Voiced labial-velar approximant

The voiced labiovelar (actually labialized velar) approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages, including English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is w, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w. As labio-velar consonants do not easily fit into consonant charts with only labial and velar columns, [w] may be put in either the velar column, (bi)labial column, or both, though the latter is rare outside of the official IPA chart; the placement may have more to do with phonological criteria than phonetic ones.

Features

Features of the voiced labialized velar approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by bringing one articulator close to another but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.
• Its place of articulation is labialized velar, which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) raised toward the soft palate (the velum) and the lips rounded. 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 closer to a true labial-velar consonant. Close transcriptions may avoid the symbol [w] in such cases, or may use the under-rounding diacritic, [w̜].
• Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ауаҩы	[owoˈɥy]	'human'	See Abkhaz phonology
Arabic	Standard	ورد	[ward]	'roses'	See Arabic phonology
Catalan		blau	[blaw]	'blue' (m.)	See Catalan phonology
Belarusian		воўк	[vɔwk]	'wolf'	represented by ў. See Belarusian phonology
English		weep''	[wiːp]	'weep'	See English phonology
French		oui	[wi]	'yes'	See French phonology
Hawaiian		wikiwiki	[wikiwiki]	'fast'	May also be realized as [ʋ] or [v]. See Hawaiian phonology
Irish		vóta	[ˈwoːt̪ˠə]	'vote'	See Irish phonology
Italian		uomo	[ˈwɔmo]	'man'	See Italian phonology
Mandarin		王/wáng	[wɑŋ˧˥]	'king'	See Standard Mandarin
Pashto		ﻭﺍﺭ	[wɑr]	'one time'
Polish		łaska		'grace'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		água		'water'	See Portuguese phonology
Seri		cmiique		'person'
Spanish		cuanto	[ˈkwãn̪t̪o̞]	'how much'	See Spanish phonology

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography