| Ipa Symbol: | v |
| Ipa Number: | 129 |
| Decimal: | 118 |
| X-Sampa: | v |
| Braille: | v |
The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|v), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is v.
The sound is similar to voiced alveolar fricative /z/ in that it is familiar to most European speakers but is a fairly uncommon sound cross-linguistically, occurring in approximately 21.1% of languages.[1] Moreover, most languages that have /z/ also have /v/ and similarly to /z/, the overwhelming majority of languages with [v] are languages of Europe, Africa, or Western Asia, although the similar labiodental approximant /ʋ/ is also common in India. The presence of pronounced as /[v]/ and absence of pronounced as /[w]/, is a very distinctive areal feature of European languages and those of adjacent areas of Siberia and Central Asia. Speakers of East Asian languages that lack this sound may pronounce it as pronounced as /[b]/ (Korean and Japanese), or pronounced as /[f]//pronounced as /[w]/ (Cantonese and Mandarin), and thus be unable to distinguish between a number of English minimal pairs.
In certain languages, such as Danish, Faroese, Icelandic or Norwegian the voiced labiodental fricative is in a free variation with the labiodental approximant.
Features of the voiced labiodental fricative:
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhazian: [[Abkhaz alphabet|е'''в'''ропа]] | pronounced as /[evˈropʼa]/ | 'Europe' | See Abkhaz phonology | |||
| Afrikaans: [[Afrikaans alphabet|'''w'''ees]] | pronounced as /[vɪəs]/ | 'to be' | See Afrikaans phonology | |||
| Albanian: [[Albanian alphabet|'''v'''alixhe]] | pronounced as /[vaˈlidʒɛ]/ | 'case' | ||||
| Arabic | Algerian | pronounced as /[kavi]/ | 'ataxy' | See Arabic phonology | ||
| Hejazi | فيروس|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[vajˈruːs]/ | 'virus' | Only used in loanwords, transcribed and pronounced as pronounced as /[f]/ by many speakers. | ||
| Siirt | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|ذهب]]|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[vaˈhab]/ | 'gold' | See Arabic phonology | ||
| Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''վ'''եց]] | 'six' | |||||
| Assyrian | ܟܬܒ̣ܐ [[Syriac alphabet|cta'''v'''a]] | pronounced as /[ctaːva]/] | 'book' | Only in the Urmia dialects. pronounced as /link/ is also predominantly used. Corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in the other varieties. | ||
| Dali | ? | pronounced as /[ŋv˩˧]/ | 'fish' | |||
| Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''в'''ода]] | pronounced as /[voda]/ | 'water' | See Bulgarian phonology | |||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''v'''ell]] | pronounced as /[ˈveʎ]/ | 'old' | See Catalan phonology | |||
| Balearic [2] | ||||||
| Southern Catalonia | Wheeler | 2002 | p=13"/> | |||
| Valencian | Wheeler | 2002 | p=13"> | |||
| Chechen: [[Cyrillic script|'''в'''ашa]] / Chechen: '''v'''aşa | pronounced as /[vaʃa]/ | 'brother' | ||||
| pronounced as /[vɛ]/ | 'cooked rice' | |||||
| pronounced as /[vu˥˧]/ | 'five' | Corresponds to pronounced as //w// in standard Mandarin. | ||||
| Czech: [[Czech alphabet|'''v'''oda]] | pronounced as /[ˈvodä]/ | 'water' | See Czech phonology | |||
| Standard | Danish: [[Danish orthography|'''v'''éd]] | pronounced as /[ve̝ːˀð̠˕ˠ]/ | 'know(s)' | Most often an approximant pronounced as /link/. See Danish phonology | ||
| All dialects | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch alphabet|'''w'''raak]] | pronounced as /[vraːk]/ | 'revenge' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʋ// before pronounced as //r//. See Dutch phonology | ||
| Most dialects | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch alphabet|'''v'''reemd]] | pronounced as /[vreːmt]/ | 'strange' | Often devoiced to pronounced as /link/ by speakers from the Netherlands. See Dutch phonology | ||
| Standard | ||||||
| All dialects | 'valve' | See English phonology | ||||
| pronounced as /[bɹiːv]/ | 'breathe' | Does not occur word-initially. See th-fronting | ||||
| pronounced as /[bɹəi̯v]/ | ||||||
| Esperanto: [[Esperanto orthography| '''v'''undo ]] | pronounced as /[ˈvundo]/ | 'wound' | See Esperanto phonology | |||
| Ewe: [[African reference alphabet|e'''v'''lo]] | pronounced as /[évló]/ | 'he is evil' | ||||
| Faroese: [[Faroese alphabet|'''v'''eður]] | pronounced as /[ˈveːʋuɹ]/ | 'speech' | Word-initial allophone of pronounced as //v//, in free variation with an approximant pronounced as /link/. See Faroese phonology | |||
| French: [[French alphabet|'''v'''al'''v'''e]] | pronounced as /[valv]/ | 'valve' | See French phonology | |||
| Georgian: [[Georgian alphabet|'''ვ'''იწრო]] | pronounced as /[ˈvitsʼɾo]/ | 'narrow' | ||||
