# Open back unrounded vowel

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The open back unrounded vowel, or low back unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɑ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A. The letter ⟨ɑ⟩ is called script a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, ɒ, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.
In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda) there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal [ɑ] and [ʌ]), which can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɑ̝⟩ or ⟨ʌ̞⟩.

## Features

* Its vowel height is open, also known as low, which means the tongue is positioned far from the roof of the mouth – that is, low in the mouth.
* Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
* It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Afrikaans | Standard | daar | [dɑːr] | 'there' | The quality varies between open near-back unrounded [ɑ̟ː], open back unrounded [ɑː] and even open back rounded [ɒː]. See Afrikaans phonology |
| Äiwoo | Äiwoo | kânongä | [kɑnoŋæ] | 'I want' | |
| Arabic | Standard | طويل / ṭawīl | [tˤɑˈwiːl] | 'tall' | Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology |
| Arabic | Essaouira | قال / qāl | [qɑːl] | 'he said' | One of the possible realisations of /ā/. |
| Armenian | Eastern | հաց / hacʿ | [hɑt͡sʰ] | 'bread' | |
| Azerbaijani | Azerbaijani | qardaş | [ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ] | 'brother' | Near-open. |
| Bashkir | Bashkir | ҡаҙ / qađ | | 'goose' | |
| Catalan | Many dialects | pal | [ˈpɑɫ] | 'stick' | Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants. See Catalan phonology |
| Catalan | Some dialects | mà | [ˈmɑ] | 'hand' | More central ([ɑ̟], [ä]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan. |
| Catalan | Some Valencian and Majorcan speakers | lloc | [ˈʎ̟ɑk] | 'place' | Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents. Can be centralized. |
| Catalan | Some southern Valencian speakers | bou | [ˈbɑw] | 'bull' | Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w]. Can be centralized. |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 棒 / bàng | | 'stick' | Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Dutch | Standard | bad | [bɑt] | 'bath' | Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back. In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to [ɑ̝̈]. See Dutch phonology |
| Dutch | Leiden | bad | [bɑ̝t] | 'bath' | Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead. See Dutch phonology |
| Dutch | Rotterdam | bad | [bɑ̝t] | 'bath' | Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead. See Dutch phonology |
| Dutch | Amsterdam | aap | [ɑːp] | 'monkey' | Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch. |
| Dutch | Antwerp | aap | [ɑːp] | 'monkey' | Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch. |
| Dutch | Utrecht | aap | [ɑːp] | 'monkey' | Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch. |
| Dutch | The Hague | nauw | [nɑː] | 'narrow' | Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch. |
| English | Cardiff | hot | [hɑ̝̈t] | 'hot' | Somewhat raised and fronted. |
| English | Norfolk | hot | [hɑ̝̈t] | 'hot' | Somewhat raised and fronted. |
| English | General American | hot | [hɑt] | 'hot' | May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger. See English phonology |
| English | Cockney | palm | [pɑːm] | 'palm' | Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead. |
| English | General South African | palm | [pɑːm] | 'palm' | Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. See South African English phonology |
| English | Cultivated South African | palm | [pɑ̟ːm] | 'palm' | Typically more front than cardinal [ɑ]. It may be as front as [äː] in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | palm | [pɑ̟ːm] | 'palm' | Typically more front than cardinal [ɑ]. It may be as front as [äː] in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology |
| English | Non-local Dublin | back | [bɑq] | 'back' | Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers. |
| Estonian | Estonian | vale | [ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ] | 'lie' | Near-open. See Estonian phonology |
| Faroese | Some dialects | vátur | [ˈvɑːtʊɹ] | 'wet' | Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language. See Faroese phonology |
