A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark vowels because they are perceived as suonding darker than the front vowels. The back vowels identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

• close back unrounded vowel

• close back rounded vowel

• close-mid back unrounded vowel

• close-mid back rounded vowel

• open-mid back unrounded vowel

• open-mid back rounded vowel

• open back unrounded vowel

• open back rounded vowel

See also

• List of phonetics topics