Close-mid front rounded vowel

The close-mid front rounded vowel, also called the high-mid front rounded vowel, is a special sound used in some spoken languages. This sound is written with a special symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet: ⟨ø⟩. This symbol looks like a lowercase letter o with a line through it.

This symbol comes from languages in Scandinavia, such as Danish, Norwegian, and Faroese, where the letter ⟨ø⟩ is used to show this sound. In French, this sound is shown using two letters together, like ⟨eu⟩ or ⟨œu⟩. In other languages, such as Swedish, Icelandic, Estonian, and Finnish, the sound is written with the letter ⟨ö⟩.

This vowel sound is important for understanding how different languages work and how people say words. It helps us see the variety of sounds that exist in the world.

Close-mid front compressed vowel

The close-mid front compressed vowel is a special sound used in some languages. It is written with the symbol ⟨ø⟩. This symbol comes from languages like Danish and Norwegian, where it is used to show this exact sound.

This vowel sound is made by positioning the tongue halfway between a high vowel and a mid vowel, and placing it toward the front of the mouth. The lips are pressed together tightly, which is called "compressed" rounding.

Close-mid front protruded vowel

Some languages, like those spoken in Scandinavia, have a special kind of vowel sound where the front vowels are rounded by pushing the lips forward. Swedish, for example, can show the difference between two types of rounded sounds in front vowels.

Since there isn't a special symbol to show this exact sound, we can use an old symbol for rounding, ⟨  ̫⟩, to represent it. Another way to write it is ⟨øʷ⟩ or ⟨eʷ⟩, but this might look like a sound that changes quickly.

This close-mid front protruded vowel is a sound that sits between the more common rounded close-mid front vowel [ø] and the unrounded close-mid front vowel [e].

Features

• Its vowel height is close-mid, meaning the tongue is halfway between a high position and a middle position.
• Its vowel backness is front, so the tongue is toward the front of the mouth.
• Its roundedness is protruded, meaning the lips are rounded by pushing them together.

Occurrence