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Left and right of a bullet are unrounded · rounded vowels
A long vowel is indicated by appending ː

The close back 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 ɯ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is M. The IPA symbol is a turned letter m, although given its relation to the sound represented by the letter u, it can be considered a u with an extra "bowl". The sound is sometimes referred to as "unrounded u".

1 Features
2 Occurrence
3 See also
4 References
5 Bibliography

[edit] Features

Its vowel height is close, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are spread.

[edit] Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Alekano		hanuva	[hɑnɯβɑ]	'nothing'
Azeri		qırx	[ɡɯrx]	'forty'
Crimean Tatar		canım	[dʒanɯm]	'please'
Irish	Ulster	saol	[sɯːl̪ˠ]	'life, world'	See Irish phonology
Korean^[1]		금 (金) / geum	[kɯm]	'gold'	See Korean phonology
Kyrgyz		кыз	[qɯʒ]	'girl'
Ongota		[kuˈbuːɯ]		'dry'
Portuguese^[2]	European	pegar	[pɯ̟ˈɡaɾ]	'to grab'	Occurs in unstressed syllables. More commonly transcribed as [ɨ] See Portuguese phonology
Scottish Gaelic		caol	[kʰɯːl̪ˠ]	'thin'
Sakha		тыл	[tɯl]	'tongue, language'
Sundanese		meunang	[mɯnaŋ]	'get'
Thai^[3]		ขึ้น^[4]	[kʰɯ̂n]	'to go up'
Turkish		ılık	[ɯˈɫɯk]	'warm'	See Turkish phonology
Vietnamese		tư	[tɯ̄]	'fourth'	See Vietnamese phonology

The symbol ɯ is sometimes used for Japanese /u/, but that sound is rounded, albeit with labial compression rather than protrusion. It is more accurately described as an exolabial close back vowel.

[edit] See also

list of phonetics topics

[edit] References

^ Lee (1999:122)
^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
^ Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:24)
^ Dictionary entry for ขึ้น (kheun) (thai-language.com)

[edit] Bibliography

Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
Lee, Hyun Bok (1999), "Korean", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association:A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 120–123, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993), "Thai", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (1): 24–26