Approximant

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Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> nor with enough articulatory precision<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt, citing Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This class is composed of sounds like Template:IPA (as in rest) and semivowels like Template:IPA and Template:IPA (as in yes and west, respectively), as well as lateral approximants like Template:IPA (as in less).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Terminology

Before Peter Ladefoged coined the term approximant in the 1960s,<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt, pointing to Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> the terms frictionless continuant and semivowel were used to refer to non-lateral approximants.

In phonology, approximant is also a distinctive feature that encompasses all sonorants except nasals, including vowels, taps, and trills.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Semivowels

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Some approximants resemble vowels in acoustic and articulatory properties and the terms semivowel and glide are often used for these non-syllabic vowel-like segments. The correlation between semivowels and vowels is strong enough that cross-language differences between semivowels correspond with the differences between their related vowels.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt, citing Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Vowels and their corresponding semivowels alternate in many languages depending on the phonological environment, or for grammatical reasons, as is the case with Indo-European ablaut. Similarly, languages often avoid configurations where a semivowel precedes its corresponding vowel.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt, citing Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> A number of phoneticians distinguish between semivowels and approximants by their location in a syllable. Although he uses the terms interchangeably, Template:Harvcoltxt remarks that, for example, the final glides of English par and buy differ from French par ('through') and baille ('tub') in that, in the latter pair, the approximants appear in the syllable coda, whereas, in the former, they appear in the syllable nucleus. This means that opaque (if not minimal) contrasts can occur in languages like Italian (with the i-like sound of piede 'foot', appearing in the nucleus: Template:IPA, and that of piano 'plan', appearing in the syllable onset: Template:IPA)<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> and Spanish (with a near minimal pair being abyecto Template:IPA 'abject' and abierto Template:IPA 'opened').<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Approximant-vowel correspondences<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Vowel	Corresponding approximant	Place of articulation	Example
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link**	Palatal	Spanish amplío ('I extend') vs. amplió ('he extended')
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Labialized palatal	French aigu ('sharp') vs. aiguille ('needle')
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link**	Velar	Korean 음식 ('food') vs. 의사 ('doctor')
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Labialized velar	Spanish continúo ('I continue') vs. continuó ('he/she/it continued') and ('you continued') used only in the formal treatment of 'usted'.
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Pharyngeal	Template:Example needed
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Postalveolar, retroflex Template:Ref	North American English waiter vs. waitress

Template:Note Because of the articulatory complexities of the American English rhotic, there is some variation in its phonetic description. A transcription with the IPA character for an alveolar approximant (Template:IPA) is common, though the sound is more postalveolar. Actual retroflexion may occur as well and both occur as variations of the same sound.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt citing Template:Harvcoltxt, Template:Harvcoltxt, and Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However, Template:Harvcoltxt makes a distinction between the vowels of American English (which he calls "rhotacized") and vowels with "retroflexion" such as those that appear in Badaga; Template:Harvcoltxt, on the other hand, labels both as r-colored and notes that both have a lowered third formant.<ref>Both cited in Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Template:Note Because the vowels Template:IPA are articulated with spread lips, spreading is implied for their approximant analogues, Template:IPA. However, these sounds generally have little or no lip-spreading. The fricative letters with a lowering diacritic, Template:Angbr IPA, may therefore be justified for a neutral articulation between spread Template:IPA and rounded Template:IPA.<ref>John Esling (2010) "Phonetic Notation", in Hardcastle, Laver & Gibbon (eds) The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences, 2nd ed., p. 699</ref>

In articulation and often diachronically, palatal approximants correspond to front vowels, velar approximants to back vowels, and labialized approximants to rounded vowels. In American English, the rhotic approximant corresponds to the rhotic vowel. This can create alternations (as shown in the above table).

In addition to alternations, glides can be inserted to the left or the right of their corresponding vowels when they occur next to a hiatus.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> For example, in Ukrainian, medial Template:IPA triggers the formation of an inserted Template:IPA that acts as a syllable onset so that when the affix Template:IPA is added to футбол ('football') to make футболіст 'football player', it is pronounced Template:IPA, but маоїст ('Maoist'), with the same affix, is pronounced Template:IPA with a glide.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Dutch for many speakers has a similar process that extends to mid vowels:<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

bioscoop → Template:IPA ('cinema')
zee + en → Template:IPA ('seas')
fluor → Template:IPA ('fluorine')
reu + en → Template:IPA ('male dogs')
Rwanda → Template:IPA ('Rwanda')<ref name="Dutch">There is dialectal and allophonic variation in the realization of Template:IPA. For speakers who realize it as Template:IPA, Template:Harvcoltxt postulates an additional rule that changes any occurrence of Template:IPA from glide insertion into Template:IPA.</ref>
Boaz → Template:IPA ('Boaz')<ref name="Dutch"/>

Similarly, vowels can be inserted next to their corresponding glide in certain phonetic environments. Sievers' law describes this behaviour for Germanic.

