Close central unrounded vowel
| Close central unrounded vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɨ | |||
| ï | |||
| ɯ̈ | |||
| IPA number | 317 | ||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɨ |
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| Unicode (hex) | U+0268 | ||
| X-SAMPA | 1 |
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| Kirshenbaum | i" |
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| Braille |
 
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| Sound | |||
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| Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded | |||||||||||||||||||
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The close central unrounded vowel, or high central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɨ, namely the lower-case letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as barred i. In American tradition this symbol (and the name "barred i") denote a slightly different sound, that of the second syllable of roses when distinct from Rosa's; see also near-close central unrounded vowel.
Occasionally, this vowel is transcribed ⟨ï⟩ (centralized ⟨i⟩) or ⟨ɯ̈⟩ (centralized ⟨ɯ⟩).
The close central unrounded vowel is the vocalic equivalent of the rare post-palatal approximant [j̈].
/ɨ/ is uncommon as a phoneme in Indo-European languages, occurring most commonly as an allophone in some Slavic languages. However, it is very common as a separate phoneme in the indigenous languages of the Americas and is often in phonemic contrast with other close vowels such as /i/ and /u/ both in modern living languages as well as reconstructed proto-languages (such as Proto-Uto-Aztecan). Campbell, Kaufman & Smith-Stark (1986) identify the presence of this vowel phoneme as an areal feature of a Mesoamerican Sprachbund (although that is not a defining feature of the entire area).
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