Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence. This class is composed of sounds like and semivowels like and, as well as lateral approximants like.
In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a labial consonant articulated with both lips.
The voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is ⟨ɹ⟩, a lowercase letter r rotated 180 degrees. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\.
The voiced labial–palatalapproximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages, for example, French "huitième", read as [ɥitjɛm]. It has two constrictions in the vocal tract: with the tongue on the palate, and rounded at the lips. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɥ⟩, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨h⟩, or occasionally ⟨jʷ⟩, which indicates with a different kind of rounding.
The voiced velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɰ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is M\.
The Santa language, also known as Dongxiang, is a Mongolic language spoken by the Dongxiang people in Northwest China.
Dahalo is an endangered Cushitic language spoken by around 500–600 Dahalo people on the coast of Kenya, near the mouth of the Tana River. Dahalo is unusual among the world's languages in using all four airstream mechanisms found in human language: clicks, implosives, ejectives, and pulmonic consonants.
Panoan is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family.
Urhobo is a South-Western Edoid language spoken by the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. It is from the Delta and Bayelsa States.
The Nukak language is a language of uncertain classification, perhaps part of the macrofamily Puinave-Maku. It is very closely related to Kakwa.
The Kaingang language is a Southern Jê language spoken by the Kaingang people of southern Brazil. The Kaingang nation has about 30,000 people, and about 60–65% speak the language. Most also speak Portuguese.
In linguistics, pre-stopping, also known as pre-occlusion or pre-plosion, is a phonological process involving the historical or allophonic insertion of a very short stop consonant before a sonorant, such as a short before a nasal or a lateral, or a short before a nasal. The resulting sounds are called pre-stopped consonants, or sometimes pre-ploded or pre-occluded consonants, although technically may be considered an occlusive/stop without the pre-occlusion.
Kensiu (Kensiw) is an Austroasiatic language of the Jahaic subbranch. It is spoken by a small community of 300 people in Yala Province in southern Thailand and also reportedly by a community of approximately 300 speakers in Western Malaysia in Perak and Kedah states. Speakers of this language are Negritos who are known as the Maniq people or Mani of Thailand. In Malaysia, they are counted among the Orang Asli.
The nasal palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j̃⟩, that is, a j with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j~, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨ỹ⟩.
The nasal labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨w̃⟩, that is, a w with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w~.
Jebero is a moribund Amazonian language spoken by the Jebero people of Jeberos, Peru. It is spoken by only a small number of older adults and belongs to the Cahuapanan family together with Chayahuita.
The phonology of Faroese has an inventory similar to the closely related Icelandic language, but markedly different processes differentiate the two. Similarities include an aspiration contrast in stop consonants, the retention of front rounded vowels and vowel quality changes instead of vowel length distinctions.
Iduna is an Austronesian language spoken on Goodenough Island of Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.
Bunama is an Austronesian language spoken in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands of Papua New Guinea.
The voiced bilabial affricate is a rare affricate consonant that is initiated as a bilabial stop and released as a voiced bilabial fricative. It has not been reported to occur phonemically in any language.
