Close-mid back unrounded vowel - Definition and Overview

IPA - Unicode	ɤ
IPA - image
X-SAMPA	7
Kirshenbaum	o-
Sound sample

The close-mid 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 ɤ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 7. The symbol resembles a small Greek letter gamma (γ), but does not have a descender, as gamma with a descender corresponds to the voiced velar fricative. The symbol ɤ is called "ram's horns". 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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.