Near-close near-front unrounded vowel


The near-close front unrounded vowel, or near-high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is, i.e. a small capital letter i. The International Phonetic Association advises serifs on the symbol's ends. Some sans-serif fonts do meet this typographic specification. Prior to 1989, there was an alternate symbol for this sound:, the use of which is no longer sanctioned by the IPA. Despite that, some modern writings still use it.
Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralized close front unrounded vowel, and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol is near-close near-front unrounded vowel. However, some languages have the close-mid near-front unrounded vowel, 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 as well as some other languages, and it can be transcribed with the symbol in narrow transcription. Certain sources may even use for the close-mid front unrounded vowel, but that is rare. For the close-mid front unrounded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol , see close-mid front unrounded vowel.
In some other languages there is a fully front near-close unrounded vowel, which can be transcribed in IPA with, or.
Sometimes, especially in broad transcription, this vowel is transcribed with a simpler symbol, which technically represents the close front unrounded vowel.

Features

Occurrence