Editing Near-open central vowel (section)

{{Short description|Vowel sound represented by ⟨ɐ⟩ in IPA}}
{{Infobox IPA
| ipa symbol = ɐ
| ipa number = 324
| decimal = 592
| x-sampa = 6
| imagefile = IPA Unicode 0x0250.svg
| imagesize = 150px
| braille = 256
| braille2 = a
}}
{{IPA vowels|class=floatright}}

The '''near-open central vowel''', or '''near-low central vowel''',<ref>{{Vowel terminology}}</ref> is a type of [[vowel]] sound, used in some [[Speech communication|spoken]] [[language]]s. The symbol in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] that represents this sound is {{angbr IPA|ɐ}}, a [[Turned a|rotated lowercase double-story a]].

In English this vowel is most typically transcribed with the symbol {{angbr IPA|ʌ}}, i.e. as if it were [[open-mid back unrounded vowel|open-mid back]]. That pronunciation is still found in some dialects, but many speakers use a central vowel like {{IPA|[ɐ]}} or {{IPAblink|ɜ}}. To avoid the [[trap–strut merger]], Standard Southern British English is moving away from the {{IPA|[ɐ]}} quality towards {{IPAblink|ʌ}} found in RP spoken in the first half of the 20th century (e.g. in [[Daniel Jones (phonetician)|Daniel Jones]]'s speech).{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=122}}

Much like {{angbr IPA|ə}}, {{angbr IPA|ɐ}} is a versatile symbol that is not defined for [[roundedness]]{{sfnp|International Phonetic Association|1999|p=166}} and that can be used for vowels that are near-open central,{{sfnp|Roca|Johnson|1999|p=186}} near-open near-front,{{sfnp|Anonby|2011|p=378}} near-open near-back,{{sfnp|Gilles|Trouvain|2013|pp=68, 70}} open-mid central,{{sfnp|Ternes|Vladimirova-Buhtz|1999|p=56}} open central{{sfnp|Cox|Fletcher|2017|pp=64–65}} or an (often unstressed) vowel with variable height, backness and/or roundedness that is produced in that general area.{{sfnp|Krech et al.|2009|p=86}} For open central unrounded vowels transcribed with {{angbr IPA|ɐ}}, see [[open central unrounded vowel]].

When the usual transcription of the near-open near-front and the near-open near-back variants is different from {{angbr IPA|ɐ}}, they are listed in [[near-open front unrounded vowel]] and [[open back unrounded vowel]] or [[open back rounded vowel]], respectively.

The near-open central unrounded vowel is sometimes the only open vowel in a language{{sfnp|Arvaniti|2007|p=25}} and then is typically transcribed with {{angbr IPA|a}}.