The open-mid back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound used in various spoken languages, in which the tongue body is raised to a height midway between that of a mid vowel and an open vowel, positioned toward the back of the oral cavity, while the lips remain unrounded and neutral.[1] This articulatory configuration results in a relatively open oral space without lip protrusion, distinguishing it from rounded back vowels like [ɔ].[2]In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the sound is represented by the symbol ʌ, known as the "turned v," with IPA chart number 314; it serves as the reference for cardinal vowel 14, a standardized reference point defined by phonetician Daniel Jones for consistent cross-linguistic comparison.[1][3] Acoustically, it typically features a first formant frequency (F1) around 700 Hz, indicating its open-mid height, and a second formant (F2) around 1300 Hz, reflecting its back position.[4]The vowel is notably present in many varieties of English as the "strut" phoneme /ʌ/, heard in words such as but, cup, and love, where it contrasts with the central schwa [ə] in unstressed positions.[5] It also appears in various other languages, though its realization can vary slightly by context or regional accent. In phonetic transcription, care is taken to distinguish it from near-open central vowels, as its back quality affects both perception and production.[2]
Notation and Representation
IPA Symbol and Chart Position
The open-mid back unrounded vowel is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) by the symbol ʌ, graphically a rotated lowercase "v" known as the turned v.[6] It occupies the open-mid height in the back column of the IPA vowel chart, serving as the reference for cardinal vowel 14. This symbol, with IPA number 314, standardizes its articulation for cross-linguistic comparisons.[6]
Orthographic Conventions
The orthographic conventions for the open-mid back unrounded vowel /ʌ/ are primarily documented in English, where it functions as a distinct phoneme in the STRUT lexical set and exhibits irregular spelling patterns due to the language's mixed etymological influences. The most common representation is the letter "u" in closed syllables, as seen in words like "but", "cut", and "sun", where the vowel is short and stressed.[7] Another frequent pattern is the letter "o" in monosyllabic or multisyllabic words of Romance or other non-Germanic origin, such as "love", "come", and "month".[7] The digraph "ou" appears in combinations like "country" and "double", while the less common "oo" is used in exceptions like "blood".[7] These variations stem from historical sound changes and loanword integration rather than a unified phonemic principle, making prediction challenging without context.[8]In linguistic transcription outside the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), where /ʌ/ serves as the universal reference symbol, conventions may employ diacritics for precision in broad orthographies or dialectal notations. The breve (e.g., <ŏ>) can indicate a short open-mid quality in some systems, though it is more typically associated with central vowels, while inverted symbols or modified (e.g., <ɑ̝> with raising diacritic) approximate the back unrounded articulation in non-IPA phonetic alphabets like the Americanist tradition.[9] Such diacritics are used sparingly in practical writing to denote allophonic or dialectal variants without full IPA adoption.Language-specific rules for /ʌ/ are limited outside English, as the vowel is rare as a phoneme globally and often allophonic or dialectal elsewhere. In non-Latin scripts, such as the Arabic script used for certain dialects of Persian where /ʌ/ may occur, it is typically approximated with short vowel diacritics like fatha (َ) without a dedicated symbol, lacking standardization.[10] Overall, orthographic treatment emphasizes contextual and historical factors over consistent letter-to-sound mapping.
