Near-close near-back rounded vowel

Near-close near-back rounded vowel
ʊ
u̽
ü̞
IPA number	321
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʊ
Unicode (hex)	U+028A
X-SAMPA	U
Kirshenbaum	U
Braille
Image
Sound
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IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close i • y ɨ • ʉ ɯ • u ɪ • ʏ ɪ̈ • ʊ̈ ɯ̽ • ʊ e • ø ɘ • ɵ ɤ • o e̞ • ø̞ ə • ɵ̞ ɤ̞ • o̞ ɛ • œ ɜ • ɞ ʌ • ɔ æ •  ɐ • ɞ̞ a • ɶ ä • ɒ̈ ɑ • ɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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Near-close near-back compressed vowel
ʊ͍
ɯ̽ᵝ

The near-close near-back rounded vowel, or near-high near-back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some vocal languages. The IPA symbol that represents this sound is ⟨ʊ⟩. It is informally called "horseshoe u". Prior to 1989, there was an alternate IPA symbol for this sound, ⟨ɷ⟩, called "closed omega"; use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA. In Americanist phonetic notation, the symbol ⟨ᴜ⟩ (a small capital U) is used.

The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines [ʊ] as a mid-centralized (lowered and centralized) close back rounded vowel, therefore, an alternative transcription of this vowel is ⟨u̽⟩ (a symbol equivalent to a more complex ⟨ü̞⟩). For the fully central equivalent of this vowel, see near-close central rounded vowel. Some languages, such as Korean and Swedish have the near-close back rounded vowel, which differs from its near-back counterpart in that it is a lowered, but not centralized close back rounded vowel, transcribed in the IPA as ⟨ʊ̠⟩, ⟨u̞⟩ or ⟨o̝⟩.

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