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The labiodental approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʋ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is P or v\.
Features of this consonant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by bringing one articulator close to another but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.
- Its place of articulation is labiodental which means it is articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or vice-versa.
- Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.
English does not have the labiodental approximant, although English speakers may use it to pronounce place names in languages that do use it, such as Hawai‘ian Wahiawa.
In other languages
Hawai‘ian has the labiodental approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by "w", as in wikiwiki ("very fast").
The Finnish phoneme /v/ is pronounced as a labiodental approximant by many speakers, perhaps by most. Example: vaivautuva ['ʋɑiʋɑutuʋɑ] ("taking the trouble to do something" or "kneadable").
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