Close back rounded vowel

IPA Number	308
Audio sample
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Encoding
X-SAMPA	u
Image

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.

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 in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurs in

• English: (RP and GA) boot [buːt]. The realization of this vowel in English is typically fronter than the cardinal vowel [u]; it can be nearly as far forward as [ʉ], the close central rounded vowel.
• French: fou [fu], 'crazy'
• German: Fuß [fuːs], 'foot'
• Portuguese: urso [uɾsu], 'bear'
• Spanish: cura [kuɾa], 'preach'

The vowel transcribed as [u] in Swedish is somewhat different, being inrounded rather than outrounded as is the prototypical [u]. There is no symbol or diacritic for this in the IPA.

• Swedish: oro , 'unease', 'worry'