Phonetic Characteristics
Articulatory Description
The open-mid back unrounded vowel is produced by raising the body of the tongue to an open-mid height—midway between a close-mid and a fully open position—and retracting it toward the back of the oral cavity, with the tongue root somewhat advanced to avoid excessive pharyngeal constriction. This positioning creates a relatively open vocal tract while maintaining back resonance, distinguishing it from more central or front vowels. The tongue remains relatively flat, with minimal bunching or arching, to ensure a steady airflow.[11][12]The lips adopt an unrounded configuration, held in a neutral or slightly spread position without protrusion or pursing, which contrasts sharply with the lip rounding observed in many back vowels like or [ɔ]. This unrounding contributes to the vowel's distinct timbre by allowing greater oral openness. The jaw is lowered to a moderate degree, sufficient to accommodate the tongue's elevation without excessive gaping, while the pharynx widens slightly to enhance the backward airflow and resonance.[11][13]In the cardinal vowel system, this sound aligns with vowel 14, representing the unrounded open-mid back position and serving as a precise midpoint between close-mid and open heights, analogous to the standard rounded /ɔ/ but without lip involvement. Individual variations in production arise from anatomical differences, such as variations in palate shape, vocal tract length, or jaw mobility, which can shift the exact tongue retraction or height slightly among speakers.[11][14]
Acoustic Properties
The acoustic properties of the open-mid back unrounded vowel are primarily defined by its formant structure, which arises from the resonance characteristics of the vocal tract during production. The first formant (F1) typically ranges from 600 to 800 Hz, reflecting the intermediate tongue height between open and close-mid positions, while the second formant (F2) falls between 1100 and 1400 Hz, indicative of a back tongue position with unrounded lip configuration.[15] These values position the vowel acoustically between higher-F1 open back unrounded vowels like [ɑ] (F1 ≈ 750–900 Hz) and lower-F1 close-mid back unrounded vowels like [ɤ] (F1 ≈ 500–600 Hz).[16]In cross-linguistic studies, formant averages for this vowel vary by speaker gender and language. For Standard Southern British English speakers, measurements from spectrograms yield F1 ≈ 660 Hz and F2 ≈ 1190 Hz for males, and F1 ≈ 830 Hz and F2 ≈ 1400 Hz for females, based on productions in connected speech.[16] Comparable data from cardinal vowel references show F1 ≈ 707 Hz and F2 ≈ 1354 Hz, emphasizing the vowel's central-back quality in idealized productions.[15]Spectral characteristics further distinguish this vowel: its F1 is lower than that of fully open vowels (e.g., [ɑ] with F1 > 750 Hz), contributing to a less "dark" timbre, while unrounded lips elevate F2 by approximately 100–200 Hz relative to rounded equivalents like [ɔ] (F2 ≈ 900–1100 Hz), enhancing perceptual backness without the lowering effect of lip protrusion.[16] Back vowels like this one exhibit stronger low-frequency energy below 1000 Hz due to the elongated rear vocal tract cavity, resulting in greater spectral prominence in the F1 region compared to front vowels.[17]Duration and intensity are context-dependent, with the vowel generally longer in stressed positions (averaging 150–250 ms in English) than unstressed ones, promoting clearer formant resolution.[16] Intensity peaks in low-frequency bands for back unrounded vowels, often 3–6 dB higher than in front vowels, owing to efficient energy transfer in the pharyngeal cavity.[18]These properties are measured using spectrographic analysis in phonetics software like Praat, which employs linear predictive coding to track formant frequencies from digitized speech waveforms, enabling precise quantification across speakers and languages.
Language/Variety
Gender
F1 (Hz)
F2 (Hz)
Source
Standard Southern British English
Male
660
1190
Deterding (1997)[16]
Standard Southern British English
Female
830
1400
Deterding (1997)[16]
Cardinal Reference
Mixed
707
1354
Hayes (n.d.)[15]
Distribution in Languages
Phonemic Examples
The open-mid back unrounded vowel, represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʌ/, functions as a distinct phoneme in various languages, distinguishing meaning through contrast with other vowels. In English, /ʌ/ is a fundamental phoneme in the vowel inventory, realized in stressed syllables with words such as cup /kʌp/, love /lʌv/, and strut /strʌt/ [19]. It participates in phonemic contrasts, such as bud /bʌd/ versus bed /bɛd/ or bad /bæd/, where substitution alters word meaning [20].In Korean, /ʌ/ is one of the core monophthongs, transcribed as ㅓ in Hangul and appearing in words like eomma /ʌm.ma/ ("mother") and eodi /ʌ.di/ ("where") [21]. This vowel contrasts with nearby phonemes like /a/, as in minimal pairs such as gal /kal/ ("go") versus geol /kʌl/ ("to hang"), that shift semantic interpretation [22].Vietnamese includes /ʌ/ as a phoneme, orthographically â, in examples like cân /kʌn/ ("to weigh" or "scale") and mâ /mʌ/ ("cheek") [23]. Here, it contrasts with /ă/ (near-open central) in pairs like căn /kăŋ/ versus cân /kʌn/, highlighting height and backness differences [24].Globally, /ʌ/ appears as a phoneme in 133 documented language inventories, comprising about 4% of phonological systems cataloged in the PHOIBLE database, with notable prevalence in Indo-European languages like English and Austroasiatic languages like Vietnamese, as well as isolates such as Korean; it is less common in Romance languages, where back mid vowels tend to be rounded equivalents [25]. In Germanic languages beyond English, such as certain dialects of Dutch, approximations of /ʌ/ occur in open syllables but often merge with /a/ or central vowels, limiting its phonemic status [26].
