The near-close near-back rounded vowel, or near-high near-back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. It is found in English in the word hook. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (a Latin upsilon, sometimes informally referred to as "horseshoe U"). Prior to 1989, there was an alternate IPA symbol for this sound, (a closed small letter Latin omega); use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA. In Americanist phonetic notation, the symbol (a small capital U) is used, which was also the original symbol for the vowel used by the IPA in 1900.
The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralized (lowered and centralized) close back rounded vowel (transcribed or ), and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol is a near-close near-back rounded vowel.
However, some languages have a vowel that is somewhat lower than the canonical value of , though it still fits the definition of a mid-centralized . It occurs in some dialects of English (such as General American and Geordie), as well as some other languages (such as Maastrichtian Limburgish). It can be narrowly transcribed with (a lowered ), (a fronted ), or (a retracted ). For precision, this can be described as a close-mid near-back rounded vowel.
Additionally, in some languages (such as Bengali and Luxembourgish), as well as some dialects of English (such as Scottish), there is a fully back near-close rounded vowel (a sound between cardinal and ), which can be transcribed in IPA with , or . For precision, this can be described as a near-close back rounded vowel, or near-high back rounded vowel.
Sometimes, especially in broad transcription, this vowel is transcribed with a simpler symbol , which technically represents the close back rounded vowel.
Near-close back protruded vowel The near-close back protruded vowel is typically transcribed in IPA simply as , and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, symbol for the near-close back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, , can be used as an ad hoc symbol for the near-close back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription is or (a near-close back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong.
The close-mid near-back protruded vowel can be transcribed or , whereas the fully back near-close protruded vowel can be transcribed , or .
Features
The prototypical is somewhat further front (near-back) than the neighboring cardinal vowels.
The prototypical has a weak protruded rounding, more like than the neighboring cardinal vowels.
Occurrence Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some of the following may actually have compression. In the table below, vowels transcribed with have a considerably stronger rounding than the prototypical value of .
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Afrikaans Standard 'Botha' Close-mid. Allophone of in less stressed words, in stressed syllables of polysyllabic words and word-finally when unstressed. In the second case, it is in free variation with the diphthongal realization . See Afrikaans phonology Arabic Hejazi () 'I said' Allophone of in medial and initial positions. See Hejazi phonology Assamese () 'hoe' Close-mid; also described as open . Bengali Eastern dialects () 'you' Fully back; typically transcribed in IPA with . See Bengali phonology Burmese () 'smooth' Allophone of in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized. Catalan Balearic 'to soak' Unstressed allophone of . See Catalan phonology Valencian Chinese Mandarin () 'red' Fully back; height varies between mid and close depending on the speaker. See Standard Chinese phonology Shanghainese () 'melon' The height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back compressed vowel. Danish Standard 'stomach' Phonetic realization of the sequence . See Danish phonology Dutch Standard Northern 'ears' Allophone of before . Can be a centering diphthong instead, especially before coda . See Dutch phonology Randstad Some speakers 'den' Contrasts with in certain words, but many speakers have only one vowel . See Dutch phonology English Irish hook 'hook' Welsh In Cardiff, it is advanced and lowered to , often also with unrounding to . Cockney Sometimes fronted to . Conservative New Zealand The height varies from near-close to close-mid. The innovative General New Zealand variant is fronted and unrounded to . See New Zealand English phonology Conservative Received Pronunciation Often lowered and advanced to , or unrounded to . See English phonology Multicultural London May be front instead. Norfolk Some Estuary speakers Often advanced to , or advanced and lowered to . General American Close-mid. Geordie Southern Michigan Northern England cut 'cut' Phonetic realization of /ʌ/ in most dialects without the foot–strut split.Local Dublin Australian thought 'thought' Fully back. In New Zealand English, the height varies from near-close (a typical value in General NZE) to mid (a typical value in Maori English). It corresponds to in other dialects. See Australian English phonology and New Zealand English phonology General New Zealand Scottish go 'go' Fully back. Corresponds to in other dialects. Faroese 'yellow' See Faroese phonology French Quebec 'crowd' Allophone of in closed syllables. See Quebec French phonology German Standard 'hour' The quality has been variously described as near-close back and close-mid near-back . For some speakers, it may be as high as . See Standard German phonology Hindustani Hindi () 'rose' See Hindustani phonology Urdu () Hungarian 'finger' Typically transcribed in IPA with . See Hungarian phonology Irish Munster 'black' Allophone of between broad consonants. See Irish phonology Italian Central-Southern accents 'shade' Fully back; local realization of . See Italian phonologyKurdish Kurmanji (Northern) 'flower' See Kurdish phonology Sorani (Central) () Palewani (Southern) Leonese butiellu 'Botillo' Allophone position of /u/ and /o/ in neutral position. Limburgish Some dialects 'doll' Close-mid in the Maastrichtian dialect. The example word is from that dialect.Lombard nox 'walnut' Most common realization of /u/. Luxembourgish 'language' Fully back. Typically transcribed in IPA with . See Luxembourgish phonologyMalay 'die' Allophone of /u/ in closed-final syllables. May be [] or [] depending on the speaker. See Malay phonology Pashayi Lower Darai Nur dialect () 'sun' Close-mid. Portuguese Brazilian 'leap' Reduction and neutralization of unstressed ; can be voiceless. See Portuguese phonology Russian () 'dry' Unstressed allophone of . See Russian phonology Saterland Frisian 'rope' Phonetic realization of and . Near-close back in the former case, close-mid near-back in the latter. Phonetically, the latter is nearly identical to (). Scots Glenoe dialect 'go' Fully back. Rathlin dialect Scottish Gaelic Some dialects 'land' Reduction of word-final ; a similar phenomenon is seen in Ulster Irish. Sinhalese 'much' Only weakly rounded; typically transcribed in IPA with . Slovak 'arm' Typically fully back. See Slovak phonology Sotho 'query' Fully back; contrasts close, near-close and close-mid back rounded vowels. See Sotho phonology Spanish Eastern Andalusian 'your' (pl.) Fully back. Corresponds to in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology Murcian Turkish 'icy' Allophone of described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology Ukrainian 'Musiy' (name) See Ukrainian phonologyWelsh'manly'See Welsh phonology Yoruba 'to sleep' Near-back or back; typically transcribed in IPA with . It is nasalized, and may be close instead.
Near-close near-back compressed vowel
Some languages, such as Norwegian, are found with a near-close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial.
As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, (the opposite of ), will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for compressed back vowels. It was only added to Unicode in 2025, however, and it may take some time for font support to catch up. Compression of the lips can be shown with the letter as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression), though that can suggest that the vowel is a diphthong.
Only the Shanghainese dialect is known to contrast this with the more typical protruded (endolabial) near-close back vowel, although the height of both of these vowels varies from close to close-mid.
The fully back variant of the near-close compressed vowel can be transcribed , or .
Features
The prototypical has a weak rounding (though it is protruded, rather than compressed), more like than the neighboring cardinal vowels.
Occurrence Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Chinese Shanghainese 'capital' The height varies between close and close-mid; contrasts with a close to close-mid back protruded vowel.Japanese / 'air' Allophone of ; central for some younger speakers. NorwegianWhile does not describe the exact type of rounding of this vowel, some other sources (e.g. and ) state explicitly that it is compressed. 'evil' Backness varies among dialects; it is a back vowel in Urban East Norwegian, whereas in Stavangersk it is near-back . The UEN vowel has also been described as close back . See Norwegian phonology Swedish Central Standard 'locality' The quality has been variously described as near-close near-back , near-close back and close back . See Swedish phonology
Notes
References
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