# Near-open central vowel

IPA: Vowels :
IPA help
 audio
full chart
template
Legend: unrounded • rounded :
The near-open central vowel, or near-low central vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɐ⟩, a rotated lowercase double-story a.
In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol ⟨ʌ⟩, i.e. as if it were open-mid back. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but many speakers use a central vowel like [ɐ] or [ɜ]. To avoid the trap–strut merger, Standard Southern British English is moving away from the [ɐ] quality towards [ʌ] found in RP spoken in the first half of the 20th century (e.g. in Daniel Jones's speech).
Much like ⟨ə⟩, ⟨ɐ⟩ is a versatile symbol that is not defined for roundedness and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central, near-open near-front, near-open near-back, open-mid central, open central or an (often unstressed) vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area. For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with ⟨ɐ⟩, see open central unrounded vowel.
When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different from ⟨ɐ⟩, they are listed in near-open front unrounded vowel and open back unrounded vowel or open back rounded vowel, respectively.
The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a language and then is typically transcribed with ⟨a⟩.

## Features

* Its vowel height is near-open, also known as near-low, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but is slightly more constricted – that is, the tongue is positioned similarly to a low vowel, but slightly higher.
* Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
* It is undefined for roundedness, which means that it can be either rounded or unrounded. In practice however, the unrounded variant is more common.

