Close back rounded vowel
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	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i · y ɨ · ʉ ɯ · u ɪ · ʏ ɪ̈ · ʊ̈ ʊ e · ø ɘ · ɵ ɤ · o ə ɛ · œ ɜ · ɞ ʌ · ɔ æ ɐ a · ɶ ɑ · ɒ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

IPA – number	308
IPA – text	u
Entity	u
X-SAMPA	u
Kirshenbaum	u
Sound sample (help·info)

The close back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is u, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.

In most languages this vowel is exolabial (with pursed lips). However, in a few cases it is endolabial (compressed).

Exolabial (pursed)

In most languages, closed back rounded vowels are pronounced with pursed lips.

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 roundedness is exolabial, which means that the lips are pursed and protrude, with the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Standard	جنوب	[ʒɑnuːb]	'south'	See Arabic phonology
Catalan1		suc	[suk]	'juice'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	菇/gu1	[guː]	'mushroom'	See Standard Cantonese
	Mandarin	哭/kū	[ku˥]	'to cry'	See Standard Mandarin
Croatian		u	[u]	'in'
Dutch		voet	[vuːt]	'foot'	See Dutch phonology
English	GA	boot	[bu̟ːˀt]	'boot'	Typically more front than cardinal [u]. See English phonology
	RP2
Faroese		ur	[uːr]	'(wrist-)watch'
Finnish		kukka	[ˈkukːɑ]	'flower'	See Finnish phonology
French3		où	[u] (help·info)	'where'	See French phonology
Georgian4		გუდა	[gudɑ]	'leather bag'
German		Fuß	[fuːs]	'foot'	See German phonology
Greek		ουρανός	[ˌuraˈno̞s̠]	'sky'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew		תמונה	[tmuna]	'image'	Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Hebrew phonology
Hungarian		unalmas	[unɒlmɒʃ]	'boring'	See Hungarian phonology
Irish		gasúr	[ˈgasˠuːɾˠ]	'boy'	See Irish phonology
Italian5		tutta	[ˈtutta]	'all' (fem.)	See Italian phonology
Norwegian		mot	[muːt]	'courage'	See Norwegian phonology
Polish6		buk	[buk] (help·info)	'beech tree'	Also represented by <ó>. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	European7	urso	[ˈuɾsu]	'bear'	See Portuguese phonology
	Brazilian8		[ˈuɾsʊ]
Romanian		unu	[ˈunu]	'one'	See Romanian phonology
Russian9		узкий	[ˈuskʲɪj]	'narrow'	See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		gu	[gu]	'to'
Serbian		жут /žut	[ʒut]	'yellow'
Slovak		u	[u]	'at'
Spanish10		curable	[kuˈɾable]	'curable'	See Spanish phonology
Turkish		uçak	[utʃak]	'airplane'	See Turkish phonology
Vietnamese		tu	[tū]	'to mediate'	See Vietnamese phonology

Endolabial (compressed)

Some languages, such as Japanese, are found with a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called endolabial or compressed. No language is known to contrast this with the more typical exolabial or pursed close back vowel.

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 roundedness is endolabial, which means that the corners of the mouth are drawn slightly together and the lips are compressed horizontally, but do not protrude.

Occurrence

As there is no official diacritic for compression in the IPA, the spread-lip diacritic [  ͍ ] will be used here with the rounded vowels as an ad hoc symbol. Another possibility would be the old diacritic for labialization, [  ̫ ].

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Japanese		空気/kuuki	[ku͍ːki]	'air'	See Japanese phonology
Swedish		oro	[ù͍β̞ru͍β̞] (help·info)	'unease'	Contrasts with a close central and close front compressed vowel. See Swedish phonology

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography

• Barbosa, Plínio A. & Eleonora C. Albano (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 227-232
• Carbonell, Joan F. & Joaquim Llisterri (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53-56
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90-94
• Fougeron, Cecile & Caroline L Smith (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73-76
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103-107
• Jones, Daniel & Ward Dennis (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Ana Ma. Fernández-Planas & Josefina Carrera-Sabaté (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255-259
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 239-245
• Rogers, Derek & Luciana d'Arcangeli (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117-121
• Shosted, Ryan K. & Chikovani Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255-264
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37-41