Open-mid central rounded vowel

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The open-mid central 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 ɞ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon.

Due to either a typographic or design error, IPA charts were published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, <ʚ>, and this graphic variant made its way into Unicode. The form <ɞ> is considered correct.

Features

• Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Irish		tomhail		'consume!'	See Irish phonology
Somali		Example Needed	--	--	See Somali phonology

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Last updated on Saturday January 12, 2008 at 02:36:28 PST (GMT -0800)
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