Labiovelar consonant

The term labiovelar is ambiguous. It may mean labial-velar (a consonant made at two places of articulation, one at the lips and the other at the soft palate), or it may mean labialized velar (a consonant with an approximant-like secondary articulation). Labial-velar consonants are doubly articulated at the velum and the Lips They are sometimes called " Labiovelar consonants quot a term which can also In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal In Articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a Consonant is the point of contact where an Obstruction "Lip rounding" redirects here See Roundedness for the lip rounding of vowels Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants Secondary articulation refers to Co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner.

When the manner of articulation is a plosive, nasal stop, or fricative, these are quite different. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Labialized velars include [kʷ, ɡʷ, xʷ, ŋʷ], which are pronounced like a [k, ɡ, x, ŋ] but with rounded lips. Labial-velars are less common, occurring principally in West and Central Africa, and include [k͡p, g͡b, ŋ͡m], which are pronounced like a simultaneous [k] and [p], [ɡ] and [b], and [ŋ] and [m]. Labial-velar fricatives are not thought to be possible, since it is difficult to control the airstream precisely enough to produce frication at two places of articulation, and in any case the sound of the forward articulation would mask the other. ([ʍ] is not actually a fricative, but rather a voiceless approximant, and in any case is labialized, not labial-velar. )

See labial-velar consonant. Labial-velar consonants are doubly articulated at the velum and the Lips They are sometimes called " Labiovelar consonants quot a term which can also

Labialized velar approximants

The most common labiovelar consonant is the voiced approximant [w]. This is normally a labialized velar, as is its vocalic cousin [u]. (Labialization is called rounding in vowels, and a velar place is called back. In Phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the Lips during the articulation of a Vowel. A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as ) However, languages such as Japanese and perhaps the Northern Iroquoian languages have something closer to a true labial-velar approximant, where the lips come together. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities The Iroquoian languages are a Native American Language family. The voiced labiovelar (actually labialized velar) approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in certain spoken Languages including In close transcription, the symbol [w] may be avoided in such cases, or it may be used with an under-rounding diacritic, as [w̜].

[w] and its voiceless equivalent are the only labialized velars with dedicated IPA symbols:

IPA	Description	Example
IPA	Description	Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
	voiceless labialized velar approximant	English	which	[ʍɪtʃ]	'which'¹
	voiced labialized velar approximant	English	witch	[wɪtʃ]	'witch'

¹In dialects that distinguish between which and witch. The voiceless labiovelar approximant (traditionally called a voiceless labiovelar fricative) is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The voiced labiovelar (actually labialized velar) approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in certain spoken Languages including English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States This is a list of varieties of the English language. Dialects are linguistic varieties which differ in Pronunciation, Vocabulary and

The voiceless approximant is traditionally called a "voiceless labial-velar fricative", but true doubly articulated fricatives are not known to be used in any language, as they are quite difficult to pronounce and even more to aurally distinguish. Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner (both plosive or both nasal etc (However, very occasionally the symbol [ʍ] is used for a labialized velar fricative, [xʷ]. This usage is not approved by the IPA. The International Phonetic Association (IPA is an organization that promotes the scientific study of Phonetics and the various practical applications of that science )

Labialized velar approximants

See also