Open-mid back unrounded vowel

Vowel sound represented by ⟨ʌ⟩ in IPA

IPA Number 314

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Encoding

Entity (decimal) ʌ

Unicode (hex) U+028C

X-SAMPA V

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IPA: Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y	ɨ ʉ	ɯ u
Near-close	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
Close-mid	e ø	ɘ ɵ	ɤ o
Mid	e̞ ø̞	ə	ɤ̞ o̞
Open-mid	ɛ œ	ɜ ɞ	ʌ ɔ
Near-open	æ	ɐ
Open	a ɶ	ä	ɑ ɒ

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Legend: unrounded • rounded

The open-mid back unrounded vowel or low-mid back unrounded vowel^[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʌ⟩, graphically a rotated lowercase "v" (called a turned V but created as a small-capital ⟨ᴀ⟩ without the crossbar, even though some vendors display it as a real turned v). Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as a "wedge", "caret" or "hat". In transcriptions for English, this symbol is commonly used for the near-open central unrounded vowel and in transcriptions for Danish, it is used for the open back rounded vowel.

Features

Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low vowel) and a mid vowel.
Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Ajië^[2]		kë	[kʌˀ]	'pot'	Distinct from /ə/
Catalan	Solsonès^[3]	tarda	[ˈtaɾð̞ʌ̃ː]	'afternoon'	Realization of final unstressed /ə/
Emilian	most Emilian dialects^[4]	Bulåggna	[buˈlʌɲːɐ]	'Bologna'	It corresponds to a sound between /ɔ/ to /ä/; written ò in some spellings
English	Cape Town^[5]	lot	[lʌt]	'lot'	It corresponds to a weakly rounded [ɒ̈] in all other South African dialects. See South African English phonology
	Natal^[5]	lot	[lʌt]	'lot'
	Cardiff^[6]	thought	[θʌːt]	'thought'	For some speakers it may be rounded and closer. See English phonology
	General South African^[7]	no	[nʌː]	'no'	May be a diphthong [ʌʊ̯] instead.^[8] See South African English phonology
	General American^[9]	gut	[ɡʌt]^ⓘ	'gut'	In some dialects, fronted to [ɜ], or fronted and lowered to [ɐ]. In Standard Southern British English, [ʌ] is increasingly heard in place of [ɐ] to avoid the trap-strut merger.^[10] See English phonology and Northern Cities Vowel Shift
	Inland Northern American^[11]
	Multicultural London^[12]
	Newfoundland^[13]
	Northern East Anglian^[14]
	Philadelphia^[15]
	Scottish^[16]
	Some Estuary English speakers^[17]
	Some Standard Southern British speakers^[10]
French	Picardy^[18]	alors	[aˈlʌʀ̥]	'so'	Corresponding to /ɔ/ in standard French.
German	Chemnitz dialect^[19]	machen	[ˈmʌχɴ̩]	'to do'	Allophone of /ʌ, ʌː/ (which phonetically are central [ɜ, ɜː])^[20] before and after /ŋ, kʰ, k, χ, ʁ/. Exact backness varies; it is most posterior before /χ, ʁ/.^[21]
Haida^[22]		ḵwaáay	[qʷʰʌʔáːj]	'the rock'	Allophone of /a/ (sometimes also /aː/) after uvular and epiglottal consonants.^[23]
Irish	Ulster dialect^[24]	ola	[ʌl̪ˠə]	'oil'	See Irish phonology
Kaingang^[25]		[ˈɾʌ]		'mark'	Varies between back [ʌ] and central [ɜ].^[26]
Kashmiri		از	[ʌz]	'today'	Allophone of [ɐ]. Used only in monosyllables. Typical of the Srinagar variety.
Kensiu^[27]		[hʌʎ]		'stream'
Korean^[28]		너 / neo	[nʌ̹]	'you'	See Korean phonology
Lillooet		^{[example needed]}			Retracted counterpart of /ə/.
Mah Meri^[29]		^{[example needed]}			Allophone of /ə/; can be mid central [ə] or close-mid back [ɤ] instead.^[29]
Nepali		असल/asal	[ʌsʌl]	'good'	See Nepali phonology
Portuguese	Greater Lisbon area^[30]	leite	[ˈɫ̪ʌjt̪ɨ̞]	'milk'	Allophone of /ɐ/ before /i/ (forming a phonetic diphthong [ʌj]). Corresponds to [e] in other accents.^[30] See Portuguese phonology
Russian	Standard Saint Petersburg^[31]	голова/golová	[ɡəɫ̪ʌˈvä]	'head'	Corresponds to [ɐ] in standard Moscow pronunciation;^[31] occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. See Russian phonology
Tamil^[32]		^{[example needed]}			Nasalized. Phonetic realization of the sequence /am/, may be [õ] or [ã] instead.^[32] See Tamil phonology
Xavante^[33]			[jʌm]	'seed'	The nasal version [ʌ̃] also occurs.^[33]

