Open-mid back unrounded vowel - Definition and Overview

IPA - Unicode	ʌ
IPA - image
X-SAMPA	V
Kirshenbaum	V
Sound sample

The open-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 ʌ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is V. The IPA symbol is an inverted letter v and both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as "wedge". Features of this vowel:

• Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open 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.

This vowel occurs in English, and is the sound corresponding to the letter u in cut and putt.