The close-mid back unrounded vowel, or high-mid back unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. Its symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨ɤ⟩, called "ram's horns." This symbol is distinct from the symbol for the voiced velar fricative, ⟨ɣ⟩, which has a descender, but some texts[2] use this symbol for the voiced velar fricative.
Before the 1989 IPA Convention, the symbol for the close-mid back unrounded vowel was ⟨⟩, sometimes called "baby gamma", which has a flat top; this symbol was in turn derived from and replaced the inverted small capital A, ⟨Ɐ⟩, that represented the sound before the 1928 revision to the IPA.[3] The symbol was ultimately revised to be ⟨⟩, "ram's horns", with a rounded top, in order to better differentiate it from the Latin gamma ⟨ɣ⟩.[4]
Unicode provides U+0264ɤLATIN SMALL LETTER RAMS HORN, but in some fonts this character may appear as a "baby gamma" instead. The superscript IPA version is U+10791𐞑MODIFIER LETTER SMALL RAMS HORN.[5]
Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
^International Phonetic Association (1912). The principles of the International Phonetic Association. Paris, Association Phonétique Internationale. pp. 10.
^Nicholas, Nick (2003). "Greek-derived IPA symbols". Greek Unicode Issues. University of California, Irvine. Archived from the original on 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
^Miller, Kirk; Ashby, Michael (2020-11-08). "L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic" (PDF).
^"Лемківський говір. Українська мова. Енциклопедія". litopys.org.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-03-08.
^Закарпатський говір — Енциклопедія Сучасної України (in Ukrainian). Vol. 10. Інститут енциклопедичних досліджень НАН України. ISBN 978-966-02-2074-4. Retrieved 2023-03-05. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
References
Asu, Eva Liina; Teras, Pire (2009). "Estonian". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 39 (3): 367–372. doi:10.1017/s002510030999017x.
Booij, Geert (1999). The phonology of Dutch. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-823869-X.
Eades, Domenyk; Hajek, John (2006). "Gayo". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 36 (1): 107–115. doi:10.1017/S0025100306002416.
Finn, Peter (2004). "Cape Flats English: phonology". In Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.). A handbook of varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 934–984. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
van den Heuvel, Wilco (2006). Biak: Description of an Austronesian language of Papua (Ph.D. thesis). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. hdl:1871/10282.
Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009). "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble". Anais do SETA. 3. Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP: 675–685.
Mesthrie, Rajend (2004). "Indian South African English: phonology". In Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.). A handbook of varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 953–963. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
Maddieson, Ian; Anderson, Victoria (1994). "Phonemic Structures of Iaai" (PDF). UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics. 87: Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages II. Los Angeles: UCLA: 163–182.
Ní Chasaide, Ailbhe (1999). "Irish". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–16. ISBN 0-521-63751-1.
Nowikow, Wieczysław (2012) [First published 1992]. Fonetyka hiszpańska (3rd ed.). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. ISBN 978-83-01-16856-8.
Tingsabadh, M. R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993). "Thai". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 23 (1): 24–28. doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746. S2CID 242001518.
⟩, sometimes called "baby gamma", which has a flat top; this symbol was in turn derived from and replaced the inverted small capital A, ⟨Ɐ⟩, that represented the sound before the 1928 revision to the IPA.[3] The symbol was ultimately revised to be ⟨
⟩, "ram's horns", with a rounded top, in order to better differentiate it from the Latin gamma ⟨ɣ⟩.[4] 
