Close central rounded vowel

For the use of /ʉ/ on Wikipedia, see Help:IPA for English.

Close central rounded vowel
ʉ
ü
IPA Number	318
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʉ
Unicode (hex)	U+0289
X-SAMPA	}
Braille
Image

The close central rounded vowel, or high central 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 ⟨ʉ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ⟨}⟩. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as "barred u".

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low".

In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips (endolabial). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed (exolabial).

There is also a near-close central rounded vowel in some languages.

Close central protruded vowel

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •[[|i]][[|y]] •[[|ɨ]][[|ʉ]] •[[|ɯ]][[|u]] •[[|ɪ]][[|ʏ]] •[[|ɪ̈]][[|ʊ̈]] •[[|ɯ̽]][[|ʊ]] •[[|e]][[|ø]] •[[|ɘ]][[|ɵ]] •[[|ɤ]][[|o]] •[[|e̞]][[|ø̞]] •[[|ə]][[|ɵ̞]] •[[|ɤ̞]][[|o̞]] •[[|ɛ]][[|œ]] •[[|ɜ]][[|ɞ]] •[[|ʌ]][[|ɔ]] •[[|æ]] •[[|ɐ]][[|ɞ̞]] •[[|a]][[|ɶ]] •[[|ä]][[|ɒ̈]] •[[|ɑ]][[|ɒ]] Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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• Its vowel height is close, also known as high, 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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• Its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Armenian	Some Eastern dialects	յուղ	[jʉʁ]	'oil'	Allophone of /u/ after /j/
Berber	Ayt Seghrouchen	?	[lːæjˈɡːʉɾ]	'he goes'	Allophone of /u/ after velar consonants.
English	Australian	choose	[t͡ʃʉːz]	'choose'	In Australian English it's fronted [ʉ̟ː]. In Cockney and Estuary English it's often a diphthong [ʊʉ̯~əʉ̯]. In Scotland and the Scouse accent it can be more front, while in Geordie it can be more back. The exact length also varies between dialects. See Australian English phonology and English phonology
	Central Eastern American
	Cockney
	Estuary
	Modern RP speakers
	New Zealand
	Norfolk
	Scottish
	Scouse
	Some speakers of Geordie
	South African
	Southern American
	Ulster				Long allophone of /u/. See English phonology
German	Basel dialect	Muus	[mʉːs]	'mouse'	Corresponds to [uː] in other Swiss German dialects.
	Dialect of Markgräflerland
	Chemnitz dialect	Buden	[ˈpʉːtn̩]	'booths'	See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Hausa					Allophone of /u/.
Ibibio	Dialect of the Uruan area and Uyo	[fʉ́ʉk]		'cover many things/times'	Allophone of /u/ between consonants.
	Some dialects				Phonemic; contrasts with /u/.
Irish	Munster	ciúin	[cʉ̠ːnʲ]	'quiet'	Somewhat retracted; allophone of /u/ between slender consonants. See Irish phonology
	Ulster	úllaí	[ʉ̠ɫ̪i]	'apples'	Somewhat retracted; may be transcribed /u/.
Lüsu		[lʉ55zʉ53]		'Lüsu'
Russian		кюрий	[ˈkʲʉrʲɪj]	'curium'	Allophone of /u/ between palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Tamil		ஆனால்	[äːnäːlʉ]	'but'	Epenthetic vowel inserted in colloquial speech after word-final liquids; can be unrounded [ɨ] instead. See Tamil phonology

Close central compressed vowel

Close central compressed vowel
ÿ
ɏ
ɨᵝ
ɨ͡β̞

As there is no official diacritic for compression in the IPA, the centering diacritic is used with the front rounded vowel [y], which is normally compressed. Another possibility is ⟨ɏ⟩, a centralized [y] by analogy with the other close central vowels. Other possible transcriptions are ⟨ɨ͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [ɨ] and labial compression) and ⟨ɨᵝ⟩ ([ɨ] modified with labial compression).

Features

• Its vowel height is close, also known as high, 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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• Its roundedness is compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

Occurrence

This vowel is typically transcribed with ⟨ʉ⟩. It also occurs in some dialects of Swedish, but see also close front compressed vowel. The close back vowels of Norwegian and Swedish are also compressed. See close back compressed vowel. Medumba has a compressed central vowel [ɨᵝ] where the corners of the mouth are not drawn together.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	Some younger speakers	空気/kūki	[kÿːki]	'air'	Near-back [u͍] for other speakers. See Japanese phonology
Norwegian		hus	[hÿːs]	'house'	See Norwegian phonology
Swedish		ful	[fÿːl]	'ugly'	See Swedish phonology

See also

• Close back compressed vowel
• Close front protruded vowel