Labiovelar consonant

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Labiovelar consonant

The term labiovelar is ambiguous. It may mean labial-velar

Labial-velar consonant

Labial-velar consonants are Doubly articulated consonant at the Soft palate and the lips. They are sometimes called "labiovelar consonants", a term which can also refer to labialization velars, such as and the approximant ....
(a consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx....
made at two places of articulation

Place of articulation

In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active articulator and a passive articulator ....
, one at the lips and the other at the soft palate), or it may mean labialized velar

Velar consonant

Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the Soft palate)....
(a consonant with an approximant-like secondary articulation

Secondary articulation

Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner of articulation. The approximant consonant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and colors it rather than obscuring it....
).

When the manner of articulation is a plosive

Stop consonant

A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. The terms plosive and stop are usually used interchangeably, but they are not perfect synonyms....
, nasal stop

Nasal consonant

A nasal consonant is produced with a lowered soft palate in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The oral cavity still acts as a resonance chamber for the sound, but the air does not escape through the mouth as it is blocked by the tongue....
, or fricative

Fricative consonant

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Encyclopedia

The term labiovelar is ambiguous. It may mean labial-velar

Labial-velar consonant

Consonant

Place of articulation

Velar consonant

Secondary articulation

Stop consonant

Nasal consonant

Fricative consonant

Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two Place of articulation close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German language , the final consonant of Bach; or the side of the tongue ag...
, these are quite different. Labialized velars include , which are pronounced like a but with rounded lips. Labial-velars are less common, occurring principally in West and Central Africa, and include , which are pronounced like a simultaneous and , and , and and . Labial-velar fricatives are not thought to be possible, since it is difficult to control the airstream precisely enough to produce frication at two places of articulation, and in any case the sound of the forward articulation would mask the other. ( is not actually a fricative, but rather a voiceless approximant, and in any case is labialized, not labial-velar.)

See labial-velar consonant

Labial-velar consonant

Labialized velar approximants

The most common labiovelar consonant is the voiced approximant . This is normally a labialized velar, as is its vocalic cousin . (Labialization is called rounding in vowels, and a velar place is called back

Back vowel

A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant....
.) However, languages such as Japanese

Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
and perhaps the Northern Iroquoian languages

Iroquoian languages

The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native Americans in the United States language family. The language family, amongst others, includes Mohawk language, Wyandot language and Cherokee language....
have something closer to a true labial-velar approximant, where the lips come together. In close transcription, the symbol may be avoided in such cases, or it may be used with an under-rounding diacritic, as .

and its voiceless equivalent are the only labialized velars with dedicated IPA symbols:

IPA	Description	Example
IPA	Description	Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
	voiceless labialized velar approximant	English English language English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...	which	1	'which'
	voiced labialized velar approximant	English English language English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...	witch	[]	'witch'

¹In dialect

List of dialects of the English language

This is a list of varieties of the English language. Dialects are variety which differ in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar from each other and from Standard English ....
s that distinguish between which and witch.

The voiceless approximant is traditionally called a "voiceless labial-velar fricative", but true doubly articulated

Doubly articulated consonant

Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary place of articulation of the same manner of articulation . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants....
fricatives are not known to be used in any language, as they are quite difficult to pronounce and even more to aurally distinguish. (However, very occasionally the symbol is used for a labialized velar fricative, . This usage is not approved by the IPA

International Phonetic Association

The International Phonetic Association is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science....
.)

Labiovelar consonant

Labialized velar approximants

See also