| Voiced labiodental approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʋ | |||
| IPA Number | 150 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ʋ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+028B | ||
| X-SAMPA | P or v\ | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
The voiced labiodental approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is something between an English /w/ and /v/, pronounced with the teeth and lips held in the position used to articulate the letter V. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʋ⟩, a letter v with a leftward hook protruding from the upper right of the letter, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is P or v\. With an advanced diacritic, ⟨ʋ̟⟩, this letter also indicates a bilabial approximant, though the diacritic is frequently omitted because no contrast is likely.[1][2][failed verification]
The labiodental approximant is the typical realization of /v/ in the Indian South African variety of English. As the voiceless /f/ is also realized as an approximant ([ʋ̥]), it is also an example of a language contrasting voiceless and voiced labiodental approximants.[3]
- ^ Ladefoged, Peter (1968). A Phonetic Study of West African Languages: An Auditory-instrumental Survey (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780521069632.
- ^ Mathangwane, Joyce Thambole Mogatse (1996). Phonetics and Phonology of Ikalanga: A Diachronic and Synchronic Study (Thesis). Berkeley: University of California. p. 79.
- ^ Mesthrie (2004:960)