Voiced labial–velar approximant

Voiced labial–velar approximant
w
ɰʷ
IPA number170
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)w
Unicode (hex)U+0077
X-SAMPAw
Braille⠺ (braille pattern dots-2456)

A voiced labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. 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⟩, or occasionally broken down as ⟨ɰʷ⟩.[2] 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.[3]

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 speech sounds.

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Abkhazауаҩы / awaẅy / აუაჳჷ[awaˈɥə]'human'See Abkhaz phonology
Adygheо / o[wɐ]'you (singular)'See Adyghe phonology
AlemannicBerneseGiel[ɡ̊iə̯w]'boy'Allophone of [l]
ArabicModern Standard[4]وَرْد / ward[ward]'rose'See Arabic phonology
Assameseৱাশ্বিংটন / Washington[wasiŋtɔn]'Washington'
Basquelau[law]'four'
Belarusianвоўк / voŭk[vɔ̝wk]ⓘ'wolf'See Belarusian phonology
Bengaliওয়াদা / wada[wá̠d̪a̠ˑ]'promise'Fortitional allophone of the semivowels [o̯] and [u̯], especially in loan words. See Bengali phonology
Berberⴰⵡⴰⵍ / äwäl[æwæl]'speech'
Bretonnav[ˈnaw]'nine'
BulgarianColloquialлопата / lopata[woˈpat̪ɐ]'shovel'Contemporary pronunciation of /ɫ/, an ongoing sound change. See Bulgarian phonology.
Pernik dialectsThis dialect has a long-standing tradition of pronouncing /ɫ/ as /w/, similar to the Polish language. Independent of the similar sound change happening in the standard language.
Standard Bulgarianуиски / uiski[ˈwisk̟i]'whiskey'Appears in borrowings. See Bulgarian phonology
Burmeseဝါဒ / wadạ[wàda̰]'belief'
Catalan[5]Most dialectsquart[ˈkwɑɾt̪]'fourth'Post-lexically after /k/ and /ɡ/. See Catalan phonology
seuós[səˈwos̺]'greasy'Semivowel. See Catalan phonology
ChineseCantonese挖 / waat[wɑːt̚˧]ⓘ'dig'See Cantonese phonology
Mandarin挖 / wā[wa̠˥]ⓘSee Mandarin phonology
Danishhav[hɑw]'ocean'Allophone of [v]
DutchColloquialkouwe[ˈkʌu̯wə]'cold'Lenited allophone of /d/ after /ʌu̯/. Corresponds to /d/ in the standard language (cf. koude). See Dutch phonology
Standard Surinamesewelp[wɛɫp]'cub'May also occur in this context in some continental Dutch accents and/or dialects.[6][7] Corresponds to [ʋ] in most of the Netherlands and to [β̞] in Belgium and (southern) parts of the Netherlands. See Dutch phonology
Englishweep[wiːp]'weep'See English phonology
French[8]oui[wi]ⓘ'yes'See French phonology
GermanQuelle[kweːlə]'source'Some regions
Hawaiian[9]wikiwiki[wikiwiki]'fast'May also be realized as [v]. See Hawaiian phonology
HebrewMizrahiכּוֹחַ / kowaḥ[ˈkowaħ]'power'See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani[10]Hindiविश्वास / viśvās[ʋɪʃwäːs]'belief'Allophone of /ʋ/. See Hindustani phonology
