Above: | Voiceless labial–velar fricative |
Ipa Symbol: | ʍ |
Ipa Symbol2: | xʷ |
Ipa Number: | 169 |
Decimal1: | 653 |
X-Sampa: | W |
Kirshenbaum: | w |
Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x028D.svg |
Braille: | ! |
Braille2: | w |
The voiceless labial–velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|xʷ) or occasionally (IPA|ʍ). The letter (IPA|ʍ) was defined as a voiceless pronounced as /[w̥]/ until 1979, when it was defined as a fricative with the place of articulation of pronounced as /[k͡p]/ the same way that pronounced as /[w]/ is an approximant with the place of articulation of pronounced as /[ɡ͡b]/. However, the IPA Handbook treats it as both a "fricative" (IPA 1999: ix).
Some linguists posit voiceless approximants distinct from voiceless fricatives. To them, English pronounced as //ʍ// is an approximant pronounced as /[w̥]/,[1] a labialized glottal fricative pronounced as /[hʷ]/, or an pronounced as /[hw]/ sequence, not a velar fricative. Scots pronounced as //ʍ// has been described as a velar fricative, especially in older Scots, where it was pronounced as /[xw]/. Other linguists believe that a "voiceless approximant" is a contradiction in terms, and so pronounced as /[w̥]/ must be the same as pronounced as /[xʷ]/. Ladefoged and Maddieson were unable to confirm that any language has fricatives produced at two places of articulation, like labial and velar. They conclude that "if it is a fricative, it is better described as a voiceless labialized velar fricative".
Features of the voiceless labial–velar fricative:
Family | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eskimo-Aleut | Aleut[2] | Atkan | hwax̂ | pronounced as /[ʍaχ]/ | 'smoke' | ||
Bering | ʼЎaӽ | ||||||
Celtic | Cornish | SWF | pronounced as /[ʍi]/ | 'you all' | |||
Germanic | English | Conservative Received Pronunciation | whine | pronounced as /[ʍaɪ̯n]/ | 'whine' | English pronounced as //ʍ// is generally a labio-velar fricative or approximant. It is usually represented phonemically as /hw/, but phonetically there is not a sequence of [h] plus [w] (see English phonology). In General American and New Zealand English only some speakers maintain a distinction with pronounced as //w//; in Europe, mostly heard in Irish and Scottish accents.[3] See English phonology and phonological history of wh. | |
Cultivated South African | |||||||
Conservative General American | |||||||
Irish | pronounced as /[ʍʌɪ̯n]/ | ||||||
Scottish | |||||||
Southern American | pronounced as /[ʍäːn]/ | ||||||
New Zealand | pronounced as /[ʍɑe̯n]/ | ||||||
Athabaskan | Hupa[4] | Hupa: xwe꞉y | pronounced as /[xʷeːj]/ | 'his property' | A voiceless labialized velar fricative. | ||
Sino-Tibetan | Kham | Gamale Kham | pronounced as /[ʍɐ]/ | 'tooth' | Described as an approximant. | ||
Salishan | Lushootseed | d'''xʷ'''ʔiyb | pronounced as /[dxʷʔib]/ | 'Newhalem, Washington' | |||
Salishan | Shuswap | se'''cw'''epemctsín | pronounced as /[ʃəxʷəpəməxˈtʃin]/ | 'Shuswap language' | |||
Slavic | Slovene | vse | pronounced as /[ˈʍsɛ]/ | 'everything' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʋ// in the syllable onset before voiceless consonants, in free variation with a vowel pronounced as /link/. Voiced pronounced as /link/ before voiced consonants. See Slovene phonology. | ||
Isolate | Washo | Washo: '''W'''áʔi | pronounced as /[ˈxʷaʔi]/ or pronounced as /[ˈw̥aʔi]/ | 'he's the one who's doing it' | Variously described as a labialized velar fricative or a voiceless approximant. |
pronounced as /navigation/