Editing Front vowel

{{Short description|Type of vowel}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2021}}
{{IPA vowels|class=floatright}}
{{IPA notice}}
A '''front vowel''' is a class of [[vowel]] sounds used in some spoken [[language]]s, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned approximately as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherwise make it a [[consonant]]. Front vowels are sometimes also called '''bright vowels''' because they are perceived as sounding brighter than the [[back vowel]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tsur|first=Reuven|title=The Poetic Mode of Speech Perception|publisher=Duke University Press|date=February 1992|page=20|isbn=0-8223-1170-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yh4p69MaI4C&q=dark+vowels&pg=PA20}}</ref>

'''Near-front''' vowels are essentially a type of front vowel; no language is known to contrast front and near-front vowels based on backness alone.

Rounded front vowels are typically [[Centralization (phonetics)#Centralized|centralized]], that is, near-front in their articulation. This is one reason they are written to the right of unrounded front vowels in the IPA vowel chart.

==Partial list==
The front vowels that have dedicated symbols in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] are:

* [[close front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[i]}}
* [[close front compressed vowel]] {{IPA|[y]}}
* [[near-close front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɪ]}}
* [[near-close front compressed vowel]] {{IPA|[ʏ]}}
* [[close-mid front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[e]}}
* [[close-mid front compressed vowel]] {{IPA|[ø]}}
* [[open-mid front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɛ]}}
* [[open-mid front compressed vowel]] {{IPA|[œ]}}
* [[near-open front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[æ]}}
* [[open front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[a]}}
* [[open front rounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɶ]}}

There also are front vowels without dedicated symbols in the IPA:

* [[close front protruded vowel]] {{IPA|[yʷ]}}
* [[near-close front protruded vowel]] {{IPA|[ʏʷ]}}
* [[close-mid front protruded vowel]] {{IPA|[øʷ]}}
* [[mid front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[e̞]}} or {{IPA|[ɛ̝]}}
* [[mid front compressed vowel]] {{IPA|[ø̞]}} or {{IPA|[œ̝]}}
* [[mid front protruded vowel]] {{IPA|[ø̞ʷ]}} or {{IPA|[œ̝ʷ]}}
* [[open-mid front protruded vowel]] {{IPA|[œʷ]}}

As above, other front vowels can be indicated with diacritics of [[relative articulation]] applied to letters for neighboring vowels, such as {{angbr IPA|i̞}}, {{angbr IPA|e̝}} or {{angbr IPA|ɪ̟}} for a near-close front unrounded vowel.

==Articulatorily fronted vowels==
[[File:Esling vowel chart.png|thumb|Fronted vowels are one of three articulatory dimensions of vowel space. The prototypical fronted vowel is [i]. Below it in the chart are fronted vowels with jaw opening.]]
In articulation, fronted vowels, where the tongue moves forward from its resting position, contrast with [[raised vowel]]s and [[retracted vowel]]s.  In this conception, fronted vowels are a broader category than those listed in the IPA chart, including {{IPA|[ɪ ʏ]}}, {{IPA|[ɨ ʉ]}}, and, marginally, mid-central vowels. Within the fronted vowels, vowel height (open or close) is determined by the position of the jaw, not by the tongue directly. Phonemic raised and retracted vowels may be phonetically fronted by certain consonants, such as [[palatal consonant|palatals]] and in some languages [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeals]].  For example, {{IPA|/a/}} may be fronted to {{IPA|[æ]}} next to {{IPAslink|j}} or {{IPAslink|ħ}}.<ref>Scott Moisik, Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins, & John H. Esling (2012) [https://www.mcgill.ca/mcgwpl/files/mcgwpl/moisik2012.pdf "The Epilaryngeal Articulator: A New Conceptual Tool for Understanding Lingual-Laryngeal Contrasts"]</ref>

==Effect on preceding consonant==
{{main|Palatalization (sound change)}}
In the history of many languages, for example [[History of French|French]] and [[Japanese language|Japanese]], front vowels have altered preceding [[velar consonant|velar]] or [[alveolar consonant]]s, bringing their [[place of articulation]] towards [[palatal consonant|palatal]] or [[postalveolar]]. This change can be [[allophone|allophonic variation]], or it can have become [[phonemic]].

