In
phonetics,
vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the
lips during the articulation of a
vowel. It is
labialization of a vowel. When pronouncing a
rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, whereas
unrounded vowels (also called
spread vowels) are pronounced with the lips relaxed. In most languages,
front vowels tend to be unrounded, whereas
back vowels tend to be rounded. But some languages, such as
French and
German, distinguish rounded and unrounded front vowels of the same
height, whereas
Vietnamese distinguishes rounded and unrounded back vowels of the same height.
Alekano has only unrounded vowels.