Voiced labial–velar approximant

A voiced labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages, including English. It is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨w⟩ in the English alphabet; likewise, the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨w⟩, or rarely [ɰʷ].[citation needed] In most languages it is the semivocalic counterpart of a close back rounded vowel [u]. In inventory charts of languages with other labialized velar consonants, /w/ will be placed in the same column as those consonants. When consonant charts have only labial and velar columns, /w/ may be placed in the velar column, labial column, or both. The placement may have more to do with convenience or phonological criteria than with phonetics.

For a labialized post-palatal approximant—sometimes also described as a voiced labial–prevelar approximant—which is more fronted in the place of articulation than a prototypical labial–velar approximant, see Labial–palatal approximant § Post-palatal.

Features

Features of a voiced labial–velar approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream. The type of approximant is glide or semivowel. The term glide emphasizes the characteristic of movement (or 'glide') of /w/ from the /u/ vowel position to a following vowel position. The term semivowel emphasizes that, although the sound is vocalic in nature, it is not 'syllabic' (it does not form the nucleus of a syllable).
• Its place of articulation is labialized velar, which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate (the velum) while rounding the lips. Some languages, such as Japanese and perhaps the Northern Iroquoian languages, have a sound typically transcribed as /w/ where the lips are compressed, or in some cases may not have labial features at all. Close transcriptions may avoid the symbol [w] in such cases and instead use [ɰ], or may use the under-rounding diacritic [w̜].
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
• It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Nasal

A nasalized voiced labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is typically ⟨w̃⟩ (a nasalized ⟨w⟩), though for preciseness ⟨ɰ̃ʷ⟩ (a nasalized and labialized ⟨ɰ⟩) may also be seen.

Features

Features of a nasal labial–velar approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• Its place of articulation is labial–velar, which means it is simultaneously articulated with the lips and with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum). The dorsal closure is made and released slightly before the labial closure, but they overlap for most of their duration.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is exclusively allowed to escape through the nose for nasal stops; otherwise, in addition to through the mouth.
• It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

See also

• Voiceless labial–velar approximant
• Voiced bilabial approximant
• Voiced bilabial flap

Notes

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• Bisol, Leda (2005), (in Portuguese), Porto Alegre - Rio Grande do Sul: EDIPUCRS, ISBN 85-7430-529-4
• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:, S2CID
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:, S2CID
• Engstrand, Olle (2004), Fonetikens grunder (in Swedish), Lund: Studenlitteratur, ISBN 91-44-04238-8
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L. (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:, S2CID
• France, Angela (2004). [Problems with tense variant of carioca speech]. DELTA: Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada (in Portuguese). 20 (spe). São Paulo: 33–58. doi:. ISSN .
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:
• Greenberg, Mark L. (2006), , Kansas: University of Kansas
• Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), , Anais do SETA, 3, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP: 675–685
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:
• Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (2nd ed.), Blackwell
• Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:
• Ohala, John; Lorentz, James (1977), (PDF), Berkeley Linguistics Society annual meeting 3 proceedings, pp. 577–599
• Pukui, Mary Kawena; Elbert, Samuel H. (1986), Hawaiian Dictionary, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, ISBN 0-8248-0703-0
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:
• Šuštaršič, Rastislav; Komar, Smiljana; Petek, Bojan (1999), "Slovene", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 135–139, doi:, ISBN 0-521-65236-7, S2CID
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:, JSTOR
• Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001), , Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 281–285, doi:
• Watson, Janet (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
• Masica, Colin (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.

External links

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