| Above: | Voiced labial–palatal approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɥ |
| Ipa Number: | 171 |
| Decimal1: | 613 |
| X-Sampa: | H |
| Kirshenbaum: | j<rnd> |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0265.svg |
| Braille: | 256 |
| Braille2: | h |
| Soundfile: | LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-IPA ɥ.wav |
The voiced labial–palatal (or labio-palatal) approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages, for example, french "huitiéme", read as [ɥitjɛm]. It has two constrictions in the vocal tract: with the tongue on the palate, and rounded at the lips. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|ɥ), a rotated lowercase letter (h), or occasionally (IPA|jʷ), which indicates pronounced as /link/ with a different kind of rounding.
The labial–palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the close front rounded vowel pronounced as /[y]/. They alternate with each other in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, (IPA|ɥ) and (IPA|y̑) with the non-syllabic diacritic are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound. Sometimes,[1] (IPA|y̆) is written in place of (IPA|y̑), even though the former symbol denotes an extra-short pronounced as /link/ in the official IPA.
Some languages, though, have a palatal approximant that is unspecified for rounding, and therefore cannot be considered the semivocalic equivalent of either pronounced as /[y]/ or its unrounded counterpart pronounced as /link/. An example of such a language is Spanish, in which the labialized palatal approximant (not a semivowel) appears allophonically with rounded vowels in words such as ayuda pronounced as /[aˈʝ̞ʷuð̞a]/ 'help'. According to some sources, it is not correct to transcribe this with the symbol (IPA|ɥ), which has a different kind of rounding, or with (IPA|jʷ), which implies spread lips; the only suitable transcription is (IPA|ʝ̞ʷ). See palatal approximant for more information.
There is also the labialized postpalatal approximant[2] in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical labialized palatal approximant, though not as back as the prototypical labialized velar approximant. It can be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the close central rounded vowel pronounced as /[ʉ]/. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as (IPA|ɥ̄) or (IPA|ɥ˗) (both symbols denote a retracted (IPA|ɥ)), (IPA|ɥ̈) (centralized (IPA|ɥ)), (IPA|w̟) (advanced (IPA|w)) or (IPA|ẅ) (centralized (IPA|w)). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are H_o, H_", w_+ and w_", respectively. Other possible transcriptions include a centralized and labialized (IPA|j) ((IPA|j̈ʷ) in the IPA, j_"_w in X-SAMPA) and a non-syllabic (IPA|ʉ) ((IPA|ʉ̯) in the IPA, }_^ in X-SAMPA).
Especially in broad transcription, the labialized postpalatal approximant may be transcribed as a palatalized and labialized velar approximant ((IPA|wʲ) in the IPA, w' or w_j in X-SAMPA).
The compressed palatal approximant is typically transcribed in IPA simply as (IPA|ɥ), and that is the convention used in this article. There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter pronounced as /link/ as (IPA|j͡β̞) (simultaneous pronounced as /[j]/ and labial compression) or (IPA|jᵝ) (pronounced as /[j]/ modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic (IPA| ͍) may also be used with a labialized approximant letter (IPA|ɥ͍) as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.
The compressed post-palatal approximant[2] can be transcribed simply as (IPA|ɥ̈) (centralized pronounced as /[ɥ]/), and that is the convention used in this article. Other possible transcriptions include (IPA|j̈ᵝ) (centralized pronounced as /[j]/ modified with labial compression) and (IPA|ɥ͍̈) (centralized pronounced as /[ɥ]/ with the spread-lip diacritic).
Features of the compressed palatal approximant:
Because the labialized palatal approximant is assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some examples in the table below may actually have protrusion.
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[awaˈɥə]/ | 'human' | See Abkhaz phonology | |||
| [[Chinese characters|月]] / [[Pinyin|'''yu'''è]] | pronounced as /[ɥe̹˥˩]/ | 'moon' | See Mandarin phonology | ||
| [[Chinese characters|浴]] / yoq | pronounced as /[ɥo̽ʔ˥]/ | 'bath' | Allophone of pronounced as //j// before rounded vowels. | ||
| English | Bay Islands | pronounced as /[ɥɪl]/ | 'will' | Allophone of pronounced as //w// or pronounced as //v// that only occurs before /i/ or /ɪ/. See Bay Islands English#Phonology. | |
| French: [[French orthography|n'''u'''ire]] | 'to harm' | Merges with pronounced as //w// or pronounced as //y// in Belgian French. See French phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[ɥæk]/ | 'four' | Contrasts with the voiceless pronounced as //ɥ̊//. | |||
| Kham | Gamale Kham | pronounced as /[ɥe]/ | 'husband' | ||
| Korean: [[Hangul|쉬엄쉬엄]] / Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|s'''w'''ieoms'''w'''ieom]] | pronounced as /[ɕɥiʌmɕɥiʌm]/ | 'Take it easy' | Only occurs before pronounced as //i//. See Korean phonology | ||
| Kurdish: [[Kurdish phonology|d'''ü'''a]] | pronounced as /[dʉːɥɑː]/ | 'back' | See Kurdish phonology | ||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|d'''u'''alisme]] | pronounced as /[dʉ̞ɥ̈ɑˈlɪ̟smə]/ | 'dualism' | Post-palatal; appears prevocalically after the compressed close vowels pronounced as //ʉ, ʉː//. May be transcribed with (IPA|w̟) or simply (IPA|w). See Norwegian phonology | ||
| Allophone of pronounced as //w// before pronounced as //i, ĩ//. Only lightly labialized. | |||||
| Central Standard | Swedish: [[Swedish orthography|f'''u'''l]] | 'ugly' | Non-syllabic element of the common diphthongal realization of pronounced as //ʉː// (pronounced as /[ʉ̟ɥ]/); can be a fricative instead. Palatal in the Central Standard variety, post-palatal in some other varieties. See Swedish phonology | ||
| Upper Sorbian: '''w'''ěm | pronounced as /[ɥɪm]/ | 'I know' | Soft counterpart of pronounced as /link/. | ||
| Lower | pronounced as /[dʑɥɛ˩˥]/ | 'fang' | Allophone of pronounced as //w// when preceded by an (alveolo-)palatal initial and/or followed by one of the front vowels pronounced as //i, e, ɛ// (in Upper Xumi also pronounced as //ĩ//). | ||
| Upper | pronounced as /[dɥe˩˥]/ | 'to ask' | |||
| Above: | Protruded palatal approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɥ̫ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ɥʷ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | jʷ |
As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, (IPA| ̫), will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for the protruded palatal approximant. Another possible transcription is (IPA|ɥʷ) or (IPA|jʷ) (a palatal approximant modified by endolabialization).
Acoustically, this sound is "between" the more typical compressed palatal approximant pronounced as /[ɥ]/ and the non-labialized palatal approximant pronounced as /link/.
Features of the protruded palatal approximant:
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|c'''y'''anid]] | 'cyanide' | Appears prevocalically after the protruded close vowels pronounced as //ʏ, yː//. See Norwegian phonology | ||||
| Spanish | Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|a'''y'''uda]] | pronounced as /[äˈʝ̞ʷuð̞ä]/ | 'help' | Approximant consonant; lenited allophone of pronounced as //ɟ͡ʝ// before and between rounded vowels. May be a fricative pronounced as /[ʝʷ]/ in emphatic speech. See Spanish phonology | ||
pronounced as /navigation/