The near-close near-front unrounded vowel, or near-high near-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 ⟨⟩ (a Latin small capital 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 IPA symbol for this sound, ⟨⟩ (a Latin iota); use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA, though it may still be found in some modern writings.
The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralized (lowered and centralized) close front unrounded vowel (transcribed or), and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol ⟨⟩ is a near-close near-front unrounded vowel.
However, some languages have 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 (such as Californian, General American and Standard Southern British) as well as some other languages (such as Icelandic), and it can be narrowly transcribed with (a lowered ⟨⟩), (a backed ⟨⟩), or (a fronted ⟨⟩). For precision, this can be described as a close-mid near-front unrounded vowel.
Additionally, in some languages (such as Danish, Luxembourgish and Sotho), there is a fully front near-close unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal ⟨⟩ and ⟨⟩), which can be transcribed in IPA with, or. For precision, this can be described as a near-close front unrounded vowel, or near-high front unrounded vowel. There may be phonological reasons not to transcribe the fully front variant with the symbol ⟨⟩, which may incorrectly imply a relation to the close ⟨⟩.
Sometimes, especially in broad transcription, this vowel is transcribed with a simpler symbol ⟨⟩, which technically represents the close front unrounded vowel.
Features
- Its vowel height is near-close, also known as near-high, which means the tongue is not quite so constricted as a close vowel (high vowel).
- Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. The prototypical is somewhat further back (near-front) than the neighboring cardinal vowels.
- It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
-
Sagittal section of a vocal tract pronouncing the IPA sound ⟨ɪ⟩. Note that a wavy glottis in this diagram indicates a voiced sound. -
Spectrogram of
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abenaki | nis | 'two' | The quality varies between near-close [ɪ] and close [i]. See Abenaki phonology | ||
| Afrikaans | Standard | meter | 'meter' | Close-mid. Allophone of in less stressed words and in stressed syllables of polysyllabic words. In the latter case, it is in free variation with the diphthongal realization. See Afrikaans phonology | |
| Arabic | Kuwaiti | بِنْت (bint) | 'girl' | Corresponds to in Classical Arabic. Contrasts with or See Arabic phonology | |
| Lebanese | اكَلِت (akalit) | 'she ate' | |||
| Burmese | မြစ် (mracʻ) | 'root' | Allophone of in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized. | ||
| Catalan | Balearic | mirar | 'to look' | Unstressed allophone of. See Catalan phonology | |
| Valencian | Unstressed allophone of | ||||
| naixement | 'birth' | Unstressed allophone of in the suffix -ixement. In non-standard variants also in contact with palatals and sometimes initial. See Catalan phonology | |||
| Chinese | Shanghainese | 一 (ih) | 'one' | Close-mid; appears only in closed syllables. Phonetically, it is nearly identical to (), which appears only in open syllables. | |
| Czech | Bohemian | byli | 'they were' | The quality has been variously described as near-close near-front and close-mid front. It corresponds to close front in Moravian Czech. See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | Standard | hel | 'whole' | Fully front; contrasts close, near-close and close-mid front unrounded vowels. It is typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩ - the way it is pronounced in the conservative variety. The Danish vowel transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩ is pronounced similarly to the short. See Danish phonology | |
| Dutch | Standard | blik | 'glance' | The Standard Northern realization is near-close, but the Standard Belgian realization has also been described as close-mid. Some regional dialects have a vowel that is slightly closer to the cardinal. See Dutch phonology | |
| English | Californian | bit | 'bit' | Close-mid. See English phonology | |
| General American | |||||
| Estuary | Can be fully front, near-front or close-mid, with other realizations also being possible. | ||||
| Received Pronunciation | Close-mid for younger speakers, near-close for older speakers. | ||||
| General Australian | Fully front; also described as close. See Australian English phonology | ||||
| Inland Northern American | The quality varies between near-close near-front, near-close central, close-mid near-front and close-mid central. | ||||
| Philadelphian | The height varies between near-close and close-mid. | ||||
| Welsh | Near-close in Abercrave and Port Talbot, close-mid in Cardiff. | ||||
| New Zealand | bed | 'bed' | The quality varies between near-close front, near-close near-front, close-mid front and close-mid near-front. It is typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. In the cultivated variety, it is mid. See New Zealand English phonology | ||
| Some Australian speakers | Close-mid in General Australian, may be even lower for some other speakers. See Australian English phonology | ||||
| Some South African speakers | Used by some General and Broad speakers. In the Broad variety, it is usually lower, whereas in the General variety, it can be close-mid instead. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. See South African English phonology | ||||
| French | Quebec | petite | 'small' | Allophone of in closed syllables. See Quebec French phonology | |
| German | Standard | bitte | 'please' | Close-mid; for some speakers, it may be as high as. See Standard German phonology | |
| Hindustani | Hindi | दिल (dil) | 'heart' | Hindustani phonology | |
| Urdu | دل (dil) | ||||
| Hiw | qr̄ē | 'dolphin' | Contrasts both with and with. | ||
| Hungarian | visz | 'to carry' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Icelandic | vinur | 'friend' | Close-mid. See Icelandic phonology | ||
| Kabiye | kabɩyɛ | 'Kabiye' | -ATR front vowel. See Kabiye language | ||
| Kazakh | бір (bır) | 'one' | Close-mid. See Kazakh phonology | ||
| Limburgish | hin | 'chicken' | Near-close or close-mid, depending on the dialect. The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | ||
| Luxembourgish | Been | 'leg' | Fully front. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. See Luxembourgish phonology | ||
| Malay | kecil | 'small' | Allophone of in closed-final syllables. May be [] or [] depending on the speaker. See Malay phonology | ||
| Norwegian | litt | 'a little' | The example word is from Urban East Norwegian, in which the vowel has been variously described as near-close front and close front. See Norwegian phonology | ||
| Portuguese | Brazilian | cine | 'cine' | Reduction and neutralization of unstressed (can be epenthetic), and. Can be voiceless. See Portuguese phonology | |
| Russian | дерево (derevo) | 'tree' | Backness varies between fully front and near-front. It occurs only in unstressed syllables. See Russian phonology | ||
| Saterland Frisian | Dee | 'dough' | Phonetic realization of and. Near-close front in the former case, close-mid near-front in the latter. Phonetically, the latter is nearly identical to (). | ||
| Scottish Gaelic | fios | 'information' | Allophone of before broad consonants and in unstressed syllables. | ||
| Sicilian | unni | 'Where' | Unstressed allophone of. See Sicilian vowel system | ||
| Sinhala | පිරිමි (pirimi) | 'male' | Fully front; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. | ||
| Slovak | rýchly | 'fast' | Typically fully front. See Slovak phonology | ||
| Sotho | ho leka | 'to attempt' | Fully front; contrasts close, near-close and close-mid front unrounded vowels. See Sotho phonology | ||
| Spanish | Eastern Andalusian | mis | 'my' (pl.) | Fully front. It corresponds to in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology | |
| Murcian | |||||
| Swedish | Central Standard | sill | 'herring' | The quality has been variously described as close-mid front, near-close front and close front. See Swedish phonology | |
| Temne | pim | 'pick' | Fully front; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. | ||
| Turkish | müşteri | 'customer' | Allophone of described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology | ||
| Ukrainian | ирій (yrij) | 'Iriy' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Welsh | mynydd | 'mountain' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| Yoruba | kini | 'what' | Fully front; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨⟩. It is nasalized, and may be close instead. | ||
