Open central unrounded vowel
| Open central unrounded vowel | |
|---|---|
| ä | |
| IPA number | 304 415 |
| Audio sample | |
|
source · help | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | ä |
| Unicode (hex) | U+00E4 |
| X-SAMPA | a_" |
The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in several spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front [a] and back [ɑ], it is normally written ⟨a⟩. If precision is required, it can be specified by using diacritics, typically centralized ⟨ä⟩.
It is usual to use plain ⟨a⟩ for an open central vowel and, if needed, ⟨æ⟩ for an open front vowel. Sinologists may use the letter ⟨ᴀ⟩ (small capital A). The IPA has voted against officially adopting this symbol in 1976, 1989, and 2012.