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It is unusual for a language to contrast a semivowel and a diphthong containing an equivalent vowel, [citation needed] but Romanian contrasts the diphthong /e̯a/ with /ja/, a perceptually similar approximant-vowel sequence. The diphthong is analyzed as a single segment, and the approximant-vowel sequence is analyzed as two separate segments.
[ʝ̞] and [j] are two different segments, but they have to be labelled as voiced palatal approximant consonants. I think that the former is a real consonant, whereas the latter is a semi-consonant, as it has traditionally been called in Spanish, or a semi-vowel, if preferred. The IPA, though, classifies it as a consonant."
The fricative letters with a lowering diacritic, ʝ˕ ɣ˕ , may therefore be justified for a neutral articulation between spread [j ɰ] and rounded [ɥ w]. [ 15 ] In articulation and often diachronically, palatal approximants correspond to front vowels , velar approximants to back vowels , and labialized approximants to rounded vowels .
In broad transcription, the symbol for the palatal approximant, j , may be used for the sake of simplicity. The voiced palatal fricative is a very rare sound, occurring in only 7 of the 317 languages surveyed by the original UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database [ citation needed ] .
However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter β̞ as j͡β̞ (simultaneous [j] and labial compression) or jᵝ ([j] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ͍ may also be used with a labialized approximant letter ɥ͍ as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.
When adjacent to another vowel, or another yod, may be distinguished from by the addition of a dot below. Thus the word Yidish 'Yiddish' is spelled ייִדיש. The first yod represents [j]; the second yod represents [i] and is distinguished from the adjacent [j] by a dot; the third yod represents [i] as well, but no dot is necessary.
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 palatal approximant is sometimes called a nasal yod; [j̃] and [w̃] may be called nasal glides.
Phonetic palatalization of a consonant sometimes causes surrounding vowels to change by coarticulation or assimilation. In Russian, "soft" (palatalized) consonants are usually followed by vowels that are relatively more front (that is, closer to [i] or [y]), and vowels following "hard" (unpalatalized) consonants are further back.