The voiced labial–palatal (or labio-palatal) approximant is a type of

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced ...

al sound, used in some spoken

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s. It has two constrictions in the

vocal tract The vocal tract is the cavity in human bodies and in animals where the sound produced at the sound source ( larynx in mammals; syrinx in birds) is filtered. In birds it consists of the trachea, the syrinx, the oral cavity, the upper part of the e ...

: with the

tongue The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered by taste bu ...

on the

palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly s ...

, and ''

rounded Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the num ...

'' at the

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

s. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a rotated lowercase letter , or occasionally , which indicates with a different kind of rounding. The labial–palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the

close front rounded vowel The close front rounded vowel, or high front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is /y/, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y. Ac ...

. They

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

with each other in certain languages, such as French, and in the

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...

s of some languages, and with the non-syllabic diacritic are used in different

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

systems to represent the same sound. Sometimes,See e.g. is written in place of , even though the former symbol denotes an extra-short in the official IPA. Some languages, though, have a

palatal approximant The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic n ...

that is unspecified for rounding, and therefore cannot be considered the semivocalic equivalent of either or its unrounded counterpart . An example of such language is Spanish, in which the labialized palatal approximant (not a semivowel) appears allophonically with rounded vowels in words such as ''ayuda'' 'help'. According to some sources, is not correct to transcribe this with the symbol , which has a different kind of rounding, or with , which implies spread lips; the only suitable transcription is . See

for more information. There is also the labialized postpalatal approximantInstead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar". For simplicity, this article uses only the term "post-palatal". in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical labialized palatal approximant, though not as back as the prototypical

labialized velar approximant Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve ...

. It can be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the

close central rounded vowel } The close central rounded vowel, or high central rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is }. ...

. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as or (both symbols denote a retracted ), (

centralized Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a partic ...

), ( advanced ) or (centralized ). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are H_o, H_", w_+ and w_", respectively. Other possible transcriptions include a centralized and labialized ( in the IPA, j_"_w in X-SAMPA) and a non-syllabic ( in the IPA, }_^ in X-SAMPA). Especially in

broad transcription Phonetic transcription (also known as phonetic script or phonetic notation) is the visual representation of speech sounds (or ''phones'') by means of symbols. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, such as the I ...

, the labialized postpalatal approximant may be transcribed as a palatalized and labialized velar approximant ( in the IPA, w' or w_j in X-SAMPA).

Compressed palatal approximant

The compressed palatal approximant is typically transcribed in IPA simply as , and that is the convention used in this article. There is no dedicated

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter as (simultaneous and labial compression) or ( modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic may also be used with a labialized approximant letter as an ''ad hoc'' symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded. The compressed post-palatal approximant can be transcribed simply as (centralized ), and that is the convention used in this article. Other possible transcriptions include (centralized modified with labial compression) and (centralized with the spread-lip diacritic).

Features

Features of the compressed palatal approximant: *Its

place of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articul ...

palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sepa ...

and in addition it is endo-labialized, which is accomplished by raising the body of the

toward the

while approximating the lips.

Occurrence

Because the labialized palatal approximant is assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some examples in the table below may actually have protrusion.

Protruded palatal approximant

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, , will be used here as an ''ad hoc'' symbol for the protruded palatal approximant. Another possible transcription is or (a palatal approximant modified by endolabialization). Acoustically, this sound is "between" the more typical compressed palatal approximant and the non-labialized palatal approximant .

Features

Features of the protruded palatal approximant: *Its

is labial–palatal, which is accomplished by raising the body of the

toward the

while approximating the lips.

Occurrence

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voiced labial-palatal approximant Palatal consonants Bilabial consonants Oral consonants Co-articulated consonants Central consonants Pulmonic consonants