## Occurrence

In the following list, ⟨ɐ⟩ is assumed to be unrounded. The rounded variant (listen) is transcribed as ⟨ɐ̹⟩. Some instances of the latter may actually be fully open.
| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | сэ / să | [sɐ] | 'I' | Varies between near-open and open-mid [ɜ]. See Adyghe phonology |
| Bengali | Bengali | পা / pa | [pɐ] | 'leg' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. See Bengali phonology |
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian | пара/para | [pɐˈra] | 'coin' | Unstressed allophone of /ɤ/ and /a/. May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. See Bulgarian phonology |
| Burmese | Burmese | မတ်/maat | [mɐʔ] | 'vertical' | Allophone of /a/ in syllables closed by a glottal stop and when nasalized; realized as fully open [ä] in open oral syllables. |
| Catalan | Barcelona metropolitan area | encara | [ɐŋˈkäɾɐ] | 'yet, still, even' | Corresponds to [ə] in other Eastern dialects. See Catalan phonology |
| Chinese | Cantonese | 心 / sam1 | [sɐ̝m˥] | 'heart' | Open-mid. See Cantonese phonology |
| Chinese | Shanghainese | 砍 | [kɐʔ˦] | 'to cut' | Appears only in closed syllables; the exact height and backness is somewhat variable. |
| Danish | Danish | fatter | [ˈfætɐ] | 'understands' | Typically realized the same as /ɔ/, i.e. [ɒ̽]. Other possible realizations are [ɐ] and [ə̠]. See Danish phonology |
| Dinka | Luanyjang | laŋ | [lɐ́ŋ] | 'berry' | Short allophone of /a/; varies between near-open [ɐ] and open-mid [ɐ̝]. |
| Emilian | Emilian | Bulåggna | [buˈlʌɲːɐ] | 'Bologna' | Centralized /a/. |
| English | California | nut | [nɐt] | 'nut' | See English phonology |
| English | Cockney | nut | [nɐ̟ʔ] | 'nut' | Near-front. |
| English | East Anglian | nut | [nɐʔ] | 'nut' | Used in some places (e.g. Colchester) instead of the traditional [ʌ]. |
| English | New Zealand | nut | [nɐʔt] | 'nut' | Varies between near-open near-front [ɐ̟], near-open central [ɐ], open near-front [a̠] and open central [ɐ̞]. See New Zealand English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | nut | [nɐʔt] | 'nut' | Increasingly retracted to [ʌ] to avoid the trap-strut merger. See English phonology |
| English | Inland Northern American | bet | [bɐt] | 'bet' | Variation of /ɛ/ used in some places whose accents have undergone the Northern cities vowel shift. |
| English | Middle Class London | lot | [lɐ̹ʔt] | 'lot' | Rounded; can be back [ɒ] instead. See English phonology |
| English | Australian | comma | [ˈkɔmɐ] | 'comma' | Alternatively lowered from word-final [ə]. See Australian English phonology |
| Galician | Galician | feita | [ˈfejt̪ɐ] | 'done' | Realization of final unstressed /a/. See Galician phonology |
| German | Standard | Oper | | 'opera' | The exact height, backness and roundedness is somewhere between [ä] and [ɔ], depending on the environment. Sometimes, an opening diphthong of the [əɐ̯]-type is used instead. In Northern Standard German, the short [ä] is raised to [ɐ] when unstressed, rendering Opa 'grandpa' homophonous with Oper. See Standard German phonology |
| German | Regional northern accents | kommen | [ˈkʰɐmən] | 'to come' | Varies between central [ɐ] and back [ɑ]; corresponds to an open-mid rounded [ɔ] in Standard German. See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Modern Standard | ακακία / akakía | [ɐkɐˈc̠i.ɐ] | 'acacia' | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Hausa | Hausa | | | | Possible allophone of /a/, which can be as close as [ə] and as open as [ä]. |
| Hindustani | Hindustani | दस/دَس/das | [ˈd̪ɐs] | 'ten' | Common realization of /ə/. See Hindustani phonology |
| Korean | Korean | 하나 / hana | [hɐnɐ] | 'one' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. See Korean phonology |
| Kumzari | Kumzari | گپ / gap | [ɡɐ̟p] | 'large' | Near-front. |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian | väöl | [vɐ̹ːl] | 'much' | Rounded; contrasts with the open-mid [ɞː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless). It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɶː⟩, as it is a phonological front vowel. |
| Limburgish | Venlo dialect | aan | [ˈɐːn] | 'on' | Corresponds to [aː] in other dialects. |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian | kas | [kɐs̪] | 'what' | See Lithuanian phonology |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | Kanner | [ˈkʰɑnɐ̠] | 'children' | Near-back. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Malayalam | Malayalam | പത്ത് | [pɐt̪ːɨ̆] | 'ten' | See Malayalam phonology |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | karü | [ˈkɐ̝ʐɘ̝] | 'green' | Open-mid; often transcribed in IPA with ⟨a⟩. |
| Norwegian | Østfold dialect | bada | [ˈbɐ̹̂ːdɐ] | 'to bathe' | The example word illustrates both the rounded [ɐ̹] and the unrounded [ɐ]. |
| Piedmontese | Eastern Piedmont | pauta | [ˈpɑwtɐ] | 'mud' | Common realization of final unstressed /a/. |
| Portuguese | Portuguese | aja | | 'act' (subj.) | Closer [ɐ̝] in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese ([ɐ]). See Portuguese phonology |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਖੰਡ / کھنڈ | [ˈkʰɐ̌ɳɖᵊ] | 'sugar' | Common realization of /ə/, the inherent vowel of Punjabi. See Punjabi phonology |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਪਊਆ / پوّا | [pɐwːä] | 'metric half pint' | Can occur as realization of tense /i/ or /u/ in some contexts followed by a geminate semi-vowel. |
| Romanian | Moldavian dialects | bărbat | [bɐrˈbat] | 'man' | Corresponds to [ə] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Standard Moscow | голова / golova | | 'head' | Corresponds to [ʌ] in standard Saint Petersburg pronunciation; occurs mostly immediately before stressed syllables. See Russian phonology |
| Sabiny | Sabiny | | | | Contrasts overshort unrounded and overshort rounded near-open central vowels. |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | слива / slyva | [ˈslɪwɐ] | 'plum' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | chếch | [cɐ̆jk̚] | 'askance' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə̆⟩. See Vietnamese phonology |
| Xumi | Xumi | [tsʰɐ˦] | [tsʰɐ˦] | 'salt' | Near-open [ɐ] in Lower Xumi, open-mid [ɐ̝] in Upper Xumi. The latter phone may be transcribed with ⟨ɜ⟩. The example word is from Lower Xumi. |