The voiced labiodental 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 is something between an
English /
w/ and /
v/, pronounced with the teeth and lips held in the position used to articulate the letter
V. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA) is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at University College London. It is designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, a ...
symbol is
P ''or''
v\. With an advanced diacritic, , this letter also indicates a
bilabial approximant
The voiced bilabial fricative is a type of consonantal 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 B. The official symbol is the ...
, though the diacritic is frequently omitted because no contrast is likely.
[Joyce Thambole Mogatse Mathangwane (1996), ''Phonetics and Phonology of Ikalanga: A Diachronic and Synchronic Study'', vol. 1, p. 79]
The labiodental approximant is the typical realization of in the
Indian South African
Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the l ...
variety of English. As the voiceless is also realized as an approximant (), it is also an example of a language contrasting voiceless and voiced labiodental approximants.
Features
Features of the voiced labiodental approximant:
Occurrence
See also
*
List of phonetics topics
A
* Acoustic phonetics
* Active articulator
* Affricate
* Airstream mechanism
* Alexander John Ellis
* Alexander Melville Bell
* Alfred C. Gimson
* Allophone
* Alveolar approximant ()
* Alveolar click ()
* Alveolar consonant
* Alveolar ...
*
''R''-labialization
*
Rhotacism (speech impediment): pronouncing as
Notes
References
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External links
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Pulmonic consonants
Oral consonants