| Above: | Voiceless labial–velar fricative |
| Ipa Symbol: | ʍ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | xʷ |
| Ipa Number: | 169 |
| Decimal1: | 653 |
| X-Sampa: | W |
| Kirshenbaum: | w |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x028D.svg |
| Braille: | ! |
| Braille2: | w |
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 (IPA|xʷ) or occasionally (IPA|ʍ). The letter (IPA|ʍ) was defined as a "voiceless pronounced as /[w]/" until 1979,[1] when it was defined as a fricative with the place of articulation of pronounced as /[k͡p]/ the same way that pronounced as /[w]/ is an approximant with the place of articulation of pronounced as /[ɡ͡b]/.[2] The IPA Handbook describes (IPA|ʍ) as a "fricative" in the introduction (IPA 1999: ix) while a chapter within characterizes it as an "approximate" (IPA 1999: 136).
Some linguists posit voiceless approximants distinct from voiceless fricatives. To them, English pronounced as //ʍ// is an approximant pronounced as /[w̥]/,[3] a labialized glottal fricative pronounced as /[hʷ]/, or an pronounced as /[hw]/ sequence, not a velar fricative. Scots pronounced as //ʍ// has been described as a velar fricative, especially in older Scots, where it was pronounced as /[xw]/. Other linguists believe that a "voiceless approximant" is a contradiction in terms, and so pronounced as /[w̥]/ must be the same as pronounced as /[xʷ]/. Ladefoged and Maddieson were unable to confirm that any language has fricatives produced at two places of articulation, like labial and velar. They conclude that "if it is a fricative, it is better described as a voiceless labialized velar fricative".
Features of the voiceless labial–velar fricative:
| Family | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eskimo-Aleut | Aleut[4] | Atkan | hwax̂ | pronounced as /[ʍaχ]/ | 'smoke' | ||
| Bering | ʼЎaӽ | ||||||
| Celtic | Cornish | SWF | pronounced as /[ʍi]/ | 'you all' | |||
| Germanic | English | Conservative Received Pronunciation | whine | pronounced as /[ʍaɪ̯n]/ | 'whine' | English pronounced as //ʍ// is generally a labio-velar fricative or approximant. It is usually represented phonemically as /hw/, but phonetically there is not a sequence of [h] plus [w] (see English phonology). In General American and New Zealand English only some speakers maintain a distinction with pronounced as //w//; in Europe, mostly heard in Irish and Scottish accents.[5] See English phonology and phonological history of wh. | |
| Cultivated South African | |||||||
| Conservative General American | |||||||
| Irish | pronounced as /[ʍʌɪ̯n]/ | ||||||
| Scottish | |||||||
| Southern American | pronounced as /[ʍäːn]/ | ||||||
| New Zealand | pronounced as /[ʍɑe̯n]/ | ||||||
| Athabaskan | Hupa[6] | Hupa: xwe꞉y | pronounced as /[xʷeːj]/ | 'his property' | A voiceless labialized velar fricative. | ||
| Sino-Tibetan | Kham | Gamale Kham | pronounced as /[ʍɐ]/ | 'tooth' | Described as an approximant. | ||
| Salishan | Lushootseed | d'''xʷ'''ʔiyb | pronounced as /[dxʷʔib]/ | 'Newhalem, Washington' | |||
| Salishan | Shuswap | se'''cw'''epemctsín | pronounced as /[ʃəxʷəpəməxˈtʃin]/ | 'Shuswap language' | |||
| Slavic | Slovene | vse | pronounced as /[ˈʍsɛ]/ | 'everything' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʋ// in the syllable onset before voiceless consonants, in free variation with a vowel pronounced as /link/. Voiced pronounced as /link/ before voiced consonants. See Slovene phonology. | ||
| Washo (isolate) | Washo: '''W'''áʔi | pronounced as /[ˈxʷaʔi]/ or pronounced as /[ˈw̥aʔi]/ | 'he's the one who's doing it' | Variously described as a labialized velar fricative or a voiceless approximant. | |||
pronounced as /navigation/