A 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 . In order to not imply that the approximant is spread as the vowel is, it may instead be transcribed or (or , which is now dated). This is the symbol of the voiced velar fricative with a lowering diacritic.
This consonant is absent from English, but may be approximated by making but with the tongue body lowered or but with the lips apart. The voiced velar approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic counterpart of the close back unrounded vowel . and with the non-syllabic diacritic are used in different transcription systems to represent the same sound.
In some languages, such as Spanish, a voiced velar approximant is an allophone of â see below.
For a voiced post-palatal approximant—sometimes also described as a voiced pre-velar approximant—which is more fronted in the place of articulation than a prototypical velar approximant, see .
Features of a voiced velar approximant:
The most common type of this approximant is glide or semivowel. The term glide emphasizes the characteristic of movement (or 'glide') of from the vowel position to a following vowel position. The term semivowel emphasizes that, although the sound is vocalic in nature, it is not 'syllabic' (it does not form the nucleus of a syllable). For a description of the approximant consonant variant used e.g. in Spanish, see below.
A nasalized 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 typically or .
Some languages have a velar approximant that is produced with the body of the tongue bunched up at the velum and simultaneous pharyngealization. This gives rise to a type of retroflex resonance that is indistinguishable from . The extension to the IPA recommends the use of the "centralized" diacritic, , to distinguish the bunched realization from the apical articulation . Typically, the diacritic is omitted, so that the sound is transcribed simply with or as if it were a coronal consonant.
In Dutch, this type of r is called 'Gooi r. It is named after het Gooi, a region of the Netherlands where Hilversum (the main centre for television and radio broadcasting) is located. One source is quoted as claiming a typical realization of this sound (in particular, the further back uvular ) as a pre-uvular approximant .
Features of a voiced velar bunched approximant:
The body of the tongue is bunched up at the velum, rather than just approaching it as it is the case with the prototypical velar approximant.
Some languages have a voiced velar approximant that is unspecified for rounding, and therefore cannot be considered the semivocalic equivalent of either or its rounded counterpart . Examples of such languages are Catalan, Galician and Spanish, in which the approximant consonant (not semivowel) unspecified for rounding appears as an allophone of .
Eugenio MartÃÂnez Celdrán describes the voiced velar approximant consonant as follows:
There is a parallel problem with transcribing the palatal approximant.
In broad transcription, the lowering diacritic may be omitted, so that the symbol is rendered as with the corresponding fricative.