Near-open central vowel


The near-open central vowel, or near-low central vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is, a rotated lowercase letter a.
In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol, i.e. as if it were open-mid back. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but most speakers use a central vowel like.
Much like, is a versatile symbol that is not defined for roundedness and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central, near-open near-front, near-open near-back, open-mid central, open central or a vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area. For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with, see open central unrounded vowel.
When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different than, they are listed in near-open front unrounded vowel and open back unrounded vowel or open back rounded vowel, respectively.
The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a language. When that is the case, it is typically transcribed with.

Features

In the following list, is assumed to be unrounded. The rounded variant is transcribed as. Some instances of the latter may actually be fully open.