Editing Vowel (section)

=== Reduced vowels ===
{{main|Vowel reduction}}
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:center"
|+Common reduced vowels<br><small>(IPA provides only {{angbr IPA|ə}} and {{angbr IPA|ɐ}})</small>
|- class="small"
! 
! <small>[[Near-front vowel|Near-<br>front]]</small>
! colspan=2| <small>[[Central vowel|Central]]</small>
! <small>[[Near-back vowel|Near-<br>back]]</small>
|-
! <small>[[Near-close vowel|Near-close]]</small>
|colspan=2| {{IPA|ᵻ}}
|colspan=2| {{IPA|ᵿ}}
|-
! <small>[[Mid vowel|Mid]]</small>
|
|colspan=2| {{IPA|ə}}
|
|-
! <small>[[Near-open vowel|Near-open]]</small>
| 
|colspan=2| {{IPA|ɐ}}
|
|}

Some languages, such as English and Russian, have what are called 'reduced', 'weak' or 'obscure' vowels in some unstressed positions. These do not correspond one-to-one with the vowel sounds that occur in stressed position (so-called 'full' vowels), and they tend to be mid-centralized in comparison, as well as having reduced rounding or spreading. The IPA has long provided two letters for obscure vowels, mid {{angbr IPA|ə}} and lower {{angbr IPA|ɐ}}, neither of which are defined for rounding. Dialects of English may have up to four phonemic reduced vowels: {{IPA|/ɐ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}}, and higher unrounded {{IPA|/ᵻ/}} and rounded {{IPA|/ᵿ/}}. (The non-IPA letters {{angbr IPA|ᵻ}} and {{angbr IPA|ᵿ}} may be used for the latter to avoid confusion with the clearly defined values of IPA letters like {{angbr IPA|ɨ}} and {{angbr IPA|ɵ}}, which are also seen, since the IPA only provides for two reduced vowels.)