/ɜ/

For a note on how AWE organizes its group of articles on vowels, basically by aspects of sound and of writing, see category:vowels.

ɜ

The symbol /ɜ/ (a 'turned epsilon') is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent the 'open-mid central un-[or slightly]-rounded vowel': the sound heard characteristically in 'fir' (and 'fur'), 'turn' (and 'tern'). It is very similar to the most relaxed English vowel, the schwa (/ə/), and for many speakers is indistinguishable: but it is realized by careful speakers with a slightly tenser tongue (particularly at the back) and some lip-rounding. Because both are very central in the mouth, and relaxed in their realiztion, it can be very difficult to represent them phonetically with any certainty. (The American linguists Fromkin and Rodman represent the American equivalent of this sound by /ʌ (+ r).)

It may be represented by many spellings,

• by '-ea-', for example in 'earn' and 'learn';
• by '-e-, for example in 'fern', 'certain' and 'tern';
• by '-i-', in 'birth', 'fir' and 'circle';
• by '-u-', in 'turn', 'church' and 'fur'.