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Consonantal sound From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 ⟨xʷ⟩ or occasionally ⟨ʍ⟩. The letter ⟨ʍ⟩ was defined as a voiceless [w̥] until 1979, when it was defined as a fricative with the place of articulation of [k͡p] the same way that [w] is an approximant with the place of articulation of [ɡ͡b]. However, the IPA Handbook treats it as both a "fricative" (IPA 1999: ix).
Voiceless labial–velar fricative | |||
---|---|---|---|
ʍ | |||
xʷ | |||
IPA Number | 169 | ||
Audio sample | |||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ʍ | ||
Unicode (hex) | U+028D | ||
X-SAMPA | W | ||
Braille | |||
|
Some linguists posit voiceless approximants distinct from voiceless fricatives. To them, English /ʍ/ is an approximant [w̥],[1] a labialized glottal fricative [hʷ], or an [hw] sequence, not a velar fricative.[2] Scots /ʍ/ has been described as a velar fricative,[3] especially in older Scots, where it was [xw].[4] Other linguists believe that a "voiceless approximant" is a contradiction in terms, and so [w̥] must be the same as [xʷ]. Ladefoged and Maddieson were unable to confirm that any language has fricatives produced at two places of articulation, like labial and velar.[5] They conclude that "if it is a fricative, it is better described as a voiceless labialized velar fricative".[6]
Features of the voiceless labial–velar fricative:
Family | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eskimo-Aleut | Aleut[7] | Atkan | hwax̂ | [ʍaχ] | 'smoke' | |
Bering | ʼЎaӽ | |||||
Celtic | Cornish | SWF | hwi | [ʍi] | 'you all' | |
Germanic | English | Conservative Received Pronunciation[8] | whine | [ʍaɪ̯n] | 'whine' | English /ʍ/ is generally a labio-velar fricative or approximant.[2] It is usually represented phonemically as /hw/, but phonetically there is not a sequence of [h] plus [w] (see English phonology). In General American[9] and New Zealand English[10] only some speakers maintain a distinction with /w/; in Europe, mostly heard in Irish and Scottish accents.[8] See English phonology and phonological history of wh. |
Cultivated South African[11] | ||||||
Conservative General American[9] | ||||||
Irish[11][12] | [ʍʌɪ̯n] | |||||
Scottish[11][13][14] | ||||||
Southern American[15] | [ʍäːn] | |||||
New Zealand[10][13][16] | [ʍɑe̯n] | |||||
Athabaskan | Hupa[17] | xwe꞉y | [xʷeːj] | 'his property' | A voiceless labialized velar fricative. | |
Sino-Tibetan | Kham | Gamale Kham | ह्वा | [ʍɐ] | 'tooth' | Described as an approximant.[18] |
Salishan | Lushootseed | dxʷʔiyb | [dxʷʔib] | 'Newhalem, Washington' | ||
Salishan | Shuswap | secwepemctsín | [ʃəxʷəpəməxˈtʃin] | 'Shuswap language' | ||
Slavic | Slovene[19][20] | vse | [ˈʍsɛ] | 'everything' | Allophone of /ʋ/ in the syllable onset before voiceless consonants, in free variation with a vowel [u]. Voiced [w] before voiced consonants.[19][20] See Slovene phonology. | |
Isolate | Washo | Wáʔi | [ˈxʷaʔi] or [ˈw̥aʔi] | 'he's the one who's doing it' | Variously described as a labialized velar fricative or a voiceless approximant. |
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