Close front unrounded vowel

Close front unrounded vowel
i
IPA number	301
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	i
Unicode (hex)	U+0069
X-SAMPA	i
Kirshenbaum	i
Braille
Sound
source · help

The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound that occurs in most spoken languages, represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol i. It is similar to the vowel sound in the English word meet—and often called long-e in American English^[1]—although in English this sound has additional length (usually being represented as /iː/) and is not normally pronounced as a pure vowel (it is a slight diphthong) – a purer [i] sound is heard in many other languages, such as French, in words like chic.

The close front unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the palatal approximant [j]. The two are almost identical featurally. They alternate with each other in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, [i̯] with the non-syllabic diacritic and [j] are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.

Languages that use the Latin script commonly use the letter ⟨i⟩ to represent this sound, though there are some exceptions: in English orthography that letter is usually associated with /aɪ/ (as in bite) or /ɪ/ (as in bit), and /iː/ is more commonly represented by ⟨e⟩, ⟨ea⟩, ⟨ee⟩, ⟨ie⟩ or ⟨ei⟩, as in the words scene, bean, meet, niece, conceive; (see Great Vowel Shift). Irish orthography reflects both etymology and whether preceding consonants are broad or slender, so such combinations as ⟨aí⟩, ⟨ei⟩, and ⟨aío⟩ all represent /iː/.

Features

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
This table contains phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

• Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.

• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Note that rounded front vowels are often centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-front.

• It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Standard[2]	دين	[d̪iːn]	'religion'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[3]	իմ	[im]	'my'
Bavarian	Amstetten dialect[4]
Bengali		ঈগল	[igɔl]	'eagle'	See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian[5]		кит	[kit̪]	'whale'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan[6]		sis	[ˈs̠is̠]	'six'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Mandarin[7]	七/qī	[tɕʰi˥]	'seven'	See Standard Chinese phonology
Czech	Standard[8][9]	bílý	[ˈbiːliː]	'white'	See Czech phonology
	Moravian[10]	byli	[ˈbili]	'they were'	Corresponds to [e] (also described as [ɪ])[8] in Bohemian Czech.[10] See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard[11][12][13]	mile	[ˈmiːlə]	'dune'	See Danish phonology
Dutch[14]		biet	[bit]	'beet'	See Dutch phonology
English[15]		free	[fɹiː]	'free'	Depending on dialect, can be pronounced as a diphthong. See English phonology
Estonian[16]		tiik	[tiːk]	'pond'	See Estonian phonology
Finnish[17][18]		viisi	[ˈviːsi]	'five'	See Finnish phonology
French[19]		fini	[fini]	'finished'	See French phonology
Georgian[20]		სამი	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
German	Standard[21]	Ziel	[t͡siːl]	'goal'	See German phonology
Hindustani		बच्ची	[bət͡ʃiː]	'girl'	See Hindustani phonology
Hungarian[22]		ív	[iːv]	'arch'	See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic[23][24][25]		fínt	[fin̥t]	'fine'	See Icelandic phonology
Italian[26]		bile	[ˈbiːle]	'rage'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[27]		銀/gin	[ɡʲiɴ]	'silver'	See Japanese phonology
Kaingang[28]		[ˈndukːi]		'in the belly'
Limburgish[29][30][31][32]		bies	[bis]	'animal'	The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Luxembourgish[33][34]		Kiischt	[kʰiːʃt]	'cherry'	See Luxembourgish phonology
Polish[35]		miś	[ˈmʲiɕ]	'teddy bear'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[36]		fino	[ˈfinu]	'thin'	Also occurs as an unstressed allophone of other vowels. May be represented by ⟨y⟩. See Portuguese phonology
Russian[37]		лист	[lʲis̪t̪]	'leaf'	Only occurs word-initially or after palatalized consonants. See Russian phonology
Sema[38]		pi	[pì]	'to say'	Also described as near-close front [i̞].[39]
Shiwiar[40]
Sioux	Lakota[41][42]	ǧí	[ʀí]	'it's brown'
Slovak[43]		rýchly	[ˈriːxli]	'fast'	Backness varies between front and near-front; most commonly, it is realized as near-close [ɪ] instead.[44] See Slovak phonology
Spanish[45]		tipo	[ˈt̪ipo̞]	'type'	May also be represented by ⟨y⟩. See Spanish phonology
Sorbian	Lower[46]	kij	[kʲij]	'stick'
	Upper[46][47]	bić	[bʲit͡ʃ]	'to beat'	See Upper Sorbian phonology
Thai[48]		กริช	[krìt]	'dagger'
Turkish[49][50]		ip	[ip]	'rope'	See Turkish phonology
Yoruba[51]
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[52]	diza	[d̪iza]	'Zapotec'

References

Bibliography

International Phonetic Alphabet
IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Voice Quality Symbols Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille
Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Retroflex Alveolo- palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal / Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̼̊ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v tθ dð tθ̠ dð̠ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡħ ʡʕ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʔ̞ Approximant ʋ̥ ʋ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮ Trill ʙ r̼ r̥ r ɽr̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈɭ̊˔ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̼ l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ̥ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ̼ ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Simple clicks ʘ ʘ̬ ʘ̃ ǀ ǀ̬ ǀ̃ ǃ ǃ̬ ǃ̃ ǂ ǂ̬ ǂ̃ ǁ ǁ̬ ǁ̃ ǃ˞ ǃ̬˞ ǃ̃˞ Other clicks ʘ̃ˀ ʘˀ ˀʘ̃ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qχ ʘ͡qʼ ʘ͡qχʼ ¡ ʞ Implosives ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̥ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥  Ejectives pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ tɕʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ̊ ɥ ɫ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m ɧ t͡p d͡b n͡m q͡ʡ — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible or not distinctive. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated
Vowels 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 IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view