The open 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 , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A. The symbol 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 its linear stroke on the right, should not be confused with turned script a , which has its linear stroke on the left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.

Features

• 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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurs in

• Dutch: bad , 'bath' (backness varies with dialect and generation of speaker)
• English: (RP and GA) spa father ; (GA) hot ; (CaE) ball
  • In AuE, this vowel occurs only as the first part of the diphthong , as in light , buy .
• Finnish: kana , 'hen'; kaali , 'cabbage'
• French: pâte , 'dough' (in varieties that distinguish pâte from patte)
• Vietnamese: tai , 'ear'

Vowels

Ungerundeter offener Hinterzungenvokal | Voyelle basse postérieure non arrondie | 非円唇後舌広母音 | 후설 비원순 저모음