Before World War II, the /ʌ/ of Received Pronunciation was phonetically close to a back vowel [ʌ], which has since shifted forward towards [ɐ] (a near-open central unrounded vowel). Daniel Jones reported his speech (southern British) as having an advanced back vowel [ʌ̟] between his central /ə/ and back /ɔ/; however, he also reported that other southern speakers had a lower and even more advanced vowel that approached cardinal [a].^[34] In American English varieties, such as in the West, the Midwest, and the urban South, the typical phonetic realization of the phoneme /ʌ/ is an open-mid central [ɜ].^[35]^[36] Truly backed variants of /ʌ/ that are phonetically [ʌ] can occur in Inland Northern American English, Newfoundland English, Philadelphia English, some of African-American English, and (old-fashioned) white Southern American English in coastal plain and Piedmont areas.^[37]^[38] However, the letter ⟨ʌ⟩ is still commonly used to indicate this phoneme, even in the more common varieties with central variants [ɐ] or [ɜ]. That may be because of both tradition and some other dialects retaining the older pronunciation.^[39]

Notes

^ While the International Phonetic Association prefers the terms "close" and "open" for vowel height, many linguists use "high" and "low".
^ Zetterberg, William. "So close and yet so different: Reconstructing the phonological history of three Southern New Caledonian languages | Lund University". Lund University. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
^ "Anàlisi dialectològica d'uns parlars del Solsonès". prezi.com. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
^ "Scrîver al bulgnaiṡ cum và". bulgnais.com (in Emilian). Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
^ ^a ^b Lass (2002), p. 115.
^ Collins & Mees (1990), p. 95.
^ Wells (1982), pp. 614, 621.
^ Wells (1982), p. 614.
^ Wells (1982), p. 485.
^ ^a ^b Cruttenden (2014), p. 122.
^ W. Labov, S. Ash and C. Boberg (1997), A national map of the regional dialects of American English, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, retrieved May 27, 2013
^ Cruttenden (2014), p. 91.
^ Thomas (2001), pp. 27–28, 61–63.
^ Trudgill (2004), p. 167.
^ Thomas (2001), pp. 27–28, 73–74.
^ Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006), p. 7.
^ Altendorf & Watt (2004), p. 188.
^ "Picardie : phonétique". Retrieved 29 January 2015.
^ Khan & Weise (2013), pp. 235, 238.
^ Khan & Weise (2013), p. 236.
^ Khan & Weise (2013), p. 238.
^ Lawrence (1977), pp. 32–33.
^ Lawrence (1977), pp. 32–33, 36.
^ Ní Chasaide (1999), pp. 114–115.
^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676–677, 682.
^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 676, 682.
^ Bishop (1996), p. 230.
^ Lee (1999).
^ ^a ^b Kruspe & Hajek (2009), p. 245.
^ ^a ^b Cruz-Ferreira (1995), pp. 91–2.
^ ^a ^b Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015), p. 225.
^ ^a ^b Keane (2004), p. 114.
^ ^a ^b Nikulin & Carvalho (2019), p. 263.
^ Jones (1972), pp. 86–88.
^ Gordon (2004b), p. 340.
^ Tillery & Bailey (2004), p. 333.
^ Thomas (2001), pp. 27–28, 112–115, 121, 134, 174.
^ Gordon (2004a), pp. 294–296.
^ Roca & Johnson (1999), p. 135.

