Voiceless labio-velar approximant

Voiceless labio-velar approximant
ʍ
w̥
IPA number 169
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ʍ
Unicode (hex) U+028D
X-SAMPA W
Kirshenbaum w<vls>
Braille ⠖ (braille pattern dots-235)⠺ (braille pattern dots-2456)
Sound
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The voiceless labiovelar (labialized velar) approximant (traditionally called a voiceless labiovelar fricative) is a type of consonantal sound, used in 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 letter ⟨ʍ⟩ is primarily used for, it is a voiceless approximant, equivalent to [w̥] or [hw̥]. On rare occasions the symbol is appropriated for a labialized voiceless velar fricative, [xʷ], in other languages.

Features

Features of the voiceless labial-velar approximant:

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Cornish whath, hwath [ʍæːθ] 'still', 'yet' Is spelled ⟨wh⟩ and ⟨hw⟩ in the Standard Written Form, as ⟨wh⟩ in Kernowek Standard, Unified Cornish, Unified Cornish Revised and Modern Cornish, and ⟨hw⟩ in Kernewek Kemmyn
English American Theater Standard[1] whine [ʍaɪ̯n] 'whine' Phonemically /hw/; contrasts with /w/. In General American[2] and New Zealand English[3][4] only some speakers maintain the distinction; in Britain, mostly heard in Irish and Scottish accents.[5] See English phonology and phonological history of wh.
Canadian Maritime
Conservative Received Pronunciation[5]
Cultivated South African[6]
General American[2][7]
Irish[6][8][9] [ʍʌɪ̯n]
Scottish[6][10][11][12]
Southern American[13] [ʍäːn]
New Zealand[3][4][10][14] [ʍɑe̯n]
Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰 saiƕa [sɛːʍa] '(to) see' The Gothic alphabet has a special letter for this: 𐍈/ƕ
Hupa tł'iwh [t͡ɬʼiʍ] 'snake', 'rattlesnake' Contrasts with /w/
Nahuatl Cuauhtēmallān [kʷaʍteːmalːaːn] 'Guatemala' Allophone of /w/ before voiceless consonants
Slovene[15][16] ? Allophone of /ʋ/ in the syllable coda before voiceless consonants.[15][16] Voiced [w] before voiced consonants. See Slovene phonology
Taiwanese 沃花 ak-hue [ʔak̚˥ʔ ʍeː˥˥] '(to) water flowers'

See also

References

  1. ↑ Skinner (1990), p. 335.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rogers (2000), p. 120.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rogers (2000), p. 117.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Australian English and New Zealand English" (PDF). p. 9.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Received Pronunciation Phonology".
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lass (2002), p. 121.
  7. ↑ "North American English: General Accents" (PDF). p. 6.
  8. ↑ Wells (1982a), p. 432.
  9. ↑ "Irish English and Ulster English" (PDF). pp. 4 and 7.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 McMahon (2002), p. 31.
  11. ↑ Wells (1982a), p. 408.
  12. ↑ "Scottish Standard English and Scots" (PDF). p. 6.
  13. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006).
  14. ↑ Wells (1982b), p. 610.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Šuštaršič, Komar & Petek (1999:136)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Greenberg (2006:18)

Bibliography

  • Greenberg, Mark L. (2006), A Short Reference Grammar of Standard Slovene, Kansas: University of Kansas
  • Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006), The Atlas of North American English, Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8
  • Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend, Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
  • McMahon, April (2002), An Introduction to English Phonology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, ISBN 0 7486 1252 1
  • Rogers, Henry (2000), The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, ISBN 978-0-582-38182-7
  • Skinner, Edith; Timothy Monich; Lilene Mansell (ed.) (1990). Speak with distinction (Second ed.). New York: Applause Theatre Book Publishers. ISBN 1-55783-047-9.
  • 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:10.1017/S0025100300004874, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
  • Wells, J.C. (1982a), Accents of English, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Wells, J.C. (1982b). Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28541-0.