Voiceless labiovelar approximant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IPA – number 169
IPA – text ʍ
IPA – image Image:Xsampa-X.png
Entity ʍ
X-SAMPA W
Kirshenbaum w<vls>
Sound sample 

The voiceless labiovelar approximant (traditionally called a voiceless labiovelar fricative) is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʍ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is W.

Doubly articulated fricatives are very difficult to pronounce, and none has been confirmed of any language. [ʍ] is generally called a "fricative" for historical reasons, but in English, the language that the symbol ʍ is primarily used for, it is a voiceless approximant, equivalent to [w̥]. On rare occasions the symbol is appropriated for a labialized velar fricative, [xʷ].

[edit] Features

Features of the voiceless labial-velar approximant:

[edit] In English

The voiceless labial-velar approximant occurs in some English dialects that distinguish between the words whine and wine; it is the sound denoted by the letters 'wh'.

[edit] See also

  Consonants (List, table) See also: IPA, Vowels  
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal Non-pulmonics and other symbols
Nasals m ɱ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ
Plosives p b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ
Fricatives ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives 
Approximants β̞ ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Other laterals  ɺ ɫ
Trills ʙ r ʀ Co-articulated approximants  ʍ w ɥ
Flaps & Taps ѵ̟ ѵ ɾ ɽ Co-articulated fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ
Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ
Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.
In other languages