A voiced labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spokenlanguages. It is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨w⟩ in the English alphabet; likewise, the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨w⟩, or occasionally broken down as ⟨ɰʷ⟩. In most languages it is the semivocalic counterpart of a close back rounded vowel[u]. In inventory charts of languages with other labialized velar consonants, /w/ will be placed in the same column as those consonants. When consonant charts have only labial and velar columns, /w/ may be placed in the velar column, labial column, or both. The placement may have more to do with convenience or phonological criteria than with phonetics.
For a labialized post-palatal approximant—sometimes also described as a voiced labial–prevelar approximant—which is more fronted in the place of articulation than a prototypical labial–velar approximant, see Labial–palatal approximant §Post-palatal.
Features
Features of a voiced labial–velar 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 type of approximant is glide or semivowel. The term glide emphasizes the characteristic of movement (or 'glide') of /w/ from the /u/ 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).
Its place of articulation is labialized velar, which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate (the velum) while rounding the lips. Some languages, such as Japanese and perhaps the Northern Iroquoian languages, have a sound typically transcribed as /w/ where the lips are compressed, or in some cases may not have labial features at all. Close transcriptions may avoid the symbol [w] in such cases and instead use [ɰ], or may use the under-rounding diacritic [w̜].
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.
This dialect has a long-standing tradition of pronouncing /ɫ/ as /w/, similar to the Polish language. Independent of the similar sound change happening in the standard language.
May also occur in this context in some continental Dutch accents and/or dialects. Corresponds to [ʋ] in most of the Netherlands and to [β̞] in Belgium and (southern) parts of the Netherlands. See Dutch phonology
A nasalized voiced labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantalsound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is typically ⟨w̃⟩ (a nasalized⟨w⟩), though for preciseness ⟨ɰ̃ʷ⟩ (a nasalized and labialized⟨ɰ⟩) may also be seen.
↑a study of telugu regional and social dialects: a prosodic analysis by j. venkateswara sastry
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