The voiced labiovelar (actually labialized velar) approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w.

It corresponds to English w, Polish ł, Old English letter ƿ, and Classical Latin v.

The Belarusian letter ў (ŭ), sometimes identified as , is actually a semivowel .

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 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 in such cases, or may use the under-rounding diacritic, .
• 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.

See also

• List of phonetics topics

Approximants

Labialisierter stimmhafter velarer Approximant | Consonne spirante labio-vélaire voisée | 両唇軟口蓋接近音 | Aproximante labiovelar | Consoană sonantă labiovelară