| Finnish | Finnish | kana | [ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝] | 'hen' | Near-open, also described as open central [ä]. See Finnish phonology |
| French | Conservative Parisian | pas | [pɑ] | 'not' | Contrasts with /a/, but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä]. See French phonology |
| French | Quebec | pâte | | 'paste' | Contrasts with /a/. See Quebec French phonology |
| Galician | Galician | irmán | [iɾˈmɑŋ] | 'brother' | Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants. See Galician phonology |
| Georgian | Georgian | გუდა / guda | [k̬ud̪ɑ] | 'leather bag' | Usually not fully back [ɑ], typically [ɑ̟] to [ä]. Sometimes transcribed as /a/. |
| German | Standard | Gourmand | [ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː] | 'gourmand' | Nasalized; often realized as rounded [ɒ̃ː]. See Standard German phonology |
| German | Many speakers | nah | [nɑː] | 'near' | Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland. Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent. More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Sfakian | μπύρα / býra | [ˈbirɑ] | "beer" | Corresponds to central [ä ~ ɐ] in Modern Standard Greek. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Hungarian | Some dialects | magyar | [ˈmɑɟɑr] | 'Hungarian' | Weakly rounded [ɒ] in standard Hungarian. See Hungarian phonology |
| Inuit | West Greenlandic | oqarpoq | [ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚] | 'he says' | Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars. See Inuit phonology |
| Italian | Some Piedmont dialects | casa | [ˈkɑːzɑ] | 'house' | Allophone of /a/ which in Italian is largely realised as central [ä]. |
| Kazakh | Kazakh | alma | [ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝] | 'apple' | Can be realised as near-open. |
| Kaingang | Kaingang | ga | [ᵑɡɑ] | 'land, soil' | Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ]. |
| Khmer | Khmer | ស្ករ / skâr | [skɑː] | 'sugar' | See Khmer phonology |
| Limburgish | Limburgish | bats | [bɑ̽ts] | 'buttock' | The quality varies between open back [ɑ], open near-back [ɑ̟] and near-open near-back [ɑ̽] (illustrated in the example word, which is from the Maastrichtian dialect), depending on the dialect. |
| Low German | Low German | al / aal | [ɑːl] | 'all' | Backness may vary among dialects. |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | Kapp | [kʰɑ̝p] | 'head' | Near-open fully back. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Malay | Kedah | mata | [ma.tɑ] | 'eye' | See Malay phonology |
| Malay | Kelantan-Pattani | mata | [ma.tɑ] | 'eye' | Allophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay |
| Malay | Standard | qari | [qɑ.ri] | 'qari' | Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [ä]. See Malay phonology |
| Norwegian | Norwegian | hat | [hɑːt] | 'hate' | The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central [äː] in some other dialects. See Norwegian phonology |
| Portuguese | Some Azorean dialects | semana | [sɨ'mɑnɐ] | 'week' | See Portuguese phonology |
| Portuguese | Paulista | vegetal | [veʒe'tɑʊ] | 'vegetable' | Only immediately before [ʊ]. |
| Russian | Russian | палка / palka | [ˈpɑɫkə] | 'stick' | Occurs only before the hard /l/, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Lewis | balach | [ˈpɑl̪ˠəx] | 'boy' | Allophone of [a] in proximity to broad sonorants. |
| Sema | Sema | amqa | [à̠mqɑ̀] | 'lower back' | Possible realization of /a/ after uvular stops. |
| Swedish | Some dialects | jag | [jɑːɡ] | 'I' | Weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː] in Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology |
| Toda | Toda | ஆந | [ɑ̝ːn] | 'elephant' | Near-open. |
| Turkish | Turkish | at | [ɑt̪] | 'horse' | Also described as central [ä]. See Turkish phonology |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | мати / maty | [ˈmɑtɪ] | 'mother' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Vietnamese | Some dialects in North Central and Central | gà | [ɣɑ˨˩] | 'chicken' | See Vietnamese phonology |
| West Frisian | Standard | lang | [ɫɑŋ] | 'long' | Also described as central [ä]. See West Frisian phonology |
| West Frisian | Aastersk | maat | [mɑːt] | 'mate' | Contrasts with a front /aː/. See West Frisian phonology |