The open back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Q. The symbol is called turned script a, because it is a rotated version of script a, so-called because it lacks the extra stroke on top of a printed 'a'. Turned script a, which has its linear stroke on the left, should not be confused with script a , which has its linear stroke on the right and corresponds to an unrounded version of this vowel, the open back unrounded vowel.

Features

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• Its vowel height is open, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurs in

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Well rounded is rare, though it is found in some varieties of English.

• Assamese påt , "to bury"
• English: (RP) hot (in GA, this is pronounced )
• Hungarian: bal , 'left'
• Persian: ﻧﺎﻥ , 'bread'

In Persian and Hungarian, the vowel is somewhat underrounded, and in Hungarian it is centralized.

Vowels

Gerundeter offener Hinterzungenvokal | Voyelle basse postérieure arrondie | 円唇後舌広母音 | 후설 원순 저모음