Near-close vowel

A near-close vowel or a near-high vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted. Near-close vowels are sometimes described as lax variants of the fully close vowels. The near-close vowels which have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:


 * near-close near-front unrounded vowel
 * near-close near-front rounded vowel
 * near-close near-back vowel without specified rounding

There also are near-close vowels which don't have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
 * near-close front unrounded vowel, or  (commonly written , i.e. as if it were near-front)
 * near-close front rounded vowel, or  (commonly written , i.e. as if it were near-front)
 * near-close central unrounded vowel, or  (unofficial symbol: )
 * near-close central rounded vowel, , or  (unofficial symbol: )
 * near-close near-back unrounded vowel, , or
 * near-close near-back rounded vowel, , or
 * near-close back unrounded vowel or
 * near-close back rounded vowel or  (normally written, i.e. as if it were near-back)