The open-mid back rounded vowel, or low-mid 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 . The IPA symbol is a turned letter c and both the symbol and the sound are commonly called "open-o". The name open-o represents the sound, in that it is like the sound represented by , the close-mid back rounded vowel, except it is more open. It also represents the symbol, which can be remembered as an o which has been "opened" by removing part of the closed circular shape.

In English, the symbol (or ) is typically associated with the vowel in "thought", but in Received Pronunciation ("RP", standard British English), Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English that vowel is produced with considerably stronger lip rounding and higher tongue position than that of cardinal , i.e. as close-mid or somewhat lower. Open-mid or even open realizations are found in North American English (where this vowel is often indistinguishable from the open back unrounded vowel in "bra") and Scottish English as well as Hiberno-English, Northern England English and Welsh English, though in the last three accent groups closer, -like realizations are also found. In RP, the open-mid realization of has been obsolete since the 1930s. Pronouncing that vowel as such is subject to correction for non-native speakers aiming at RP.Geoff Lindsey (2012) Morgen — a suitable case for treatment, Speech Talk

In Received Pronunciation and Australian English, the open-mid back rounded vowel occurs as the main allophone of the vowel . The contrast between and is thus strongly maintained, with the former vowel being realized as close-mid and the latter as open-mid , similarly to the contrast between and found in German, Italian and Portuguese., "It seems to be the case that younger RP or near-RP speakers typically use a closer quality, possibly approaching Cardinal 6 considering that the quality appears to be roughly intermediate between that used by older speakers for the LOT vowel and that used for the THOUGHT vowel, while older speakers use a more open quality, between Cardinal Vowels 13 and 6."

Features

Occurrence Language Word IPA Meaning NotesAlbanianTosk'cake' Armenian Eastern hoġm 'storm' Assamese / kor [kɔɹ] 'to do' May also be transcribed as fully low or "over-rounded" Bavarian Amstetten dialect, cited in wås 'what' Contrasts close , near-close , close-mid and open-mid back rounded vowels in addition to the open central unrounded . Typically transcribed in IPA with . Bengali 'meaning' See Bengali phonology BretonMikael Madeg, Traité de prononciation du breton du Nord-Ouest à l'usage des bretonnants, Emgleo Breiz, Brest, 2010 roll [ˈrɔlː] 'list' Bulgarian rod 'kin' See Bulgarian phonology Catalan Most dialects 'clog' Lower () and/or unrounded () in Valencian and some Balearic subdialects. See Catalan phonologyChinese Cantonese ngo5 'I, me, my' See Cantonese phonologyHokkien bó͘ 'wife' See Hokkien phonology Cipu Tirisino dialect 'cut down!' Near-back. Czech 'what' See Czech phonology Danish Standard 'map' Most often transcribed in IPA with . See Danish phonology Dutch Standard Belgian 'alas' 'Very tense, with strong lip-rounding', strongly pharyngealized (although less so in standard Belgian) and somewhat fronted. See Dutch phonology Standard Northern English Australian not 'not' See Australian English phonology Estuary New Zealand May be somewhat fronted. Often transcribed in IPA with . See New Zealand English phonology Received Pronunciation has shifted up in emerging RP. General Americanthought'thought' Mainly in speakers without the cot–caught merger. It may be lower . (It is rarely lowered to before liquids , and may thus be more familiar to many North Americans in r-colored form, .) Scottish Most Scottish dialects exhibit the cot–caught merger, the outcome of which is a vowel of quality. Sheffield goat 'goat' Common realization of the vowel particularly for males. Newfoundland but 'but' Less commonly unrounded . See English phonology Faroese 'seal flipper' See Faroese phonology French Parisian 'silly' (f.) The Parisian realization has been variously described as a back vowel centralized to before and central . See French phonology Galician 'man' See Galician phonology Georgian stsori 'correct' German Standard 'full' See Standard German phonology Hindustani Hindi मुहब्बत(mohobbat) 'love','affection' See Hindustani phonology. Urdu محبت(mohobbat) Italian 'word' Near-back. See Italian phonology Javanese ꦫꦱ / råså taste, feeling Kaingang pó 'stone' Kera 'hard earth' Near-back. Kokborok 'not' Korean North Korean / 'North Korea' Both ㅓ /ʌ/ and ㅗ /o/ in South Korean have merged into [ɔ] in North Korean. See Korean phonology Kashmiri / 'rose', 'red' The letter ۄ represents the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] in Kashmiri phonology. Limburgish 'moon' Lower in the Maastrichtian dialect. The example word is from the Hasselt dialect. Lower Sorbian 'a request' Low German Most dialects 'stick' May be more open in the Netherlands or more closed in Low Prussian dialects. Various dialects 'sleep' May be as low as and as high as in other dialects. Southern Eastphalian Schambach, Gerog (1858), "Wörterbuch der niederdeutschen Mundart der Fürstenthümer Göttingen und Grubenhagen oder GöttingischGrubenhagen'sches Idiotikon", p. 30. 'bread' Corresponds to in other dialects. Luxembourgish 'son' Possible realization of . See Luxembourgish phonologyMalayStandardsotong'squid'Possible realization of and in closed final syllables. See Malay phonologyNegeri Sembilan كيت / kita'we' (inclusive)See Negeri Sembilan MalayKelantan-Pattani بياسا / biasa'normal'See Kelatan-Pattani Malay Nepali 'far' Less rounded. Allophone of around labial consonants and in isolation. 'long' Uncommon post-nasal allophone of , which is commonly raised to . Norwegian Some dialects 'so' Present e.g. in Telemark; realized as mid in other dialects. See Norwegian phonology Occitan 'ode' See Occitan phonology Odia 'meaning' Polish 'cat' See Polish phonology Portuguese Most dialectsVariação inter- e intra-dialetal no português brasileiro: um problema para a teoria fonológica – Seung-Hwa LEE & Marco A. de Oliveira 'gossip' Stressed vowel might be lower. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨o⟩ allophones, such as , varies according to dialect. Some speakersLista das marcas dialetais e ouros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP 'scolding' Stressed vowel, allophone of nasal vowel . See Portuguese phonology Russian Some speakers sukhoy 'dry' More commonly realized as mid . See Russian phonology Slovak Standard 'to stun' See Slovak phonology Swedish Standard 'minor scale' See Swedish phonology Tagalog 'lullaby' See Tagalog phonology Thai ngo 'to bend' See Thai phonology Temne 'swamp' Near-back. Ukrainian lyubov 'love' See Ukrainian phonology Upper Sorbian 'dog' See Upper Sorbian phonologyWelsh siop'shop'See Welsh phonology West Frisian 'rat' See West Frisian phonologyYiddish [jɔ]'yes'See Yiddish phonology. Yoruba Nasalized; may be near-open instead.

See also Open O Index of phonetics articles R-colored vowel

Notes

References

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