References

Altendorf, Ulrike; Watt, Dominic (2004). "The dialects in the South of England: phonology". In Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 181–196. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
Bishop, Nancy (1996). "A preliminary description of Kensiu (Maniq) phonology" (PDF). Mon–Khmer Studies Journal. 25: 227–253.
Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (1990). "The phonetics of Cardiff English". In Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.). English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change. Multilingual Matters. pp. 87–103. ISBN 1-85359-032-0.
Cruttenden, Alan (2014). Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781444183092.
Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995). "European Portuguese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 25 (2): 90–94. doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223. S2CID 249414876.
Gordon, Matthew (2004a). "New York, Philadelphia and other Northern Cities". In Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W. (eds.). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 294–296. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
Gordon, Matthew (2004b), "The West and Midwest: Phonology", in Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W. (eds.), A Handbook of Varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Walter de Gruyter, p. 340, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009). "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble" [Phonology and prosody of Kaingang spoken in Cacique Doble]. Anais do SETA (in Portuguese). 3. Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP: 675–685.
Jones, Daniel (1972). An Outline of English Phonetics (9th ed.). Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons.
Keane, Elinor (2004). "Tamil". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 (1): 111–116. doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549.
Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013). "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 43 (2): 231–241. doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145.
Kruspe, Nicole; Hajek, John (2009). "Mah Meri". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 39 (2): 241–248. doi:10.1017/S0025100309003946.
Lass, Roger (2002). "South African English". In Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.). Language in South Africa. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521791052.
Lawrence, Erma (1977). Haida Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
Lee, Hyun Bok (1999). "Korean". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. pp. 120–122. ISBN 0-521-63751-1.
Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999). "Irish". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–116. ISBN 0-521-63751-1.
Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999). Course in Phonology. Blackwell Publishing.
Scobbie, James M.; Gordeeva, Olga B.; Matthews, Benjamin (2006), Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: An Overview, Edinburgh: QMU Speech Science Research Centre Working Papers
Thomas, Erik R. (2001). "An acoustic analysis of vowel variation in New World English". Publication of the American Dialect Society. 85. Duke University Press for the American Dialect Society.
Tillery, Jan; Bailey, Guy (2004). "The urban south: Phonology". In Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W. (eds.). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Walter de Gruyter. p. 333. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
Trudgill, Peter (2004). "The dialect of East Anglia: Phonology". In Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 163–177. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
Wells, J.C. (1982). Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28541-0.
Yanushevskaya, Irena; Bunčić, Daniel (2015). "Russian". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 45 (2): 221–228. doi:10.1017/S0025100314000395.
Nikulin, Andrey; Carvalho, Fernando O. de (2019). "Estudos diacrônicos de línguas indígenas brasileiras: um panorama". Macabéa - Revista Eletrônica do NETLLI (in Brazilian Portuguese). 8 (2). Crato. doi:10.47295/MREN.V8I2.1910.

External links

List of languages with [ʌ] on PHOIBLE

International Phonetic Alphabet (chart)

IPA topics

IPA	International Phonetic Association History of the alphabet Extensions for disordered speech (extIPA) Voice Quality Symbols (VoQS) Journal of the IPA (JIPA)
Special topics	Cursive forms Case variants Obsolete and nonstandard symbols Naming conventions Sinological extensions World Orthography IPA chart for English dialects
Encodings	ASCII encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode IPA number IPA Braille

