Editing Open vowel (section)

==Partial list==
The open vowels with dedicated symbols in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] are:

* [[open front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[a]}}
* [[open front rounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɶ]}}<ref>This vowel is not known to occur as a phoneme distinct from {{IPA|/œ/}} in any language.</ref>
* [[open back unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɑ]}}
* [[open back rounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɒ]}}

There also are central vowels that do not have dedicated symbols in the IPA:
* [[open central unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ä]}} or {{IPA|[ɐ̞]}} (commonly written {{IPA|[a]}} as if it were [[front vowel|front]])
* [[open central rounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɒ̈]}}

There is no unambiguous way of transcribing the open central vowels (but see obsolete/nonstandard IPA [[ᴀ]]). The diaeresis indicates ''centralization'', so {{angbr IPA|ä}} could mean near-front and {{angbr IPA|ɒ̈}} could mean near-back. However, in practice the diaeresis is assumed to mean central, while {{angbr IPA|a̠}} and {{angbr IPA|ɒ̟}} are used for the front and back articulations, respectively.

The extremely rare contrast between open front, central and back unrounded vowels has been reported to occur in the [[Hamont-Achel dialect]] of [[Limburgish language|Limburgish]], which features long versions of these sounds, as well as short versions of the open front and back vowels. The short versions do not contrast directly with the open central vowel, which can only be long.{{sfnp|Verhoeven|2007|p=221}}