Voiceless palatal approximant
| Voiceless palatal approximant | |
|---|---|
| j̊ | |
| IPA Number | 153 402A |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | j̊ |
| Unicode (hex) | U+006A U+030A |
| X-SAMPA | j_0 |
The voiceless palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in a few spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ j̊ ⟩, the voiceless homologue of the voiced palatal approximant.
The palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the voiceless variant of the close front unrounded vowel [i̥]. The two are almost identical featurally.
This sound is essentially an ordinary English ⟨y⟩ (as in year) pronounced without vibration of the vocal cords.
It is found as a phoneme in Jalapa Mazatec and Washo.
Features
Features of the voiceless palatal approximant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
- Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jalapa Mazatec[1] | [example needed] | Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[1] | |||
| Washo | [t'á:Yaŋi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈťaːj̊aŋi] | 'he's hunting' | Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants. | |
References
- ^ a b Silverman et al. (1995), p. 83.
Bibliography
- Silverman, Daniel; Blankenship, Barbara; Kirk, Paul; Ladefoged, Peter (1995), "Phonetic Structures in Jalapa Mazatec", Anthropological Linguistics, 37 (1), The Trustees of Indiana University: 70–88, JSTOR 30028043
