The Circumflex Accent in Inglish
In Inglish, the circumflex accent is used on the following vowels: â, î, ê, ô, û.
It indicates both the pronunciation of the vowel and typically marks the stressed syllable in a word.
The primary IPA pronunciations for each vowel with a circumflex are:
Ââ: /eɪ/
Îî: /aɪ/
Êê: /ər/
Ôô: /oʊ/
Ûû: /ʊ/
Examples:
location → locâcion
decide → decîde
confirm → confême
hypnosis → hipnôsiʃ
cushion → cûcion
The vowels î, ê, ô, û can have secondary pronunciations when combined with certain vowels or consonants:
aî: /ɛr/
eî: /ɛr/ (rare)
aê: /aɪər/ (rare)
ô: /ɔr/, /ər/, or /ʊ/
oû: /ər/
aû: /ɔr/
These secondary pronunciations typically occur before the consonants m and n.
Examples:
impair, impairment → empeire, empeîment
iron → aêne
compare, comparison, comparable → compaire, compaîasson, compaîable
wear, wearable → ɯaire, ɯaîable
turn → toûne
burn → boûne
urn → oûne
courage → coûage
earn → ta êne
warm → ɯaûm
swarm → sɯaûme
warn → ta ɯaûne
Special Cases
aû is also used in words of French origin:
award → aɯaûd
reward → reɯaûd
warden → ɯaûden
ô behaves differently in various contexts:
/ɔr/ before m or n:
corn → cône
scorn → scône
form → fôme
/ər/ before v:
curve → côve
/ər/ in certain words:
worm → ɯôme
/ʊ/ after ɯ in specific words (for orthographic consistency):
woman → ɯôman
wolf → ɯôlfe