Central vowel
| Central vowel | |
|---|---|
| ◌̈ | |
| IPA number | 415 |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | ̈ |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0308 |
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
A central vowel, formerly also known as a mixed vowel, is any in a class of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned approximately halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. (In practice, unrounded central vowels tend to be further forward and rounded central vowels further back.)