Mid vowel  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:
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Near-​back Back Blank vowel trapezoid.svg Paired vowels are:
unrounded • rounded   A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some
spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is
that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and
a close vowel. The only mid vowel with a dedicated symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet is the mid central vowel [ə], a
symbol which is also used for the vowel schwa.  The IPA divides
the vowel space into thirds, with the close-mid vowels such as
[e] or [o] and the open-mid vowels such as [ɛ] or [ɔ]
equidistant in formant space between open [a] and close [i] or
[u]. Thus a true mid front vowel could be transcribed as either
a lowered [e̞] or a raised [ɛ̝].  Few languages contrast all
three heights of mid vowel, because it is rare for a language to
distinguish more than four heights of true front or back vowels.
One, the Amstetten diale