Mid front unrounded vowel | |
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e̞ | |
ɛ̝ | |
IPA Number | 302 430 |
Audio sample | |
source · help | |
Encoding | |
Entity (decimal) | e̞ |
Unicode (hex) | U+0065 U+031E |
X-SAMPA | e_o |
Braille |
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
The mid front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound that is used in some spoken languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the exact mid front unrounded vowel between close-mid and open-mid , but it is normally written ⟨e⟩. If precision is required, diacritics may be used, such as ⟨e̞⟩ or ⟨ɛ̝⟩ (the former, indicating lowering, being more common). In Sinology and Koreanology, ⟨ᴇ⟩ is sometimes used, for example in the Zhengzhang Shangfang reconstructions or in Chao Yuen Ren Grammar of Spoken Chinese.
For many of the languages that have only one phonemic front unrounded vowel in the mid-vowel area (neither close nor open), the vowel is pronounced as a true mid vowel and is phonetically distinct from either a close-mid or open-mid vowel. Examples are Basque, Spanish, Romanian, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Greek, Hejazi Arabic, Serbo-Croatian and Korean (Seoul dialect). A number of dialects of English also have such a mid front vowel. However, there is no general predisposition. Igbo and Egyptian Arabic, for example, have a close-mid , and Bulgarian has an open-mid , but none of these languages have another phonemic mid front vowel.
Kensiu, spoken in Malaysia and Thailand, is claimed to be unique in having true-mid vowels that are phonemically distinct from both close-mid and open-mid vowels, without differences in other parameters such as backness or roundedness.
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
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Afrikaans | Standard | bed | 'bed' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. The height varies between mid and close-mid . See Afrikaans phonology | |
Arabic | Hejazi | بـيـت / bēt | 'home' | See Hejazi Arabic phonology | |
Breton | Possible realization of unstressed /ɛ/; can be open-mid or close-mid instead. | ||||
Chinese | Mandarin | 也 / yě | 'also' | See Standard Chinese phonology | |
Czech | Bohemian | led | 'ice' | Near-front; may be open-mid instead. See Czech phonology | |
Dutch | Some speakers | zet | 'shove' (n.) | Open-mid in Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology | |
English | Broad New Zealand | cat | 'cat' | Lower in other New Zealand varieties; corresponds to in other accents. See New Zealand English phonology | |
Cockney | bird | 'bird' | Near-front; occasional realization of /ɜː/. It can be rounded or, more often, unrounded central instead. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. | ||
Cultivated New Zealand | let | 'let' | Higher in other New Zealand varieties. See New Zealand English phonology | ||
Received Pronunciation | Many speakers pronounce a more open vowel instead. See English phonology | ||||
Inland Northern American | bit | 'bit' | Near-front, may be (also in Scotland) instead for other speakers. See Northern Cities vowel shift | ||
Scottish | |||||
Yorkshire | play | 'play' | |||
Estonian | sule | 'feather' (gen. sg.) | Common word-final allophone of /e/. See Estonian phonology | ||
Finnish | menen | 'I go' | See Finnish phonology | ||
German | Standard | Bett | 'bed' | More often described as open-mid front . See Standard German phonology | |
Bernese dialect | rède | 'to speak' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. See Bernese German phonology | ||
Greek | Modern Standard | πες / pes | 'say!' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
Hebrew | כן/ken | 'yes' | Hebrew vowels are not shown in the script, see Niqqud and Modern Hebrew phonology | ||
Hungarian | hét | 'seven' | Also described as close-mid . See Hungarian phonology | ||
Ibibio | 'look' | ||||
Icelandic | kenna | 'to teach' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. The long allophone is often diphthongized to . See Icelandic phonology | ||
Italian | Standard | crederci | 'to believe' | Common realization of the unstressed /e/. See Italian phonology | |
Northern accents | penso | 'I think' | Common realization of /e/. See Italian phonology | ||
Japanese | 笑み/emi | 'smile' | See Japanese phonology | ||
Jebero | 'bat' | Near-front; possible realization of /ɘ/. | |||
Korean | 내가 / naega | 'I' | Pronunciation of ⟨ɛ⟩. See Korean phonology | ||
Latvian | ēst | 'to eat' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨e⟩. | ||
Limburgish | Maastrichtian | bèd | 'bed' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology and Weert dialect phonology | |
Weert dialect | zègke | 'to say' | |||
Low Saxon | Gelders-Overijssels and Drents | èèt zie? | 'do they eat?' | Only around the border of eten - èten, vs | |
Macedonian | Standard | мед | 'honey' | ||
Malay | Standard | elok | 'good' | See Malay phonology | |
Norwegian | Urban East | nett | 'net' | See Norwegian phonology | |
Romanian | fete | 'girls' | See Romanian phonology | ||
Russian | человек | 'human' | Occurs only after soft consonants. See Russian phonology | ||
Serbo-Croatian | тек / tek | 'only' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | ||
Slovak | Standard | behať | 'to run' | See Slovak phonology | |
Slovene | velikan | 'giant' | Unstressed vowel, as well as an allophone of /e/ before /j/ when a vowel does not follow within the same word. See Slovene phonology | ||
Spanish | bebé | 'baby' | See Spanish phonology | ||
Swedish | Central Standard | häll | 'flat rock' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ⟩. Many dialects pronounce short /e/ and /ɛ/ the same. See Swedish phonology | |
Tera | ze | 'spoke' | |||
Turkish | ev | 'house' | See Turkish phonology | ||
Upper Sorbian | njebjo | 'sky' | Allophone of /ɛ/ between soft consonants and after a soft consonant, excluding /j/ in both cases. | ||
Yoruba | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɛ̃⟩. It is nasalized, and may be open-mid instead. |