Voiceless labial–velar fricative

Voiceless labial–velar approximant
Voiceless labial–velar approximant
w̥
ʍ
IPA Number	170+402A
Audio sample
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Encoding
X-SAMPA	w_0

Voiceless labial–velar fricative
Voiceless labial–velar fricative
xʷ
ʍ
IPA Number	169
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʍ
Unicode (hex)	U+028D
X-SAMPA	W
Braille
Image

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) and as an "approximate" (IPA 1999: 136).

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

Features of the voiceless labial–velar fricative:

Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
Its place of articulation is labialized velar, which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate (the velum) while rounding the lips.
Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
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.
The 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
Aleut^[7]	Atkan	hwax̂	[ʍaχ]	'smoke'
Aleut^[7]	Bering	ʼЎaӽ	[ʍaχ]	'smoke'
Cornish	SWF	hwi	[ʍi]	'you all'
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]		[ʍʌɪ̯n]
	Southern American^[15]		[ʍäːn]
	New Zealand^[10]^[13]^[16]		[ʍɑe̯n]
Hupa^[17]		xwe꞉y	[xʷeːj]	'his property'	A voiceless labialized velar fricative.
Kham	Gamale Kham	ह्वा	[ʍɐ]	'tooth'	Described as an approximant.^[18]
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.
Washo		Wáʔi	[ˈxʷaʔi] or [ˈw̥aʔi]	'he's the one who's doing it'	Variously described as a labialized velar fricative or a voiceless approximant.

Notes

References

Greenberg, Mark L. (2006), A Short Reference Grammar of Standard Slovene, Kansas: University of Kansas, archived from the original on 2007-01-29
International Phonetic Association (1999), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
Johnston, Paul (1997), "Regional Variation", in Jones, Charles (ed.), The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 433–513, ISBN 978-0-7486-0754-9, JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctvxcrwhq.15
Labov, William; Ash, Sharon; Boberg, Charles (2006), The Atlas of North American English, Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter, ISBN 3-11-016746-8
Ladefoged, Peter (2006), A Course in Phonetics (5th ed.), Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996), The Sounds of the World's Languages, Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-19815-6
Lass, Roger (2002), "South African English", in Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521791052
McMahon, April (2002), An Introduction to English Phonology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, ISBN 0-7486-1252-1
Rogers, Henry (2000), The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, ISBN 978-0-582-38182-7
Šuštaršič, Rastislav; Komar, Smiljana; Petek, Bojan (1999), "Slovene", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 135–139, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, ISBN 0-521-65236-7, S2CID 249404451
Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 1: An Introduction (pp. i–xx, 1–278), Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611766. ISBN 0-52129719-2 , 0-52128541-0 .
Wilde, Christopher P. (2016), "Gamale Kham phonology revisited, with Devanagari-based orthography and lexicon", Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (9): 130–199, hdl:1885/109195

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