| German: [[German alphabet|'''W'''ächter]] | pronounced as /[ˈvɛçtɐ]/ | 'guard' | See Standard German phonology | |||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|'''β'''ερνίκι]] [[Romanization of Greek|'''v'''erníki]] | pronounced as /[ve̞rˈnici]/ | 'varnish' | See Modern Greek phonology | |||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Hebrew alphabet|ג'''ב''']] | pronounced as /[ɡav]/ | 'back' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | |||
| Hindi: [[Devanagari|'''व्र'''त]] | pronounced as /[vrət̪]/ | 'fast' | See Hindustani phonology | |||
| Hungarian: [[Hungarian alphabet|'''v'''eszély]] | pronounced as /[vɛseːj]/ | 'danger' | See Hungarian phonology | |||
| Irish: [[Irish alphabet|'''bh'''aile]] | pronounced as /[vaːlə]/ | 'home' | See Irish phonology | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|a'''v'''are]] | pronounced as /[aˈvare]/ | 'miserly' (f. pl.) | See Italian phonology | |||
| Ladino: mue'''v'''e | pronounced as /[ˈmwɛvɛ]/ | 'nine' | ||||
| Kabardian: [[Cyrillic script|'''в'''агъуэ]] | 'star' | Corresponds to pronounced as /[ʒʷ]/ in Adyghe | ||||
| Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|'''в'''ода]] | pronounced as /[vɔda]/ | 'water' | See Macedonian phonology | |||
| Norwegian: [[Maltese alphabet|i'''v'''a]] | pronounced as /[iva]/ | 'yes' | ||||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|'''v'''enn]] | pronounced as /[ve̞nː]/ | 'friend' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʋ// before a pause and in emphatic speech. See Norwegian phonology | |||
| Occitan (post 1500);: '''v'''ol''' | pronounced as /[vɔl]/ | 'flight' | See Occitan phonology | |||
| Limousin | ||||||
| Provençal | ||||||
| Persian: [[Persian orthography|'''و'''رزش]]|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[værzeʃ]/ | 'sport' | See Persian phonology | |||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|'''w'''ór]] | 'bag' | See Polish phonology | ||||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese alphabet|'''v'''ila]] | pronounced as /[ˈvilɐ]/ | 'town' | See Portuguese phonology | |||
| Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|'''v'''al]] | pronounced as /[väl]/ | 'wave' | See Romanian phonology | |||
| Russian: [[Russian alphabet|'''в'''олосы]] | pronounced as /[ˈvʷo̞ɫ̪əs̪ɨ̞]/ | 'hair' | Contrasts with palatalized form; may be an approximant pronounced as /link/ instead. See Russian phonology | |||
| [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''v'''oda]] | pronounced as /[vɔ'da]/ | 'water' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak alphabet|'''v'''zrast]] | pronounced as /[vzräst]/ | 'height' | Appears only in syllable onset before voiced obstruents; the usual realization of pronounced as //v// is an approximant pronounced as /link/. See Slovak phonology | |||
| Standard | Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|filozo'''f''' gre]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[filoˈz̪ôːv ˈɡɾěː]/ | 'philosopher goes' | Allophone of pronounced as //f// before voiced consonants. See Slovene phonology | ||
| Some dialects | Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|'''v'''oda]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈvɔ̀ːd̪á]/ | 'water' | Instead of pronounced as //ʋ//. See Slovene phonology | ||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|a'''f'''gano]] | pronounced as /[ävˈɣ̞äno̞]/ | 'Afghan' | Allophone of pronounced as //f// before voiced consonants. See Spanish phonology | |||
| Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|'''v'''ägg]] | pronounced as /[ˈvɛɡː]/ | 'wall' | See Swedish phonology | |||
| Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|'''v'''ade]] | pronounced as /[väːˈd̪ɛ]/ | 'due date' | The main allophone of pronounced as //v//; realized as bilabial pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|β}} ~ {{IPAplink|β̞}}]/ in certain contexts. See Turkish phonology | |||
| '''v'''ak|italic=yes | pronounced as /[vag]/ | 'road' | ||||
| Urdu | ورزش | [vəɾzɪʃ] | ‘exercise’ | See Hindustani phonology | ||
| Vietnamese: [[Vietnamese alphabet|'''v'''à]] | pronounced as /[vaː˨˩]/ | 'and' | In southern dialects, is in free variation with pronounced as /[j]/. See Vietnamese phonology | |||
| Western Frisian: wee'''v'''je | pronounced as /[ˈʋeɪ̯vjə]/ | 'to weave' | Never occurs in word-initial positions. See West Frisian phonology | |||
| Welsh: [[Welsh orthography|'''f'''i]] | pronounced as /[vi]/ | 'I' | See Welsh phonology | |||
| Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: [[Yi script|ꃶ]]/Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: [[Yi script|'''v'''u]] | pronounced as /[vu˧]/ | 'intestines' | ||||
pronounced as /navigation/