Voiced labial–palatal approximant

"Labial-palatal approximant" redirects here. For the voiceless consonant, see Voiceless labial-palatal approximant.

For consonants followed by superscript ᶣ, see Labio-palatalization.

A voiced labial–palatal (or labio-palatal) approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages, for example, French huitième, 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 ⟨ɥ⟩, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨h⟩.

Voiced labial–palatal approximant
ɥ
IPA number	171
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɥ
Unicode (hex)	U+0265
X-SAMPA	H
Braille
Image

A labial–palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the close front rounded vowel [y]. They alternate with each other in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages, ⟨ɥ⟩ and ⟨y̑⟩ with the non-syllabic diacritic are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound. Sometimes,^[1] ⟨y̆⟩ is written in place of ⟨y̑⟩, even though the former symbol denotes an extra-short [y] 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 [y] or its unrounded counterpart [i]. An example of such a language is Spanish, in which a labialized palatal approximant (non-semivowel) appears allophonically with back vowels in words such as ayuda [aˈʝ̞ʷuð̞a] ('help'), while unrounded elsewhere, such as ayer [aˈʝ̞eɾ] ('yesterday'). Therefore, according to some sources, it is not correct to transcribe this sound with the symbol ⟨ɥ⟩, which has a different kind of rounding, or with a modified ⟨j⟩, which according to the same sources cannot be rounded at all; the only suitable transcription is ⟨ʝ̞ʷ⟩.^[2] See palatal approximant for more information.

There is also a labialized post-palatal approximant^[3] 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 [ʉ]. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨ɥ˗⟩ (a retracted ⟨ɥ⟩), ⟨ɥ̈⟩ (centralized ⟨ɥ⟩), ⟨w̟⟩ (advanced ⟨w⟩), or ⟨ẅ⟩ (centralized ⟨w⟩). These symbols may be used separately to distinguish compressed (exolabial) and protruded (endolabial) rounding, as in ⟨ɥ˗⟩ vs ⟨w̟⟩ or ⟨ɥ̈⟩ vs ⟨ẅ⟩. Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈ʷ⟩ (a centralized and labialized ⟨j⟩) and ⟨ʉ̯⟩ (a non-syllabic ⟨ʉ⟩). The para-IPA symbols ⟨ɥ w⟩ (barred ⟨ɥ w⟩) may also be used for the exolabial and endolabial variants of the post-palatal approximant respectively,^[4] and are pending Unicode support as of 2025.^[5]

Especially in broad transcription, a labialized post-palatal approximant may be transcribed as a palatalized and labialized velar approximant ⟨wʲ⟩.

Compressed palatal approximant

A compressed palatal approximant is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨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 ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨j͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous [j] and labial compression) or ⟨jᵝ⟩ ([j] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨  ͍⟩ may also be used with a labialized approximant letter ⟨ɥ͍⟩ (or ⟨ɥ⃡⟩) as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.

A compressed post-palatal approximant^[3] can be transcribed simply as ⟨ɥ̈⟩ (centralized [ɥ]), and that is the convention used in this article. Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈ᵝ⟩ (centralized [j] modified with labial compression), ⟨ẅ͍⟩ (centralized [w] with the spread-lip diacritic), and the para-IPA ⟨ɥ⟩ (barred ⟨ɥ⟩).

Features

Features of the compressed palatal 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.
• Its place of articulation is palatal and in addition it is endo-labialized, which is accomplished by raising the body of the tongue toward the palate while approximating the lips.
• 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 central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Because a 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	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ауаҩы	[awaˈɥə]	'human'	See Abkhaz phonology
Breton	Gwenedeg	ouilhad	[ɥiːʎɐt]	'escapade'	Realization of /w/ before front vowels.
Chinese	Mandarin	月 / yuè	[ɥe̹˥˩]	'moon'	See Mandarin phonology
	Shanghainese[6]	浴 / yoq	[ɥo̽ʔ˥]	'bath'	Allophone of /j/ before rounded vowels.[6]
English	Bay Islands[7]	will	[ɥɪl]	'will'	Allophone of /w/ or /v/ that only occurs before /i/ or /ɪ/. See Bay Islands English#Phonology.
French		nuire	[nɥiʁ]ⓘ	'to harm'	Merges with /w/ or /y/ in Belgian French. See French phonology
Iaai		vëk	[ɥæk]	'four'	Contrasts with the voiceless /ɥ̊/.
Kham[8]	Gamale Kham	व़े	[ɥe]	'husband'
Korean	Gyeonggi	쉬엄쉬엄 / swieomswieom	[ɕɥiʌmɕɥiʌm]	'Take it easy'	Only occurs before /i/. See Korean phonology
Kurdish		düa	[dʉːɥɑː]	'back'	See Kurdish phonology
Norwegian	Urban East[9]	dualisme	[dʉ̞ɥ̈ɑˈlɪ̟smə]	'dualism'	Post-palatal; appears prevocalically after the compressed close vowels /ʉ, ʉː/.[9] May be transcribed with ⟨w̟⟩ or simply ⟨w⟩. See Norwegian phonology
Shipibo[10]		[example needed]			Allophone of /w/ before /i, ĩ/. Only lightly labialized.[10]
Occitan		nuèch	[ˈnɥɛtʃ]	'night'	See Occitan phonology
Swedish	Central Standard	ful	[fʉ̟ɥl]ⓘ	'ugly'	Non-syllabic element of the common diphthongal realization of /ʉː/ ([ʉ̟ɥ]); can be a fricative instead. Palatal in the Central Standard variety, post-palatal in some other varieties. See Swedish phonology
Upper Sorbian[11]		wěm	[ɥɪm]	'I know'	Soft counterpart of /w/.[11]
Xumi	Lower[12]	[dʑɥɛ˩˥]		'fang'	Allophone of /w/ when preceded by an (alveolo-)palatal initial and/or followed by one of the front vowels /i, e, ɛ/ (in Upper Xumi also /ĩ/).[12][13]
	Upper[13]	[dɥe˩˥]		'to ask'

Protruded palatal approximant

Protruded palatal approximant
ɥ᫇ (ɥ̫)
ɥʷ
jʷ

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨  ̫⟩, will be used here as an ad hoc symbol for the protruded palatal approximant. Another possible transcription is ⟨ɥʷ⟩ or ⟨jʷ⟩ (a palatal approximant modified by endolabialization).

Acoustically, this sound is between the more typical compressed palatal approximant [ɥ] and a non-labialized palatal approximant [j].

A protruded post-palatal approximant^[3] can be transcribed simply as ⟨ẅ⟩ (centralized [w]). Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈ʷ⟩ (centralized [j] modified with endolabialization), ⟨ɥ̫̈⟩ (centralized [ɥ] with labialization), and the para-IPA ⟨w⟩ (barred ⟨w⟩).

Features

Features of a protruded palatal 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.
• Its place of articulation is labial–palatal, which is accomplished by raising the body of the tongue toward the palate while approximating the lips.
• 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 central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Norwegian	Urban East[9]	cyanid	[sʏ̫ɥ̫ɑˈniːd]	'cyanide'	Appears prevocalically after the protruded close vowels /ʏ, yː/.[9] See Norwegian phonology
Spanish		ayuda	[äˈʝ̞ʷuð̞ä]	'help'	Approximant consonant; lenited allophone of /ɟ͡ʝ/ before and between rounded vowels. May be a fricative [ʝʷ] in emphatic speech. See Spanish phonology