Close-mid back rounded vowel - Definition and Overview

IPA - Unicode	o
IPA - image
X-SAMPA	o
Kirshenbaum	o
Sound sample

The close-mid 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 o, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is o. Features of this vowel:

• Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between close vowel and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth 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.

This vowel doesn't occur by itself in English, but in American English it forms the first part of the diphthong [oʊ], which is the sound corresponding to the letters oa in boat or the letter o in go.