Labiodental approximant

Labiodental approximant
ʋ
IPA Number	150
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʋ
Unicode (hex)	U+028B
X-SAMPA	P or v\
Braille
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The labiodental approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is similar to an English w pronounced with the teeth and lips held in the position used to articulate the letter vee. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʋ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is P or v\.

Features

Features of the labiodental 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 labiodental, which means it is articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Armenian	Eastern	ոսկի	[ʋɔski]	'gold'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		hawa	[ha:ʋa]	'wind'	Predominant in the Urmia dialects. For some speakers, [v] is used. Corresponds to [w] in the other varieties.
Danish	Standard	véd	[ʋe̝ːˀð̠˕ˠ]	'know(s)'	Also described as a short plosive [b̪̆]; rarely realized as a fricative [v] instead. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Netherlandic	wang	[ʋɑŋ]	'cheek'	In southern dialects of the Netherlands realised as bilabial [β̞]. See Dutch phonology
English		red	[ʋe̞d̥]	'red'	Mostly idiosyncratic but somewhat dialectal (especially in London and South East England). See English phonology and R-labialization
Faroese		røða	[ˈɹøːʋa]	'speech'	Word-initial and intervocalic allophone of /v/. In the first case, it is in a free variation with a fricative [v]. See Faroese phonology
Finnish		vauva	[ˈʋɑuʋːɑ]	'baby'	See Finnish phonology
German	Standard	was	[ʋas]	'what'	Some speakers, especially in the South. See German phonology
	Swiss				Corresponds to /v/ in Standard German
Guaraní		avañe'ẽ	[ʔãʋ̃ãɲẽˈʔẽ]	'Guaraní language'	Contrasts with /w/ and /ɰ/
Hawaiian		wikiwiki	[ʋikiʋiki]	'fast'	May also be realized as [w] or [v]. See Hawaiian phonology
Hindi		वरुण	[ʋəruɳ]	'Varuna'	See Hindustani phonology
Italian	Northern dialects	raro	[ˈʋäːʋo]	'rare'	Some speakers, especially in Parma. May also be uvular, either a fricative [ʁ] or a trill [ʀ].
Marathi		वजन	[ʋə(d)zən]	'weight'	See Marathi phonology
Miyako		[ʋ̩tɑ]		'thick'	May be syllabic.
Norwegian	Standard Eastern	venn	[ʋɛ̝nː]	'friend'	Sometimes realized as a fricative [v]. See Norwegian phonology
Nsenga		ŵanthu	[ʋaⁿtʰu]	'people'
Portuguese	Some speakers	louvo	[ˈloːʋu]	'I praise'	Very rare intervocalic allophone of /v/ in unstressed syllables. See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਵਾਲ	[ʋäːl]	'hair'
Serbo-Croatian		цврчак / cvrčak	[t͡sʋř̩ːt͡ʃak]	'cricket'	May also be realized as [v], depending on dialect. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovene		veter	[ˈʋéːtər]	'wind'	Also described as fricative [v]. See Slovene phonology
Swedish		vän	[ʋɛn]	'friend'	Some speakers. See Swedish phonology
Tamil		வாய்	[ʋɑj]	'mouth'	See Tamil phonology
Turkish		ev	[e̞ʋ]	'house'	See Turkish phonology
West Frisian		wêr	[ʋɛːr]	'where'

See also

• List of phonetics topics
• R-labialization