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		իմ	[im]	'my'
Azerbaijani		dili		'tree'
Basque		bizar	[bis̻ar]	'beard'
Bengali		আমি	[ami]	'I'
Burmese		?		'I am eating now'
Catalan		sis	[sis]	'six'	See Catalan phonology
Chickasaw		lhinko	[ɬinko]	'to be fat'
Chinese	Cantonese	詩/si1		'poem'	See Standard Cantonese
Chinese	Mandarin	北京/Běijīng		'Beijing'	See Standard Mandarin
Croatian		vino		'wine'
Czech		bílý		'white'	See Czech phonology
Dahalo		[ʡáɬi]		'fat'
Danish		bilist	[b̥iˈlisd]	'car driver'	See Danish phonology
Dutch		biet		'beet'	See Dutch phonology
English		free		'free'	See English phonology
Estonian		tiik		'pond'
Faroese		il		'sole'
Finnish		viisi		'five'	See Finnish phonology
French		fini		'finished'	See French phonology
Georgian		სამი	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
German		Ziel		'goal'	See German phonology
Greek		υγιεινή		'hygiene'	Also represented by <οι> and <υι>. See Modern Greek phonology
Guaraní		ha’ukuri		'Guaraní'
Haida		gii	[?]	'?'
Hawaiian		makani	[makani]	'breeze'	See Hawaiian phonology
Hebrew		דיר	[diʁ]	'pen' (enclosure)	Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Hebrew phonology
Hindi		तीन	[t̪in]	'three'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		ív		'arch'	See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic		líka		'also'	See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian		ini	[ini]	'this'
Irish		sí	[ʃiː]	'she'	See Irish phonology
Italian		bile	[ˈbile]	'rage'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		銀/gin		'silver'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		시장/sijang		'hunger'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish		zîndu		'alive'
Macedonian		јазик	[jazik]	'tongue'
Maltese		bieb	[biːb]	'door'
Navajo		biwosh	[biɣʷoʃ]	'his cactus'
Norwegian		is		'ice'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Northern and Southern	miralhar	[miraˈʎa]	'to reflect'
Occitan	Gascon	polida		'pretty'
Pashto		ﭙﺎﻧﻴﺮ	[pɑˈnir]	'cheese'
Persian		کی		'who'	See Persian phonology
Pirahã		baíxi	[màíʔì]	'parent'
Polish		miś		'teddy bear'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		li		'I read'	See Portuguese phonology
Quechua		allin		'good'
Romanian		insulă	[ˈinsulə]	'island'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		лист		'list'	Only occurs word-initially or after palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		chì		'shall see'
Serbian		милина/milina		'enjoyment'
Seri		cmiique		'person'
Sindhi		سنڌي	[sɪndʱiː]	'Sindhi'
Sioux	Lakota	ǧí	[ʀí]	'it's brown'
Slovak		chlapi		'men'
Spanish		tipo	[ˈt̪ipo̞]	'type'	May also be represented by . See Spanish phonology
Swahili		miti	[miti]	'trees'
Swedish		is		'ice'	See Swedish phonology
Tagalog		silya	[ˈsiljɐ]	'chair'
Tajik		бинӣ	[biˈniː]	'nose'
Turkish		ip	[ip]	'rope'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		[gʲi]		'heart'	Allophone of /ə/ after palatalized consonants. See Ubykh phonology
Vietnamese		ty		'bureau'	See Vietnamese phonology
Võro		kirotas	[kʲirotas]	'he writes'
Welsh		hir	[hiːr]	'December'
Zulu		umuzi	[uˈmuːzi]	'village'

Close front compressed vowel

References

Bibliography

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Close front unrounded vowel

Features

Occurrence

Close front compressed vowel

See also

References

Bibliography