Allophonic Variations
In English, the open-mid back unrounded vowel [ʌ], as in the STRUT lexical set (e.g., "cut," "sun"), shows positional allophones influenced by stress and syllable structure. Under stress, it is typically realized as [ʌ] or a more centralized [ɐ], while in unstressed positions, it often reduces to a mid-central [ə], functioning as an allophone of the same phoneme in many dialects, including General American.[27] In closed syllables, the vowel may shorten and slightly raise toward [ɐ̝], whereas in open syllables, it exhibits marginal lengthening for emphasis.[28]Coarticulatory effects notably include nasalization when [ʌ] precedes or follows nasal consonants, producing [ʌ̃] as in "sun" [sʌ̃n] or "bum" [bʌ̃m], due to anticipatory or perseverative lowering of the velum.[29] This process is gradient and widespread in English, with acoustic studies showing increased nasal formant transitions and reduced oral airflow during the vowel. Fronting occurs in palatal or coronal contexts, such as before /j/ or /ʃ/, shifting [ʌ] toward [ɜ] for smoother articulation.[20]Dialectal differences further diversify its realization. In Received Pronunciation, [ʌ] is central and near-open [ɐ], less backed than the cardinal vowel.[30] Southern US English varieties often front and raise it to [ɜ] or [ə̈] as part of the Southern Vowel Shift, contrasting with the narrower, backer [ʌ] in Midwestern dialects.[28] In Australian English, it may broaden toward [ɒ]-like openness in casual speech.Environmental influences affect duration and quality: [ʌ] lengthens slightly in open syllables (e.g., "above" [əˈbʌv]) compared to shortening before clusters (e.g., "jump" [dʒʌmp]), impacting perceived height.[20] Phonetic processes like assimilation with surrounding consonants can cause minor height adjustments, such as slight backing before velars [ŋ, k] in words like "sung" [sʌŋ].[31] These variations remain sub-phonemic, preserving contrasts with neighboring vowels like /ʊ/ or /ɑ/.
Comparisons and Relations
With Close-Mid Back Unrounded Vowel
The open-mid back unrounded vowel /ʌ/ contrasts with the close-mid back unrounded vowel /ɤ/ mainly through differences in tongue height, with /ʌ/ produced by lowering the tongue body further in the vocal tract compared to the higher positioning for /ɤ/. This articulatory distinction results in /ʌ/ having a more open acoustic quality, characterized by a higher first formant frequency (F1) of approximately 700 Hz for /ʌ/ versus around 600 Hz for /ɤ/, while both share similar backness with second formant (F2) values around 1300–1600 Hz.[15] These formant values, derived from acoustic analyses, underscore how the greater pharyngeal expansion in /ʌ/ amplifies lower-frequency resonances, contributing to its perceptually "darker" timbre relative to the brighter quality of /ɤ/.Phonemic distinctions between /ʌ/ and /ɤ/ are rare, as few languages maintain both unrounded back mid vowels in their inventories. In languages where back unrounded vowels occur, the height contrast often relies on F1 spacing for perceptual identification, with listeners using the expanded formant dispersion of /ʌ/ to categorize it as lower and more retracted.Phonemic mergers directly blurring /ʌ/ and /ɤ/ are uncommon due to their stable height contrast where both appear, though vowel reduction in unstressed positions can affect clarity of mid back vowels. In some English dialects, /ʌ/ may centralize or raise slightly, but English lacks a phonemic /ɤ/.Historical vowel shifts occasionally involve raising or lowering of mid back unrounded vowels under prosodic pressures, altering systemic contrasts in descendant languages. Such changes highlight how /ʌ/ can evolve phonetically closer to /ɤ/ over time in certain contexts.
With Open Back Unrounded Vowel
The open-mid back unrounded vowel /ʌ/ contrasts with the open back unrounded vowel /ɑ/ primarily in vowel height, with /ɑ/ involving a lower tongue position and more open oral cavity. Acoustically, this is reflected in a slightly higher F1 for /ɑ/ (around 750–800 Hz) compared to /ʌ/ (700 Hz), with both having low F2 values indicative of backness (around 1100–1300 Hz for /ʌ/, somewhat lower for /ɑ/).[15] The greater openness of /ɑ/ results in a more retracted and "hollow" quality.Many languages phonemically distinguish /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, such as in English where /ʌ/ appears in "strut" and /ɑː/ in "father," maintaining lexical contrasts through height and duration differences. In other Indo-European languages like German, similar oppositions occur in words like "Stuhl" /ʃtʊl/ (with raised variants) vs. open back in certain dialects. Perceptual identification relies on F1 differences, with the lower F1 of /ʌ/ signaling its mid height.Mergers between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/ can occur in dialects, such as the father–bother merger in some North American English varieties, where both are realized as [ɑ]. Historical shifts, like those in Romance languages, may lower /ʌ/-like vowels toward /ɑ/ under stress reduction.