Voiced labio-velar approximant
Voiced labio-velar approximant | |
---|---|
w | |
u̯ | |
IPA number | 170 |
Encoding | |
Entity (decimal) | w |
Unicode (hex) | U+0077 |
X-SAMPA | w |
Kirshenbaum | w |
Braille | |
Listen | |
Compressed labio-velar approximant | |
---|---|
ɰᵝ | |
wᵝ |
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]
Some languages have the voiced labio-prevelar approximant,[3] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiced labio-prevelar approximant, though not as front as the prototypical labialized palatal approximant.
Contents
Features[edit]
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[edit]
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abkhaz | ауаҩы | [awaˈɥə] | 'human' | See Abkhaz phonology | |
Adyghe | оды | [wadə] (help·info) | 'thin' | ||
Arabic | Modern Standard[4] | وَرْد | [ward] | 'rose' | See Arabic phonology |
Assamese | ৱাশ্বিংটন | [waʃiŋtɔn] | 'Washington' | ||
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | ktawa | [kta:wa] | 'book' | Most speakers. [v] and [ʋ] are used in the Urmia dialects. | |
Basque | lau | [law] | 'four' | ||
Belarusian | воўк | [vɔwk] | 'wolf' | See Belarusian phonology | |
Bengali | ওয়াদা | [wada] | 'promise' | See Bengali phonology | |
Berber | ⴰⵡⴰⵍ | [æwæl] | 'speech' | ||
Catalan[5] | creuar | [kɾəˈwa] | 'to cross' | See Catalan phonology | |
Chinese | Cantonese | 挖/waat | [wɑːt̚˧] | 'dig' | See Cantonese phonology |
Mandarin | 挖/wā | [wa̠˥] | See Mandarin phonology | ||
Dutch | Colloquial | kouwe | [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 | |
Esperanto | aŭto | ['awto] | 'car' | See Esperanto phonology | |
French[6] | oui | [wi] | 'yes' | See French phonology | |
Hawaiian[7] | wikiwiki | [wikiwiki] | 'fast' | May also be realized as [v]. See Hawaiian phonology | |
Hebrew | Oriental | כּוֹחַ | [ˈkowaħ] | 'power' | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
Hindustani[8] | विश्वास | [vɪʃwaːs] | 'believe' | See Hindustani phonology | |
Irish | vóta | [ˈwoːt̪ˠə] | 'vote' | See Irish phonology | |
Italian[9] | uomo | [ˈwɔːmo] | 'man' | See Italian phonology | |
Japanese | わたし/watashi | [ɰᵝataɕi] | 'I' | Pronounced with lip compression. See Japanese phonology | |
Kabardian | уэ | [wa] (help·info) | 'you' | ||
Korean | 왜가리/waegari | [wɛɡɐɾi] | 'heron' | See Korean phonology | |
Luxembourgish[10] | zwee | [t͡swe̝ː] | 'two' | Allophone of /v/ after /k, t͡s, ʃ/.[11] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
Malay | wang | [waŋ] | 'money' | ||
Mayan | Yucatec | witz | [wit͡s] | 'mountain' | |
Pashto | ﻭﺍﺭ | [wɑr] | 'one time' | ||
Polish[12] | łaska | [ˈwäskä] (help·info) | 'grace' | See Polish phonology. Corresponds to [ɫ] in older pronunciation and eastern dialects | |
Portuguese[13] | Most dialects | quando | [ˈkwɐ̃du] | 'when' | Post-lexically after /k/ and /g/. See Portuguese phonology |
boa | [ˈbow.wɐ] | 'good' (f.) | Epenthetic glide or allophone of /u/, following a stressed rounded vowel and preceding an unrounded one.[14] | ||
General Brazilian | qual | [ˈkwaw] | 'which' | Allophone of /l/ in coda position for most Brazilian dialects.[15] | |
Romanian | dulău | [duˈləw] | 'mastiff' | See Romanian phonology | |
Serbo-Croatian | Croatian[16] | вук / vuk | [wûːk] | 'wolf' | Allophone of /ʋ/ before /u/.[16] See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
Seri | cmiique | [ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ] | 'person' | Allophone of /m/ | |
Slovene[17][18] | cerkev | [ˈt͡sèːrkəw] | 'church' | Allophone of /ʋ/ in the syllable coda.[17][18] Voiceless [ʍ] before voiceless consonants. See Slovene phonology | |
Sotho | sewa | [ˈsewa] | 'epidemic' | See Sesotho phonology | |
Spanish[19] | cuanto | [ˈkwãn̪t̪o̞] | 'as much' | See Spanish phonology | |
Swahili | mwanafunzi | [mwɑnɑfunzi] | 'student' | ||
Tagalog | araw | [ɐˈɾaw] | 'day' | See Tagalog phonology | |
Thai[20] | แหวน /waen | [wɛn˩˩˦] | 'ring' | ||
Ukrainian | любов | [lʲubɔw] | 'love' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
Vietnamese[21] | tuần | [t̪wən˨˩] | 'week' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
Welsh | gwae | [ɡwaɨ] | 'woe' | See Welsh phonology | |
West Frisian | skowe | [skoːwə] | 'to shove' |
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Guidelines for Transcription of English Consonants and Vowels (PDF); see the examples on the fifth page.
- ^ Ohala & Lorentz (1977:577)
- ^ Instead of "pre-velar", it can be called "advanced velar", "fronted velar", "front-velar", "palato-velar", "post-palatal", "retracted palatal" or "backed palatal".
- ^ Watson (2002:13)
- ^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:55)
- ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:75)
- ^ Pukui & Elbert (1986:xvii)
- ^ Ladefoged (2005:141)
- ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)
- ^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67, 69.
- ^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 69.
- ^ Jassem (2003:103)
- ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004:230)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Delta: Documentation of studies on theoretical and applied Linguistics – Problems in the tense variant of carioca speech.
- ^ Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (23 Dec 2004). "Brazilian Portuguese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 (02): 227–232. doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ a b Landau et al. (1999:68)
- ^ a b Šuštaršič, Komar & Petek (1999:136)
- ^ a b Greenberg (2006:18)
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:256)
- ^ Wen in a Thai–English dictionary, with recorded pronunciation
- ^ Thompson (1959:458–461)
References[edit]
- Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
- Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618
- Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L. (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874
- Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), 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
- Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
- 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
- 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
- Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
- Watson, Janet (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press