A voiced palatal approximant is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the "y" sound in "young".
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j⟩; the equivalent symbol in the Americanist phonetic notation is ⟨y⟩. If it is necessary to avoid the implication that the approximant is spread as its vocalic equivalent [i] is, it may instead be transcribed ⟨ʝ̞⟩ or ⟨ʝ⟩ (or ⟨ʝ˕⟩, which is now dated). When this sound occurs in the form of a palatal glide it is frequently, but not exclusively, denoted as a superscript j⟨ʲ⟩ in IPA.
Some languages, however, have a palatal approximant that is unspecified for rounding and so cannot be considered the semivocalic equivalent of either [i] or its rounded counterpart, [y], which would normally correspond to [ɥ]. An example is Spanish, which distinguishes two palatal approximants: a semivowel approximant [j], which is always unrounded (and is a phonological vowel - an allophone of /i/), and a spirant approximant unspecified for rounding, [ʝ̞] (which is a phonological consonant). Eugenio Martínez Celdrán describes the difference between them as follows (with audio examples added):
[j] is shorter and is usually a merely transitory sound. It can only exist together with a full vowel and does not appear in syllable onset. [On the other hand,] [ʝ̞] has a lower amplitude, mainly in F2. It can only appear in syllable onset. It is not noisy either articulatorily or perceptually. [ʝ̞] can vary towards [ʝ] in emphatic pronunciations, having noise (turbulent airstream). (...)
There is a further argument through which we can establish a clear difference between [j] and [ʝ̞]: the first sound cannot be rounded, not even through co-articulation, whereas the second one is rounded before back vowels or the back semi-vowel. Thus, in words like viuda[ˈbjuða]ⓘ 'widow', Dios[ˈdjos]ⓘ 'God', vio[ˈbjo]ⓘ 's/he saw', etc., the semi-vowel [j] is unrounded; if it were rounded, a sound that does not exist in Spanish, [ɥ], would appear. On the other hand, [ʝ̞] is unspecified as far as rounding is concerned and it is assimilated to the labial vowel context: rounded with rounded vowels, e.g. ayuda[aˈʝ̞ʷuð̞a]ⓘ 'help', coyote[koˈʝ̞ʷote]ⓘ 'coyote', hoyuelo[oˈʝ̞ʷwelo]ⓘ 'dimple', etc., and unrounded with unrounded vowels: payaso[paˈʝ̞aso]ⓘ 'clown', ayer[aˈʝ̞eɾ]ⓘ 'yesterday'.
Celdrán also considers that "the IPA shows a lack of precision in the treatment it gives to approximants, if we take into account our understanding of the phonetics of Spanish. [ʝ̞] and [j] are two different segments, but they have to be labelled as voiced palatal approximant consonants. I think that the former is a real consonant, whereas the latter is a semi-consonant, as it has traditionally been called in Spanish, or a semi-vowel, if preferred. The IPA, though, classifies it as a consonant."
In the writing systems used for most languages of Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe, the letter j denotes a palatal approximant, as in GermanJahr 'year', which is followed by IPA. Although it may be seen as counterintuitive for English-speakers, there are a few words with that orthographical spelling in certain loanwords in English like Hebrew "hallelujah" and German "Jägermeister".
In grammars of Ancient Greek, a palatal approximant, which was lost early in the history of Greek, is sometimes written as ⟨ι̯⟩, an iota with the inverted breve below, which is the nonsyllabic diacritic or marker of a semivowel.
Features
Features of a voiced palatal approximant:
Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream. The most common type of this approximant is glide or semivowel. The term glide emphasizes the characteristic of movement (or 'glide') of [j] from the [i] 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 spirant approximant variant used e.g. in Spanish, see §Phonetic ambiguity and transcription usage.
Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate. The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound slightly closer to the velar [ɰ].
Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
Unspecified for rounding approximant consonant; the language also features an unrounded palatal approximant semivowel (which may replace /ʝ̞/ before /e/).
Unspecified for rounding approximant consonant; the language also features an unrounded palatal approximant semivowel. Contrast with /j/. See Spanish phonology
There is also a post-palatal or pre-velar approximant in some languages, which is articulated more back than the place of articulation of the prototypical palatal approximant but less far back than the prototypical velar approximant. It can be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the close central unrounded vowel[ɨ]. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, but it can be transcribed as ⟨j̠⟩, ⟨j⟩ (a retracted⟨j⟩), ⟨ɰ̟⟩ or ⟨ɰ᫈⟩ (an advanced⟨ɰ⟩). Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈⟩ (a centralized ⟨j⟩), ⟨ɰ̈⟩ (a centralized ⟨ɰ⟩), and ⟨ɨ̯⟩ (a non-syllabic ⟨ɨ⟩). The para-IPA symbol ⟨ɉ⟩ (a barred ⟨j⟩) may also be used to represent this approximant.
A nasalized voiced palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j̃⟩.
[j̃], written ⟨ny⟩,[citation needed] is a common realization of /j/ 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, Ewe and Bini languages.
Allophone of /ɲ/ between vowels, nasalizing the preceding vowel.
Other dialects, occasional in rapid, unguarded speech
niños
[ˈnij̃os]
'kids'
Allophone of /ɲ/. Because nasality is retained and there is no potential merger with any other Spanish phonemes, this process is rarely noticed, and its geographical distribution has never been determined.
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