This historical palatalization is reflected in the [[orthography|orthographies]] of several European languages, including the {{angbr|c}} and {{angbr|g}} of almost all [[Romance languages]], the {{angbr|k}} and {{angbr|g}} in [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Faroese language|Faroese]] and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], and the {{angbr|κ}}, {{angbr|γ}} and {{angbr|χ}} in [[modern Greek|Greek]]. [[English language|English]] follows the French pattern, but without as much regularity.
However, for native or early borrowed words affected by palatalization, English has generally altered the spelling after the pronunciation (Examples include ''cheap, church, cheese, churn'' from {{IPA|/*k/}}, and ''yell, yarn, yearn, yeast'' from {{IPA|/*ɡ/}}.)
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"
|-
!
!Before back vowel: hard
!Before front vowel: soft
|-
!English {{angbr|C}}
|c'''a'''ll {{IPAc-en|k|ɔː|l}}
|c'''e'''ll {{IPAc-en|s|ɛ|l}}
|-
!English {{angbr|G}}
|g'''a'''ll {{IPAc-en|ɡ|ɔː|l}}
|g'''e'''l {{IPAc-en|dʒ|ɛ|l}}
|-
!French {{angbr|C}}
|{{lang|fr|C'''a'''lais|italics=no}} {{IPA|fr|kalɛ||fr-Calais.ogg}}
|{{lang|fr|c'''e'''la|italics=no}} {{IPA|fr|səla||fr-cela.ogg}}
|-
!French {{angbr|G}}
|{{lang|fr|g'''a'''re|italics=no}} {{IPA|fr|ɡaʁ||fr-gare.ogg}}
|{{lang|fr|g'''e'''l|italics=no}} {{IPA|fr|ʒɛl||fr-gel.ogg}}
|-
!Greek {{angbr|Γ}}
|{{lang|el|γ'''ά'''ιδαρος}} {{IPA|el|ˈɣai̯ðaros||EL-γάιδαρος.ogg}}
|{{lang|el|γ'''η'''}} {{IPA|el|ʝi||el-γη.ogg}}
|-
!Greek {{angbr|Χ}}
|{{lang|el|Χ'''α'''νιά}} {{IPA|el|xaˈɲa||el-Χανιά.ogg}}
|{{lang|el|χ'''αί'''ρετε}} {{IPA|el|ˈçerete||EL-χαίρετε.ogg}}
|-
!Italian {{angbr|C}}
|{{lang|it|c'''a'''ro|italics=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈkaːro||it-caro.ogg}}
|{{lang|it|c'''i'''ttà|italics=no}} {{IPA|it|tʃitˈta||it-città.ogg}}
|-
!Italian {{angbr|G}}
|{{lang|it|g'''a'''tto|italics=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈɡatto||it-gatto.ogg}}
|{{lang|it|g'''e'''nte|italics=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈdʒɛnte||it-gente.ogg}}
|-
!Italian {{angbr|SC}}
|{{lang|it|sc'''u'''sa|italics=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈskuːza||it-scusa.ogg}}
|{{lang|it|pesc'''e'''|italics=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈpeʃʃe||it-pesce.ogg}}
|-
!Japanese {{angbr|S}}
|{{Transliteration|ja|s'''ū'''doku|italics=no}} {{IPA|ja|sɯꜜːdokɯ||ja-Sudoku.oga}}
|{{Transliteration|ja|sh'''i'''itake|italics=no}} {{IPA|ja|ɕiꜜːtake||ja-Shiitake.oga}}{{efn|name=rōmaji|Palatalization of {{IPA|/si/}}, {{IPA|/ti/}} etc. is shown in spelling in [[Hepburn romanization]].}}
|-
!Japanese {{angbr|T}}
|{{Transliteration|ja|at'''a'''t'''a'''kai|italics=no}} {{IPA|ja|atatakaꜜi||ja-atatakai.ogg}}
|{{Transliteration|ja|dotch'''i'''|italics=no}} {{IPA|ja|dotꜜtɕi||ja-docchi-which.ogg}}{{efn|name=rōmaji}}
|-
!Swedish {{angbr|K}}
|{{lang|sv|k'''a'''rta|italics=no}} {{IPA|sv|ˈkɑ̂ːʈa||sv-karta.ogg}}
|{{lang|sv|k'''ä'''r|italics=no}} {{IPA|sv|ɕæːr||sv-kär.ogg}}
|-
!Swedish {{angbr|G}}
|{{lang|sv|g'''o'''d|italics=no}} {{IPA|sv|ɡuːd||sv-god.ogg}}
|{{lang|sv|g'''ö'''ra|italics=no}} {{IPA|sv|ˈjœ̂ːra||sv-göra.ogg}}
|-
!Swedish {{angbr|SK}}
|{{lang|sv|sk'''a'''l|italics=no}} {{IPA|sv|skɑːl||sv-skal.ogg}}
|{{lang|sv|sk'''ä'''lla|italics=no}} {{IPA|sv|ˈɧɛ̂lːa||sv-skälla.ogg}}
|}

== Occurrences ==

According to [[PHOIBLE]], /{{IPA link|i}}/ is the most common phonemic front vowel, occurring in around 92% of inventories, while /{{IPA link|ɶ}}/ is the least common, occurring in only one inventory on the database.<ref name="phoible"/>
{|class="wikitable
|+ Frequency of front vowels<ref name="phoible">{{Cite book|location=Jena|editor=Steven Moran and Daniel McCloy|publisher=Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History|title=PHOIBLE 2.0|url=https://phoible.org|year=2019}}</ref>
! Vowel !! %
|-
| /{{IPA link|i}}/ || 92
|-
| /{{IPA link|a}}/ || 88
|-
| /{{IPA link|e}}/ || 61
|-
| /{{IPA link|ɛ}}/ || 37
|-
| /{{IPA link|ɪ}}/ || 15
|-
| /{{IPA link|æ}}/ || 7
|-
| /{{IPA link|y}}/ || 6
|-
| /{{IPA link|ø}}/ || 3
|-
| /{{IPA link|œ}}/ || 3
|-
| /{{IPA link|ʏ}}/ || 1
|-
| /{{IPA link|ɶ}}/ || 0{{efn|Of the phonological inventories 
 listed on PHOIBLE, ɶ only occurs in [[Northern Altai]]}}
|}

{{notelist}}

==See also==
*[[Central vowel]]
*[[Back vowel]]
*[[List of phonetics topics]]
*[[Relative articulation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Front Vowel}}
[[Category:Vowels by backness]]
[[Category:Phonology]]