Voiced labiodental approximant

A voiced labiodental approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. 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 Template:Angbr IPA, a letter v with a leftward hook protruding from the upper right of the letter. In some sources, this letter indicates a bilabial approximant,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> though this is more accurately transcribed with an advanced diacritic, Template:Angbr IPA.

A labiodental approximant is the typical realization of Template:IPA in the Indian South African variety of English. As the voiceless Template:IPA is also realized as an approximant (Template:IPAblink), it is also an example of a language contrasting voiceless and voiced labiodental approximants.<ref name="mesthrie">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Features

Features of a voiced labiodental approximant:

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Äiwoo		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'garden land'<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Armenian	Eastern<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	ոսկի	Template:IPA	'gold'
Assyrian		Template:Lang / hawa	Template:IPA]	'wind'	Predominant in the Urmia dialects. For some speakers, Template:IPAblink is used. Corresponds to Template:IPAblink in the other varieties.
Catalan	Balearic	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'bean'	Allophone of Template:IPA.<ref name="saborit"/> See Catalan phonology
	Valencian<ref name="saborit">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Chinese	Mandarin	為 为 / Template:Lang	[we̞i]	'for'	Prevalent in northern dialects. Corresponds to Template:IPA in other varieties.
Chuvash		аван	[aʋ'an]	'good, well'	Corresponds to Template:IPA in other varieties.
Dhivehi		ވަޅު / valhu	[ʋaɭu]	'well' (noun)
Danish	Standard<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'know(s)'	Realization of the phoneme Template:IPAslink; may also be realized as Template:IPAblink.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard	Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'cheek'	Realised as bilabial in southern european dialects Template:IPAblink. See Dutch phonology
English	Indian<ref name="mesthrie"/>	vine	Template:IPA	'vine'	Corresponds to a fricative Template:IPAblink in other accents.
	Some Cockney speakers	rine		'rine'	Mostly idiosyncratic but somewhat dialectal<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> (especially in London and South East England). See English phonology and R-labialization
Faroese<ref name="arn115">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'speech'	Word-initial and intervocalic allophone of Template:IPA. In the first case, it is in a free variation with a fricative Template:IPAblink.<ref name="arn115"/> See Faroese phonology
Finnish		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'baby'	See Finnish phonology
German	Swiss	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'what'	Corresponds to Template:IPA in Standard German<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Guaraní		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'Guaraní language'	Contrasts with Template:IPA and Template:IPA
Hawaiian		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'fast'	May also be realized as Template:IPA or Template:IPA. See Hawaiian phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	(the) 'one'	Also an allophone of /v/ and Template:IPA. See Hindustani phonology.
	Urdu	Template:Lang
Italian	Some speakersTemplate:Sfnp	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'rare'	Rendition alternative to the standard Italian alveolar trill Template:IPAblink, due to individual orthoepic defects and/or regional variations that make the alternative sound more prevalent, notably in South Tyrol (among the Italian-speaking minority), Val d'Aosta (bordering with France) and in parts of the Parma province, more markedly around Fidenza. Other alternative sounds may be a uvular trill Template:IPAblink or a voiced uvular fricative Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Italian phonology.
IcelandicTemplate:Sfn		Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'Template:Abbr to promise/ Template:Abbr to praise'	Weakly articulated, traditionally described as a fricative Template:IPAslink (which it is in free variation with).Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvp, cited in Template:Harvp</ref> See Icelandic phonology
Lao		Template:Lang / Template:Transliteration	Template:IPA	'hand fan'	May also be realized as [w]. See Lao phonology.
Khmer		Template:Lang / Template:Transliteration	Template:IPA	'weapon'	See Khmer phonology
Marathi		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'weight'	See Marathi phonology
Miyako<ref>Template:Cite speech</ref>		Template:IPA		'thick'	May be syllabic.
Norwegian	Urban East<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="van41">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'verb's principal parts'	Sometimes realized as a fricative Template:IPAblink.<ref name="van41"/><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> See Norwegian phonology
Nsenga		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'people'
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	ਵਾਲ	Template:IPA	'hair'	Also an allophone of /v/ and /w/.
	Shahmukhi	Template:Nq
Russian<ref name="yb">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'free, available'	Common realization of Template:IPA; contrasts with palatalized form.<ref name="yb"/> See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian		Template:Lang / Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'(C/c)hurch'	Template:IPA is a phonetic fricative, although it has less frication than Template:IPA. However, it does not interact with unvoiced consonants in clusters as a fricative would, and so is considered to be phonologically a sonorant (approximant).<ref name=Moren>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name=Brown>Template:Cite web</ref>
Shona		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'people'	Contrasts with Template:IPA and Template:IPA.
Sinhala		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'water'
Slovak<ref name="hh374">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'water'	Usual realization of Template:IPA.<ref name="hh374"/> See Slovak phonology
Slovene<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'wind'	Also described as fricative Template:IPAblink.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> See Slovene phonology
Spanish<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Chilean	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'to speak'	Allophone of /b/. See Spanish phonology
Swedish	Some speakers	Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'the vault'	See Swedish phonology
Tamil		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'mouth'	See Tamil phonology
Telugu		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'net'
Ukrainian<ref name="zk">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		Template:Lang	Template:Audio-IPA	'Barvinkove'	Possible prevocalic realization of Template:IPA, most commonly before Template:IPA.<ref name="zk"/> See Ukrainian phonology
West Frisian		Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'where'	See West Frisian phonology

See also

• List of phonetics topics
• R-labialization
• Rhotacism (speech impediment): pronouncing Template:Angbr as Template:IPA

Bibliography

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External links

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