Close-mid vowel

A close-mid vowel is a special kind of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. It is called "close-mid" because the tongue is positioned about one third of the way from a close vowel to an open vowel. This means the tongue is not too close to the roof of the mouth, but also not too far down.

Close-mid vowels are important for speaking and understanding different languages. They help make words sound clear and different from each other. For example, in English, the words “bed” and “bad” use different vowel sounds, and close-mid vowels are part of what gives those words their unique sounds.

You can hear close-mid vowels in many languages around the world. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a special system that helps write down these sounds exactly. Knowing about close-mid vowels can help people learn languages better and understand how sounds work.

Partial list

The close-mid vowels are sounds used in some languages. They have special symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some of these vowels include:

• close-mid front unrounded vowel [e]
• close-mid front rounded vowel [ø]
• close-mid central unrounded vowel [ɘ]
• close-mid central rounded vowel [ɵ]
• close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ]
• close-mid back rounded vowel [o]

Other close-mid vowels can be shown using marks added to letters for nearby vowels.