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In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. [1] Examples of semivowels in English are y and w in yes and west, respectively.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is j . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j , and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is y . Because the English name of the letter J , jay , starts with [dʒ] ( voiced postalveolar affricate ), the approximant is sometimes instead called yod (jod), as in the ...
Vowels, glides and laryngeal segments are not consonantal. [+/− approximant] Approximant segments include vowels, glides, and liquids while excluding nasals and obstruents. [+/− sonorant] [8] This feature describes the type of oral constriction that can occur in the vocal tract.
One use of the word semivowel, sometimes called a glide, is a type of approximant, pronounced like a vowel but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth, so that there is slight turbulence. [ citation needed ] In English, /w/ is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /u/ , and /j/ (spelled "y") is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /i ...
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.
The vowel nuclei may be preceded by a glide /j, w, ɥ/, and may be followed by a coda /i, u, n, ŋ/. The various combinations of glide, vowel, and coda have different surface manifestations, as shown in the tables below. Any of the three positions may be empty, i.e. occupied by a null meta-phoneme ∅.
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 labial–palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the close front rounded vowel [y].
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.