Open back rounded vowel - Definition and Overview

IPA - Unicode	ɒ
IPA - image
X-SAMPA	Q
Kirshenbaum	A.
Sound sample

The open 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 ɒ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Q. The symbol ɒ is called turned script a, because it is a rotated version of script a, so-called because it lacks the extra stroke on top of a printed 'a'. Turned script a, which has its linear stroke on the left, should not be confused with script a ɑ, which has its linear stroke on the right and corresponds to an unrounded version of this vowel, the open back unrounded vowel.

Features of this vowel:

• 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 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 occurs in some dialects of English, such as British English, and is the sound corresponding to the letter o in hot.