Voiced velar approximant
Template:Short description Template:For Template:For Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox IPA
A voiced velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA. In order to not imply that the approximant is spread as the vowel Template:IPA is, it may instead be transcribed Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA, or Template:Angbr IPA.
This consonant is absent from English, but may be approximated by making Template:IPAblink but with the tongue body lowered or Template:IPAblink but with the lips apart. The voiced velar approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic counterpart of the close back unrounded vowel Template:IPA. Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA with the non-syllabic diacritic are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.
In some languages, such as Spanish, a voiced velar approximant is an allophone of Template:IPA – see below.
The symbol for a velar approximant originates from Template:Angbr IPA, but with a vertical line. Compare Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA for the labio-palatal approximant.
Features
Features of a voiced velar approximant:
Template:Approximant The most common type of this approximant is glide or semivowel. The term glide emphasizes the characteristic of movement (or 'glide') of Template:IPA from the Template:IPAblink 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). For a description of the approximant consonant variant used e.g. in Spanish, see below. Template:Velar Template:Voiced Template:Oral Template:Central articulation Template:Pulmonic
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AragoneseTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'oak tree' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; allophone of Template:IPA. | |
| Astur-Leonese | Asturian | Template:Fix | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; allophone of Template:IPA. | ||
| Extremaduran | Template:Fix | ||||
| Leonese | Template:Fix | ||||
| Mirandese | Template:Fix | ||||
| CatalanTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:Audio-IPA | 'water' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; allophone of Template:IPA.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Catalan phonology | |
| Cherokee | ᏩᏥ Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'watch' | Found only in the Western dialect. Its equivalent in other dialects is [w]. Also represented by Ꮺ, Ꮻ, Ꮼ, Ꮽ, and Ꮾ | |
| Danish | Older speakersTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'tallow' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding. Still used by some older speakers in high register, much more commonly than a fricative Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp Depending on the environment, it corresponds to Template:IPA or Template:IPAblink in young speakers of contemporary Standard Danish.Template:Sfnp See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Western East FlemishTemplate:Sfnp | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding. Corresponds to a fricative Template:IPAblink in other dialects.Template:Sfnp | |||
| French | BelgianTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'macaw' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding. Intervocalic, word-internal allophone of Template:IPA for some speakers.Template:Sfnp See French phonology |
| GalicianTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:Audio-IPA | 'organ' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; allophone of Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp See Galician phonology | |
| Greek | CypriotTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'shop' | Allophone of Template:IPA. |
| Guarani | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'near, close to' | Contrasts with Template:IPA | |
| Ñandewa Paulista-ParanaenseTemplate:Sfnp | Template:IPA | 'I cut' | Contrasts with Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp | ||
| Hiw | wr̄og | Template:IPA | 'through' | Contrasts with Template:IPA and with Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp | |
| IbibioTemplate:Sfnp | ufokọ | Template:IPA | Template:Fix | Intervocalic allophone of Template:IPA; may be a uvular tap Template:IPAblink instead.Template:Sfnp | |
| Icelandic | Template:Lang | Template:Audio-IPA | 'Skagabyggð' | Approximant consonant<ref>Template:Harvp "[It is] doubtful whether the voiced fricatives are to be classified as such, rather than as approximants.". Template:Harvp "The weakness of the articulation of the voiced sounds makes them at times more like approximants, and they are very easily deleted intervocalically in natural speech, making pronunciations like [taːr̥] for Template:Lang Template:Gloss [...] quite common." </ref> unspecified for rounding.Template:Citation needed See Icelandic phonology | |
| Irish | Template:Lang | Template:Audio-IPA | 'nine' | Occurs only between broad consonants and front vowels. See Irish phonology | |
| Japanese | Template:Lang / Template:Transliteration | Template:IPA | 'third rank' | Syllable-final moraic nasal realization; broadly described as dorso-velar, though exact placement of articulation varies.Template:Sfnp See Japanese phonology | |
| Korean | Template:Lang / Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'doctor' | Occurs only before Template:IPA. See Korean phonology | |
| Mwotlap | haghag | Template:IPA | 'sit' | Contrasts with Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp | |
| Nizaa | ŋun | Template:IPA | 'boy/girl' | Only occurs as a nasalized approximant.<ref name="Kjelsvik-2002">Template:Cite thesis</ref> See Nizaa phonology. | |
| ShipiboTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | Template:Fix | Unspecified for rounding; varies between an approximant and a fricative. Allophone of Template:IPA in certain high-frequency morphemes.Template:Sfnp | |
| SpanishTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:Audio-IPA | 'to pay' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; allophone of Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp See Spanish phonology | |
| Swedish | Central StandardTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:Nowrap | 'agronomist' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; allophone of Template:IPA in casual speech. See Swedish phonology |
| Tagalog | igriega | Template:IPA | 'y (letter)' | Approximant consonant unspecified for rounding; intervocalic allophone of Template:IPA. See Tagalog phonology | |
| Tiwi | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'we (inclusive)' | ||
| Vietnamese | Southern | gặp | Template:Audio-IPA | 'to meet, to see' | Typical realization of Template:IPA in other dialects. Variant is in complementary distribution before open vowels. |
Voiced velar bunched approximant
Some languages have a velar approximant that is produced with the body of the tongue bunched up at the velum and simultaneous pharyngealization. This gives rise to a type of retroflex resonance that is indistinguishable from Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp The extension to the IPA recommends the use of the "centralized" diacritic, Template:Angbr IPA, to distinguish the bunched realization from the apical articulation Template:Angbr IPA. Typically, the diacritic is omitted, so that the sound is transcribed simply with Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA as if it were a coronal consonant.
In Dutch, this type of r is called Template:Lang Template:IPA 'Gooi r'. It is named after het Gooi, a region of the Netherlands where Hilversum (the main centre for television and radio broadcasting) is located.
Features
Features of a voiced velar bunched approximant:
Template:Approximant The body of the tongue is bunched up at the velum, rather than just approaching it as it is the case with the prototypical velar approximant. Template:Velar Template:Voiced Template:Oral Template:Central articulation Template:Pulmonic
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch | Randstad varietiesTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'but' | Pre-velar. Common allophone of Template:IPA in the syllable coda, where it contrasts with Template:IPAblink. The bunching and pharyngealization may be lost in connected speech, resulting in a semivowel such as Template:IPAblink or Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology |
| Standard NorthernTemplate:Sfnp | Pre-velar. Common allophone of Template:IPA in the syllable coda, where it contrasts with Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology | ||||
| English | AmericanTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'red' | Possible realization of Template:IPA; auditorily indistinguishable from apical Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp See Pronunciation of English /r/ |
| Received PronunciationTemplate:Sfnp | Template:Lang | Template:IPA | 'curious' | Possible allophone of Template:IPA before front vowels; auditorily indistinguishable from apical Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp See Pronunciation of English /r/ | |
Relation with Template:IPA and Template:IPA
Some languages have a voiced velar approximant that is unspecified for rounding, and therefore cannot be considered the semivocalic equivalent of either Template:IPA or its rounded counterpart Template:IPAblink. Examples of such languages are Catalan, Galician and Spanish, in which the approximant consonant (not semivowel) unspecified for rounding appears as an allophone of Template:IPA.Template:Sfnp
Eugenio Martínez Celdrán describes the voiced velar approximant consonant as follows:Template:Sfnp
There is a parallel problem with transcribing the palatal approximant.
In broad transcription,<ref>See e.g. Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> the lowering diacritic may be omitted, so that the symbol is rendered Template:Angbr IPA as with the corresponding fricative.
See also
Notes
References
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