It's written on French Wikipedia that the noun “rose” is represented in phonology by /ʁɔz/ whereas Wiktionary is claiming that it should be /ʁoz/. In both case, the associated representation in common phonetics seems to be [ʁoz], which sounds correct for me as a native French speaker.
Who is right about phonology ? In case Wikipedia is, could you explain ?
Although /ɔ/ and /o/ do contrast in certain positions in French, the distinction is neutralized before /z/, where phonetically it's always the high-mid vowel that appears: [oz] but never [ɔz]. So it's a moot point which of the two to choose as your underlying representation. The French Wiki article opted for /ɔ/ presumably because this is the vowel that's usually found in closed syllables.
In French there is no phonological contrast between [o] and [ɔ] in closed syllables. Thus, phonologically you could analyse “rose” either as /ʁoz/ or equally well as /ʁɔz/. It is merely a matter of convention.
PS. Overlap with TKR's excellent answer.
