Open back rounded vowel

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The open back 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 ɒ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Q. The symbol <ɒ> is called turned script a, because it is a rotated version of script a, so-called because it lacks the extra stroke on top of a printed 'a'. Turned script a, which has its linear stroke on the left, should not be confused with script a <ɑ>, which has its linear stroke on the right and corresponds to an unrounded version of this vowel, the open back unrounded vowel. A well rounded [ɒ] is rare, though it is found in some varieties of English.

Features

• Its vowel height is open, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans		daar		'there'	Usually found in northern Transvaal dialects.
Assamese		?		'to bury'
English	Boston	Boston	[bɒːstən]	'Boston'
	RP	hot		'hot'	See English phonology
	South African	park	[pɒ̟k]	'park'
Hungarian		magyar		'Hungarian'	See Hungarian phonology
Kol		öle		'name'
Occitan	Limousin	païs		'world'	Southeastern dialects
Persian		ﻧﺎﻥ	[nɒ̜n]	'bread'	See Persian phonology
Waris		ov		'sky'
Western Desert Language	Martu Wangka	waŋka		'talk'

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Last updated on Saturday March 08, 2008 at 16:39:13 PST (GMT -0800)
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