Cardinal vowel

Vowel sound produced when the tongue is in an extreme position, either front or back, high or low. See Daniel Jones. Cardinal vowels are obtained by dividing the "operture space" between the closest vowels [i] and [u] and the most open vowel [a] in four equal "degrees" of operture: close (high tongue position), close-mid, open-mid, and open (low tongue position). These degrees of operture plus the front-back distinction originates 8 reference articulatory points, and the 16 IPA cardinal vowels when the position of lips are considered (rounded/unrounded vowels).

cardinal	IPA	SAMPA	description
1	[i]	[i]	close front unrounded vowel
2	[e]	[e]	close-mid front unrounded vowel
3	[ɛ]	[E]	open-mid front unrounded vowel
4	[a]	[a]	open front unrounded vowel
5	[ɑ]	[A]	open back unrounded vowel
6	[ɔ]	[O]	open-mid back rounded vowel
7	[o]	[o]	close-mid back rounded vowel
8	[u]	[u]	close back rounded vowel
9	[y]	[y]	close front rounded vowel
10	[ø]	[2]	close-mid front rounded vowel
11	[œ]	[9]	open-mid front rounded vowel
12	[ɶ]	[&]	open front rounded vowel
13	[ɒ]	[Q]	open back rounded vowel
14	[ʌ]	[V]	open-mid back unrounded vowel
15	[ɤ]	[7]	close-mid back unrounded vowel
16	[ɯ]	[M]	close back unrounded vowel

Note that although [a] is listed as a front vowel, it is considered as a central vowel by many.

See also

• list of phonetics topics