Near-close near-front unrounded vowel
The near-close near-front unrounded vowel, or near-high near-front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The International Phonetic Association advises serifs on the symbol's ends. Some sans-serif fonts do meet this typographic specification. Prior to 1989, there was an alternate IPA symbol for this sound, ; use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA, though it may still be found in some modern writings.
The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines as a mid-centralized close front unrounded vowel, and the current official IPA name of the vowel transcribed with the symbol is a near-close near-front unrounded vowel.
However, some languages have a vowel that is somewhat lower than the canonical value of, though it still fits the definition of a mid-centralized. It occurs in some dialects of English as well as some other languages, and it can be narrowly transcribed with,, or . For precision, this can be described as a close-mid near-front unrounded vowel.
Additionally, in some languages, there is a fully front near-close unrounded vowel, which can be transcribed in IPA with, or. For precision, this can be described as a near-close front unrounded vowel, or near-high front unrounded vowel. There may be phonological reasons not to transcribe the fully front variant with the symbol, which may incorrectly imply a relation to the close.
Sometimes, especially in broad transcription, this vowel is transcribed with a simpler symbol, which technically represents the close front unrounded vowel.