However, in a few cases the lips are protruded ('endolabial').
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Different kinds of labialization are possible. In mid to high rounded back vowels the lips are generally protruded ("pursed") outward, a phenomenon known as endolabial rounding because the insides of the lips are visible, whereas in mid to high rounded front vowels the lips are generally "compressed" with the margins of the lips pulled in and drawn towards each other, a phenomenon known as exolabial rounding. However, not all languages follow that pattern. Japanese , for example, is an exolabial (compressed) back vowel, and sounds quite different from an English endolabial .
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In most languages, the rounded vowel is pronounced with compressed lips (in an exolabial manner). However, in a few cases, the lips are protruded (in an endolabial manner), such as in Swedish, which contrasts the two types of rounding.
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Only the Shanghainese dialect is known to contrast this with the more typical protruded (endolabial) near-close back vowel, although the height of both of these vowels varies from close to close-mid. The fully back variant of the near-close compressed vowel can be transcribed , or .
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Instead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar". In most languages this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips (endolabial). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed (exolabial). Some languages feature the near-close central rounded vowel, which is slightly lower.
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The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is `u`. In most languages, this rounded vowel is pronounced with protruded lips ('endolabial'). However, in a few cases the lips are compressed ('exolabial').
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There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic may also be used with a rounded vowel letter as an ad hoc symbol, but 'spread' technically means unrounded. Only Shanghainese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close-mid back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid.
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Some languages, such as Japanese and Swedish, have a close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding, called compressed or exolabial. Only Shanghainese is known to contrast it with the more typical protruded (endolabial) close back vowel, but the height of both vowels varies from close to close-mid. There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, compression of the lips can be shown with the letter as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression).
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Swedish and Norwegian are the only two known languages in which the feature is contrastive; they have both exo- and endo-labial close front vowels and close central vowels, respectively. In many phonetic treatments, both are considered types of rounding, but some phoneticians do not believe that these are subsets of a single phenomenon and posit instead three independent features of rounded (endolabial) and compressed (exolabial) and unrounded. The lip position of unrounded vowels may also be classified separately as spread and neutral (neither rounded nor spread).IPA (1999), p. 13.
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