Voiceless labio-velar approximant

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⟩, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨w⟩, or ⟨w̥⟩.

[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] or [hw̥]. On rare occasions the symbol is appropriated for a voiceless labialized velar fricative, [xʷ], in other languages.

Features

Features of the voiceless 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 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.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

See also

• List of phonetics topics
• hwair
• Wh (digraph)