Non-high semivowels also occur. In colloquial Nepali speech, a process of glide-formation occurs, where one of two adjacent vowels becomes non-syllabic; the process includes mid vowels so that Template:IPA ('cause to wish') features a non-syllabic mid vowel.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Spanish features a similar process and even nonsyllabic Template:IPA can occur so that ahorita ('right away') is pronounced Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> It is not often clear, however, whether such sequences involve a semivowel (a consonant) or a diphthong (a vowel), and in many cases, it may not be a meaningful distinction.

Although many languages have central vowels Template:IPA, which lie between back/velar Template:IPA and front/palatal Template:IPA, there are few cases of a corresponding approximant Template:IPA. One is in the Korean diphthong Template:IPA or Template:IPA<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though it is more frequently analyzed as velar (as in the table above), and Mapudungun may be another, with three high vowel sounds, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA and three corresponding consonants, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA, and a third one is often described as a non-labialized voiced velar fricative; some texts note a correspondence between this approximant and Template:IPA that is parallel to Template:IPA–Template:IPA and Template:IPA–Template:IPA. An example is liq Template:IPA (Template:IPA?) ('white').<ref>Listen to a recording Template:Webarchive</ref> It has been noted that the expected symbols for the approximant correlates of Template:IPA are Template:Angbr IPA<ref>Martin Ball & Joan Rahilly (2011) The symbolization of central approximants in the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 41 (2), pp. 231–237</ref> or Template:Angbr IPA.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Approximants versus fricatives

In addition to less turbulence, approximants also differ from fricatives in the precision required to produce them.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> When emphasized, approximants may be slightly fricated (that is, the airstream may become slightly turbulent), which is reminiscent of fricatives. For example, the Spanish word ayuda ('help') features a palatal approximant that is pronounced as a fricative in emphatic speech.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Spanish can be analyzed as having a meaningful distinction between fricative, approximant, and intermediate Template:IPA.<ref>Martínez-Celdrán, E. (2004) "Problems in the classification of approximants". Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34, 201–10</ref> However, such frication is generally slight and intermittent, unlike the strong turbulence of fricative consonants.

For places of articulation further back in the mouth, languages do not contrast voiced fricatives and approximants. Therefore, the IPA allows the symbols for the voiced fricatives to double for the approximants, with or without a lowering diacritic.Template:Citation needed

Occasionally, the glottal "fricatives" are called approximants, since Template:IPA typically has no more frication than voiceless approximants, but they are often phonations of the glottis without any accompanying manner or place of articulation.

Central approximants

Approximants with a dedicated IPA symbol are in bold.

bilabial approximant Template:IPA (usually transcribed Template:Angbr IPA)<ref name="IPA">There have been repeated requests that the IPA created dedicated symbols for Template:IPA and Template:IPA – typically modifications of the base letters such as turned Template:IPA_Template:IPATemplate:IPA and Template:IPA_Template:IPATemplate:IPA or reversed Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA – but so far the IPA has deemed that there is insufficient need for them.</ref>
labiodental approximant Template:IPA
dental approximant Template:IPA (usually transcribed Template:Angbr IPA)<ref name="IPA" />
alveolar & post-alveolar approximant Template:IPA
retroflex approximant Template:IPA (a consonantal Template:IPAblink)
alveolo-palatal approximant Template:IPA or Template:IPA
palatal approximant Template:IPA (a consonantal Template:IPAblink)
velar approximant Template:IPA (a consonantal Template:IPAblink)
uvular approximant Template:IPA (usually transcribed Template:Angbr IPA)
pharyngeal approximant Template:IPA (a consonantal Template:IPAblink; usually transcribed Template:Angbr IPA)
epiglottal approximant Template:IPA (usually transcribed Template:Angbr IPA)
breathy-voiced glottal approximant Template:IPA
creaky-voiced glottal approximant Template:IPA

Lateral approximants

In lateral approximants, the center of tongue makes solid contact with the roof of the mouth. However, the defining location is the side of the tongue, which only approaches the teeth, allowing free passage of air.

