near-open vowel

A near-open vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages.

Near-open vowels are sometimes described as lax variants of the fully open vowels.

The near-open vowels for which separate symbols exist in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

That is, open-mid vowels, near-open vowels, and open vowels can all be considered low vowels.

The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted.