Editing Open central unrounded vowel (section)

{{Short description|Vowel sound often represented by ⟨ä⟩ in IPA}}
{{Infobox IPA
| ipa symbol = ä
| ipa symbol2 = ɐ̞
| ipa symbol3 = 
| ipa number = 304 415
| decimal1 = 228
| x-sampa = a_" ''','''6_o '''or''' a
}}
{{IPA vowels|class=floatright}}

The '''open central unrounded vowel''', or '''low central unrounded vowel''',<ref>{{Vowel terminology}}</ref> is a type of [[vowel]] sound, used in several [[Speech communication|spoken]] [[language]]s. While the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front {{IPAblink|a}} and back {{IPAblink|ɑ}}, it is normally written {{angbr IPA|a}}. If precision is required, it can be specified by using [[IPA diacritics|diacritics]], typically centralized {{angbr IPA|ä}}.

It is usual to use plain {{angbr IPA|a}} for an open central vowel and, if needed, {{angbr IPA|æ}} for an open front vowel. [[Sinology|Sinologists]] may use the letter {{angbr IPA|ᴀ}} (small capital A). The IPA has voted against officially adopting this symbol in 1976, 1989, and 2012.{{sfnp|Wells|1976}}{{sfnp|International Phonetic Association|1989|p=74}}{{sfnp|Keating|2012}}