Coarticulated approximants

Labialized retroflex approximant Template:IPA
labialized palatal approximant Template:IPA (a consonantal Template:IPAblink)
labialized velar approximant Template:IPA (a consonantal Template:IPAblink)
labialized uvular approximant Template:IPA

Voiceless approximants

Voiceless approximants are not recognized by all phoneticians as a discrete phonetic category. There are problems in distinguishing voiceless approximants from voiceless fricatives.

Phonetic characteristics

Fricative consonants are generally said to be the result of turbulent airflow at a place of articulation in the vocal tract.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However, an audible voiceless sound may be made without this turbulent airflow: Template:Harvcoltxt makes a distinction between "local friction" (as in Template:IPA or Template:IPA) and "cavity friction" (as in voiceless vowels like Template:IPA and Template:IPA).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> More recent research distinguishes between "turbulent" and "laminar" airflow in the vocal tract.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> It is not clear if it is possible to describe voiceless approximants categorically as having laminar airflow (or cavity friction in Pike's terms) as a way of distinguishing them from fricatives. Template:Harvcoltxt write that "the airflow for voiced approximants remains laminar (smooth), and does not become turbulent. Voiceless approximants are rare in the languages of the world, but when they do occur the airflow is usually somewhat turbulent."<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Audible voiceless sounds may also be produced by means of turbulent airflow at the glottis, as in Template:IPA; in such a case, it is possible to articulate an audible voiceless sound without the production of local friction at a supraglottal constriction. Template:Harvcoltxt describes such sounds, but classes them as sonorants.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Distinctiveness

Voiceless approximants are rarely if ever distinguished phonemically from voiceless fricatives in the sound system of a language. Template:Harvcoltxt discuss the issue and conclude "In practice, it is difficult to distinguish between a voiceless approximant and a voiceless fricative at the same place of articulation ... there is no evidence that any language in the world makes such a distinction crucial."<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Disagreement over use of the term

Voiceless approximants are treated as a phonetic category by (among others) Template:Harvcoltxt, Template:Harvcoltxt, and Template:Harvcoltxt. However, the term voiceless approximant is seen by some phoneticians as controversial. It has been pointed out that if approximant is defined as a speech sound that involves the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough to create turbulent airflow, then it is difficult to see how a voiceless approximant could be audible.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> As John C. Wells puts it in his blog, "voiceless approximants are by definition inaudible ... If there's no friction and no voicing, there's nothing to hear."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A similar point is made in relation to frictionless continuants by Template:Harvcoltxt: "There are no voiceless frictionless continuants because this would imply silence; the voiceless counterpart of the frictionless continuant is the voiceless fricative."<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Harvcoltxt argue that the increased airflow arising from voicelessness alone makes a voiceless continuant a fricative, even if lacking a greater constriction in the oral cavity than a voiced approximant.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Template:Harvcoltxt argue that Burmese and Standard Tibetan have voiceless lateral approximants Template:IPA and Navajo and Zulu voiceless lateral fricatives Template:IPAblink, but also say that "in other cases it is difficult to decide whether a voiceless lateral should be described as an approximant or a fricative".<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Harvcoltxt compared voiceless laterals in Estonian Swedish, Icelandic, and Welsh and found that Welsh-speakers consistently used Template:IPA, that Icelandic-speakers consistently used Template:IPA, and that speakers of Estonian Swedish varied in their pronunciation. They conclude that there is "a range of variants within voiceless laterals, rather than a categorical split between lateral fricatives and voiceless approximant laterals".<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Occurrence in Western American English

Voiceless lateral approximants can occur after voiceless stops as allophone of its voiced counterpart, especially after the voiceless velar plosive Template:IPA, in Western American English.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Nasalized approximants

Examples are:

In Portuguese, the nasal glides Template:IPA and Template:IPA historically became Template:IPA and Template:IPA in some words. In Edo, the nasalized allophones of the approximants Template:IPA and Template:IPA are nasal occlusives, Template:IPA and Template:IPA.

What are transcribed as nasal approximants may include non-syllabic elements of nasal vowels or diphthongs.

Notes

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References

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