Close-mid vowel

A close-mid vowel (also mid-close(d) vowel, high-mid vowel, mid-high vowel or half-close(d) vowel) is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel. The close-mid vowels which have dedicated symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:


 * close-mid front unrounded vowel
 * close-mid front rounded vowel
 * close-mid central unrounded vowel (older publications may use  instead)
 * close-mid central rounded vowel (older publications may use  instead)
 * close-mid back unrounded vowel
 * close-mid back rounded vowel

There also are close-mid vowels which don't have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
 * close-mid near-front unrounded vowel, , or
 * close-mid near-front rounded vowel, , or
 * close-mid near-back unrounded vowel, or
 * close-mid near-back rounded vowel, or