Urduوشواس / viśvās
Irishvóta[ˈwoːt̪ˠə]'vote'See Irish phonology
Italian[11]uomo[ˈwɔːmo]'man'See Italian phonology
Kabardianуэ / wə[wɐ]ⓘ'you (singular)'
Karakalpakтуўыў / tuwıw[tʰuˈwuw]'birth'
Kazakhауа / aua[ɑ̝wɑ̝́]'air'
Korean왜가리 / waegari[wɛɡɐɾi]'heron'See Korean phonology
Kyrgyzаба / aba[ɑ̀w̜ɑ]'air'Lenited allophone of /b/. See Kyrgyz phonology
Laoຫວານ / wan[wǎːn]'sweet'See Lao phonology
Luxembourgish[12]zwee[t͡swe̝ː]'two'Allophone of /v/ after /k, t͡s, ʃ/.[13] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malaywang[waŋ]'money'
Malayalamഉവ്വ / uvva[uwːɐ]'yes'/ʋ/ around rounded vowels for some speakers.
MayanYucatecwitz[wit͡s]'mountain'
Mongolianгавал / ᠭᠠᠪᠠᠯᠠ / gawal[ɢ̥á̠w̜ɐ̆ɬ]'skull'
Nepaliहावा / hawa[ɦa̠wa̠]'wind'See Nepali phonology
Odia[14]ଅଗ୍ରୱାଲ୍ / ogrowal[ɔgɾɔwäl]'Agrawal'
Pashtoﻭﺍﺭ / wār[wɑr]'one time'
PersianDariوَرزِش / warzish[warˈzɪʃ]'sport'May approach /ʋ/ in some regional dialects.
Farsiنَ‍‍و / nov[now]'new'Only in a diphthong or colloquially.
Polish[15]łaska[ˈwäskä]ⓘ'grace'See Polish phonology. Corresponds to [ɫ] in older pronunciation and eastern dialects.
Portuguese[16]Most dialectsquando[ˈkwɐ̃du]'when'Post-lexically after /k/ and /ɡ/. See Portuguese phonology
boa[ˈbow.wɐ]'good' (f.)Epenthetic glide or allophone of /u/, following a stressed rounded vowel and preceding an unrounded one.[17]
General Brazilianqual[ˈkwaw]'which'Allophone of /l/ in coda position for most Brazilian dialects.[16]
Romaniandulău[d̪uˈl̪əw]ⓘ'mastiff'See Romanian phonology
Russianволк / volk[vowk]'wolf'Western dialects.
Serbo-CroatianCroatian[18]vuk[wûːk]'wolf'Allophone of /ʋ/ before /u/.[18] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovene[19][20]cerkev[ˈt͡sèːrkəw]'church'Allophone of /ʋ/ in the syllable coda.[19][20] Voiceless [ʍ] before voiceless consonants. See Slovene phonology
Sothosewa[ˈsewa]'epidemic'See Sesotho phonology
Svanკუ̂ენ / k’wen[kʼwen]'marten'
Spanish[21]Standardcuanto[ˈkwãn̪t̪o̞]'as much'
Some dialectsNáhuatl[ˈnawät̪l]'Nahuatl'May also be fricative [w̝] ~ [ɣ̞ʷ]. See Spanish phonology
ese huevo[ˈese̞ ˈweβ̞o̞]'that egg'
Swahilimwanafunzi[mwɑnɑfunzi]'student'
SwedishCentral Standard[22]Labialized approximant consonant; allophone of /ɡ/ in casual speech before the protruded vowels /ɔ, oː/. See Swedish phonology
Tagalogaraw[ˈɐɾaw]'day'See Tagalog phonology
Thaiแหวน / waen[wɛ̌ːn]'ring'See Thai phonology
Toki Ponawile[wile]'to want'
Vietnamese[23]Standarduỷ[ʔwi˧˩]'to delegate'See Vietnamese phonology
Southernquê[wej˧˧]'hometown'
Ukrainianлюбов / liubov[lʲubɔw]ⓘ'love'See Ukrainian phonology
Welshgwae[ɡwaɨ]'woe'See Welsh phonology
West Frisianskowe[skoːwə]'to shove'

