Near-close near-front unrounded vowel - Definition and Overview

IPA - Unicode	ɪ
IPA - image
X-SAMPA	I
Kirshenbaum	I
Sound sample

The near-close near-front 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 ɪ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is I. The IPA symbol is a smaller capital letter I. Features of this vowel:

• Its vowel height is near-open, which means the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted.
• Its vowel backness is near-front, which means the tongue is positioned as in a front vowel, but slightly further back in the mouth.
• Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

This vowel occurs in English, and is the sound represented by the letter i in pit or bid.