The nasal palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
that represents this sound is , that is, a j with a
tilde
The tilde () or , is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character came into English from Spanish, which in turn came from the Latin '' titulus'', meaning "title" or "superscription". Its primary use is as a diacritic (accent) in ...
. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is
j~, and in the
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation, also known as the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA), the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet or the American Phonetic Alphabet (APA), is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American an ...
it is .
The nasal palatal approximant is sometimes called a ''nasal yod''; and may be called
nasal glide
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a ...
s.
Features
Features of the nasal palatal approximant:
* It is a
nasal consonant
In phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majorit ...
, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, in this case in addition to through the mouth.
Occurrence
, written ''ny'', is a common realization of before nasal vowels in many languages of West Africa that do not have a phonemic distinction between voiced nasal and oral stops, such as
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...
,
Ewe and
Bini languages.
See also
*
Palatal nasal
The voiced palatal nasal is a type of consonant used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a lowercase letter ''n'' with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom ...
*
Nasal labio-velar approximant
*
Labiodental nasal
The voiced labiodental nasal is a type of consonantal sound. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter ''m'' with a leftward hook protruding from the lower right of the ...
, which may be an approximant in the one language in which it is phonemic
*
Voiceless nasal glottal approximant
The voiceless nasal glottal approximant is a type of consonantal sound, a nasal approximant, used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , that is, an ''h'' with a tilde.
Occurre ...
*
Index of phonetics articles
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 ejecti ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
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{{IPA navigation
Nasal consonants
Palatal consonants
Central consonants
Voiced consonants
Pulmonic consonants