Nasal

Nasalized voiced labial–velar approximant
w̃
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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 speech sounds.

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
GuaraníParaguayan[24][25]guaraníme[ɰ̃ʷãɾ̃ãˈnĩmẽ]'in Guarani'Allophone of /ɰ/ in the digraph ⟨gu⟩, nasalized due to vowel–consonant harmony.[25]
Kaingang[26][w̃ĩ]'to see'Possible word-initial realization of /w/ before a nasal vowel.[27]
Polishsą[sɔw̃]'they are'See Polish phonology
PortugueseMost dialects[28][29]são[sɐ̃w̃]'saint', 'they are'Allophone of /w/ after nasal vowels. See Portuguese phonology
Some dialects[30]muamba[ˈmw̃ɐ̃bɐ]'smuggling', 'jobbery',
'stash'		Non-syllabic allophone of /u/ between nasal sounds.
Marathiसंशय / saṃśay[sə̃w̃ʃəe̯]'doubt'Anuswara (ṁ) preceding र (r), व (v), श (ś), ष (ṣ), स (s), ह (h) or ज्ञ (jñ/dnya) is rendered as 'w̃'.
Sericmiique[ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ]'person'Allophone of /m/.
Shipibo[31]banwan[32][βɐ̃ˈw̃ɐ̃]'parrot'Allophone of /w/ after nasal vowels.[31]
Teluguఆమ్లం / āmlaṃ[aːw̃alaw̃]'acid'Common colloquial pronunciation of intervocalic and final m. May also be a [ʋ̃].[33]
Uwatáw̃aya[ˈtaw̃aja]'yellow'
Yorubawọ́n[w̃ɔ̃́n]'they'Allophone of /w/ before nasal vowels.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Guidelines for Transcription of English Consonants and Vowels (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-08-13, retrieved 2009-01-04; see the examples on the fifth page.
  2. ↑ Walker (1999), p. 68.
  3. ↑ Ohala & Lorentz (1977), p. 577.
  4. ↑ Watson (2002), p. 13.
  5. ↑ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 55.
  6. ↑ "Recording dialect from Egmond aan Zee (Bergen), North Holland)". www.meertens.knaw.nl. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Recording and video from dialect of Katwijk, South Holland". YouTube. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 75.
  9. ↑ Pukui & Elbert (1986), p. xvii.
  10. ↑ Ladefoged (2005), p. 141.
  11. ↑ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
  12. ↑ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67, 69.
  13. ↑ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 69.
  14. ↑ Masica (1991), p. 107.
  15. ↑ Jassem (2003), p. 103.
  16. 1 2 Barbosa & Albano (2004), p. 230.
  17. ↑ France (2004).
  18. 1 2 Landau et al. (1999), p. 68.
  19. 1 2 Šuštaršič, Komar & Petek (1999), p. 136.
  20. 1 2 Greenberg (2006), p. 18.
  21. ↑ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 256.
  22. ↑ Engstrand (2004), p. 167.
  23. ↑ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
  24. ↑ Walker (1999).
  25. 1 2 Estigarribia, Bruno (2020). A Grammar of Paraguayan Guarani (PDF). London: UCL Press. doi:10.14324/111.9781787352872. ISBN 978-1-78735-287-2.
  26. ↑ Jolkesky (2009:676, 681)
  27. ↑ Jolkesky (2009:681)
  28. ↑ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:127)
  29. ↑ Bisol (2005:179)
  30. ↑ Lipski, John M. (1975). "Portuguese vinho: diachronic evidence for biphonemic nasal vowels" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-08-12. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
  31. 1 2 Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001:283)
  32. ↑ "Shipibo language, alphabet and pronunciation". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  33. ↑ a study of telugu regional and social dialects: a prosodic analysis by j. venkateswara sastry

References

  • Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
  • Bisol, Leda (2005), Introdução a estudos de fonologia do português brasileiro (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:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
  • Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
  • 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:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
  • France, Angela (2004). "Problemas na variante tensa da fala carioca" [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:10.1590/S0102-44502004000300005. ISSN 0102-4450.
  • Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
  • Greenberg, Mark L. (2006), A Short Reference Grammar of Standard Slovene, Kansas: University of Kansas
  • Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", 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:10.1017/S0025100303001191
  • 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:10.1017/S0025100303001373
  • Masica, Colin (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.
  • Ohala, John; Lorentz, James (1977), "Story of [w]: An exercise in the phonetic explanation for sound patterns" (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:10.1017/S0025100304001628
  • 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, S2CID 249404451
  • Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
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  • Watson, Janet (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
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