| Close back compressed vowel | |
|---|---|
| u͍ | |
| ɯᵝ |
Some languages, such as Japanese listen and Swedish, are found with a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial. No language is known to contrast this with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close back vowel.
There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨β⟩ as ⟨ɯ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous and labial compression) or ⟨ɯᵝ⟩ ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨ ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨u͍⟩ as an ad hoc symbol.
Read more about this topic: Close Back Rounded Vowel
Famous quotes containing the words close, compressed and/or vowel:
“It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell”—and tore it up.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Give up the belief that mind is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You will understand yourself and your Maker better than before.”
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910)
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)