Consonants

Pulmonic consonants

Place →	Labial					Coronal										Dorsal					Laryngeal
Manner ↓	Bilabial		Labiodental		Linguolabial		Dental		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal/epiglottal		Glottal
Nasal	m̥	m	ɱ̊	ɱ		n̼			n̥	n			ɳ̊	ɳ	ɲ̊	ɲ	ŋ̊	ŋ	ɴ̥	ɴ
Plosive	p	b	p̪	b̪	t̼	d̼			t	d			ʈ	ɖ	c	ɟ	k	ɡ	q	ɢ	ʡ		ʔ
Sibilant affricate									ts	dz	t̠ʃ	d̠ʒ	tʂ	dʐ	tɕ	dʑ
Non-sibilant affricate	pɸ	bβ	p̪f	b̪v			t̪θ	d̪ð	tɹ̝̊	dɹ̝	t̠ɹ̠̊˔	d̠ɹ̠˔			cç	ɟʝ	kx	ɡɣ	qχ	ɢʁ	ʡʜ	ʡʢ	ʔh
Sibilant fricative									s	z	ʃ	ʒ	ʂ	ʐ	ɕ	ʑ
Non-sibilant fricative	ɸ	β	f	v	θ̼	ð̼	θ	ð	θ̠	ð̠	ɹ̠̊˔	ɹ̠˔	ɻ̊˔	ɻ˔	ç	ʝ	x	ɣ	χ	ʁ	ħ	ʕ	h	ɦ
Approximant				ʋ						ɹ				ɻ		j		ɰ						ʔ̞
Tap/flap		ⱱ̟		ⱱ		ɾ̼			ɾ̥	ɾ			ɽ̊	ɽ						ɢ̆		ʡ̆
Trill	ʙ̥	ʙ							r̥	r			ɽ̊r̥	ɽr					ʀ̥	ʀ	ʜ	ʢ
Lateral affricate									tɬ	dɮ			tꞎ	d𝼅	c𝼆	ɟʎ̝	k𝼄	ɡʟ̝
Lateral fricative									ɬ	ɮ			ꞎ	𝼅	𝼆	ʎ̝	𝼄	ʟ̝
Lateral approximant										l				ɭ		ʎ		ʟ		ʟ̠
Lateral tap/flap									ɺ̥	ɺ			𝼈̥	𝼈		ʎ̆		ʟ̆

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Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Non-pulmonic consonants

		BL	LD	D	A	PA	RF	P	V	U	EG
Ejective	Stop	pʼ			tʼ		ʈʼ	cʼ	kʼ	qʼ	ʡʼ
	Affricate		p̪fʼ	t̪θʼ	tsʼ	t̠ʃʼ	tʂʼ	tɕʼ	kxʼ	qχʼ
	Fricative	ɸʼ	fʼ	θʼ	sʼ	ʃʼ	ʂʼ	ɕʼ	xʼ	χʼ
	Lateral affricate				tɬʼ			c𝼆ʼ	k𝼄ʼ	q𝼄ʼ
	Lateral fricative				ɬʼ
Click (top: velar; bottom: uvular)	Tenuis	kʘ qʘ		kǀ qǀ	kǃ qǃ		k𝼊 q𝼊	kǂ qǂ
	Voiced	ɡʘ ɢʘ		ɡǀ ɢǀ	ɡǃ ɢǃ		ɡ𝼊 ɢ𝼊	ɡǂ ɢǂ
	Nasal	ŋʘ ɴʘ		ŋǀ ɴǀ	ŋǃ ɴǃ		ŋ𝼊 ɴ𝼊	ŋǂ ɴǂ	ʞ
	Tenuis lateral				kǁ qǁ
	Voiced lateral				ɡǁ ɢǁ
	Nasal lateral				ŋǁ ɴǁ
Implosive	Voiced	ɓ			ɗ		ᶑ	ʄ	ɠ	ʛ
Implosive	Voiceless	ɓ̥			ɗ̥		ᶑ̊	ʄ̊	ɠ̊	ʛ̥

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Co-articulated consonants

Labial–alveolar

Labial–velar

Fricative/approximant

ɥ̊

Labial–palatal

Labial–velar

Sj-sound (variable)

Lateral approximant

Velarized alveolar

Labial–velar

Labial–alveolar

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Other	Nasal labial–velar approximant [w̃] Nasal palatal approximant [j̃] Voiceless bidental fricative [h̪͆] Voiceless bilabially post-trilled dental stop [t̪ʙ̥] Voiceless nasal glottal approximant [h̃]