Labio-velar approximant

Labio-velar approximant
w
u̯
IPA number	170
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	w
Unicode (hex)	U+0077
X-SAMPA	w
Kirshenbaum	w
Braille
Sound
source · help

The voiced labio-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;^[1] likewise, the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨w⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w. In most languages it is a labialized velar approximant [ɰʷ], and the semivocalic counterpart of the close back rounded vowel [u] - i.e. the non-syllabic close back rounded vowel. 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, (bi)labial column, or both. The placement may have more to do with phonological criteria than phonetic ones.^[2]

Features

Features of the voiced labialized 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 at least not rounded), which is a true labial–velar (as opposed to labialized velar) consonant. Close transcriptions may avoid the symbol [w] in such cases, 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 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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ауаҩы	[awaˈɥə]	'human'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe		оды	[wadə]	'thin'
Arabic	Standard[3]	وَرْد	[ward]	'roses'	See Arabic phonology
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		ktawa	[kta:wa]	'book'	Most speakers. [v] and [ʋ] are used in the Urmia dialects.
Basque		lau	[law]	'four'
Catalan[4]		creuar	[kɾəˈwa]	'to cross'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	湖/wu4	[wuː˨˩]	'lake'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	王/wáng	[wɑŋ˧˥]	'king'	See Mandarin phonology
Dutch	Colloquial	koude	[ˈkʌu̯wə]	'cold'	Lenited allophone of /d/ after /ʌu̯/. See Dutch phonology
	Standard Surinamese	welp	[wɛɫp]	'cub'	Corresponds to [ʋ] in the Netherlands and to [β̞] in Belgium. See Dutch phonology
English		weep	[wiːp]	'weep'	See English phonology
French[5]		oui	[wi]	'yes'	See French phonology
Hawaiian[6]		wikiwiki	[wikiwiki]	'fast'	May also be realized as [v]. See Hawaiian phonology
Hebrew	Oriental	כוח	[ˈkowaħ]	'power'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Irish		vóta	[ˈwoːt̪ˠə]	'vote'	See Irish phonology
Italian[7]		uomo	[ˈwɔːmo]	'man'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		わたし/watashi	[ɰᵝataɕi]	'I'	Pronounced with lip compression. See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		уэ	[wa]	'you'
Korean		왜가리/waegari	[wɛɡɐɾi]	'heron'	See Korean phonology
Luxembourgish[8]		zwee	[t͡swe̝ː]	'two'	Allophone of /v/ after /k, t͡s, ʃ/.[9] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay		wang	[waŋ]	'money'
Pashto		ﻭﺍﺭ	[wɑr]	'one time'
Polish[10]		łaska	[ˈwäskä]	'grace'	See Polish phonology. Corresponds to [ɫ] in older pronunciation and eastern dialects
Portuguese[11]	Most dialects	quando	[ˈkwɐ̃du]	'when'	Post-lexically after /kʷ/. See Portuguese phonology
	General Brazilian	qual	[ˈkwaw]	'which'	Allophone of /l/ in coda position for most Brazilian dialects.[12]
Romanian		dulău	[duˈləw]	'mastiff'	See Romanian phonology
Serbo-Croatian	Croatian[13]	вук / vuk	[wûːk]	'wolf'	Allophone of /ʋ/ before /u/.[13] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Seri		cmiique	[ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ]	'person'	Allophone of /m/
Slovene[14][15]		cerkev	[ˈt͡sèːrkəw]	'church'	Allophone of /ʋ/ in the syllable coda.[14][15] Voiceless [ʍ] before voiceless consonants. See Slovene phonology
Sotho		sewa	[ˈsewa]	'epidemic'	See Sesotho phonology
Spanish[16]		cuanto	[ˈkwãn̪t̪o̞]	'as much'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		mwanafunzi	[mwɑnɑfunzi]	'student'
Tagalog		araw	[ɐˈɾaw]	'day'	See Tagalog phonology
Thai[17]		แหวน /waen	[wɛn˩˩˦]	'ring'
Ukrainian		любов	[lʲubɔw]	'love'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese[18]		tuần	[t̪wən˨˩]	'week'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		gwae	[ɡwaɨ]	'woe'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		skowe	[skoːwǝ]	'to shove'

See also

• Voiceless labialized velar approximant
• Nasal labialized velar approximant

References

Bibliography

International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Retroflex Alveolo- palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal / Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̼̊ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v tθ dð tθ̠ dð̠ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡħ ʡʕ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʔ̞ Approximant ɸ˕ ʋ θ̞ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮ Trill ʙ r̼ r̥ r ɽr̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈɭ̊˔ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̼ l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ̼ ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Simple clicks ʘ ʘ̬ ʘ̃ ǀ ǀ̬ ǀ̃ ǃ ǃ̬ ǃ̃ ǂ ǂ̬ ǂ̃ ǁ ǁ̬ ǁ̃ ǃ˞ ǃ̬˞ ǃ̃˞ Other clicks ʘ̃ˀ ʘˀ ˀʘ̃ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qχ ʘ͡qʼ ʘ͡qχʼ ¡ ʞ Implosives ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̥ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥  Ejectives pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ tɕʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ̊ ɥ ɫ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m ɧ t͡p d͡b n͡m q͡ʡ — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible or not distinctive. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ɯ̽ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ •ɐɞ̞ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view