Semivowel

Template:Short description Template:IPA notice

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.Template:Sfnp Examples of semivowels in English are y and w in yes and west, respectively. Written Template:IPAc-en in IPA, y and w are near to the vowels ee and oo in seen and moon, written Template:IPAc-en in IPA. The term glide may alternatively refer to any type of transitional sound, not necessarily a semivowel.Template:Sfnp

ClassificationEdit

Semivowels form a subclass of approximants.Template:Sfnp Template:Sfnp Although "semivowel" and "approximant" are sometimes treated as synonymous,Template:Sfnp most authors use the term "semivowel" for a more restricted set; there is no universally agreed-upon definition, and the exact details may vary from author to author. For example, Template:Harvcoltxt do not consider the labiodental approximant {{#invoke:IPA|main}} to be a semivowel.Template:Sfnp

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the diacritic attached to non-syllabic vowel letters is an inverted breve placed below the symbol representing the vowel: Template:Unichar. When there is no room for the inverted breve under a symbol, it may be written above, using Template:Unichar. Before 1989, non-syllabicity was represented by Template:Unichar, which now stands for extra-shortness.

Additionally, there are dedicated symbols for four semivowels that correspond to the four close cardinal vowel sounds:Template:Sfnp

Semivowel (non-syllabic)	Vowel (syllabic)
Template:IPAblink (palatal approximant)	Template:IPAblink (close front unrounded vowel)
Template:IPAblink (labio-palatal approximant)	Template:IPAblink (close front rounded vowel)
Template:IPAblink (velar approximant)	Template:IPAblink (close back unrounded vowel)
Template:IPAblink (labiovelar approximant)	Template:IPAblink (close back rounded vowel)

In addition, some authorsTemplate:Sfnp Template:Sfnp consider the rhotic approximants Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink to be semivowels corresponding to R-colored vowels such as Template:IPAblink. An unrounded central semivowel, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), equivalent to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, is uncommon, though rounded {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), equivalent to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, is found in Swedish and Norwegian.

Contrast with vowelsEdit

Semivowels, by definition, contrast with vowels by being non-syllabic. In addition, they are usually shorter than vowels.Template:Sfnp In languages such as Amharic, Yoruba, and Zuni, semivowels are produced with a narrower constriction in the vocal tract than their corresponding vowels.Template:Sfnp Nevertheless, semivowels may be phonemically equivalent with vowels. For example, the English word fly can be considered either as an open syllable ending in a diphthong {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or as a closed syllable ending in a consonant {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.Template:Sfnp

It is unusual for a language to contrast a semivowel and a diphthong containing an equivalent vowel,Template:Citation needed but Romanian contrasts the diphthong {{#invoke:IPA|main}} with {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, 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.

In addition to phonological justifications for the distinction (such as the diphthong alternating with {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in singular-plural pairs), there are phonetic differences between the pair:Template:Sfnp

{{#invoke:IPA|main}} has a greater duration than {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
The transition between the two elements is longer and faster for {{#invoke:IPA|main}} than {{#invoke:IPA|main}} with the former having a higher F2 onset (greater constriction of the articulators).

Although a phonological parallel exists between {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the production and perception of phonetic contrasts between the two is much weaker, likely because of lower lexical load for {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which is limited largely to loanwords from French, and speakers' difficulty in maintaining contrasts between two back rounded semivowels in comparison to front ones.Template:Sfnp

Contrast with fricatives/spirant approximantsEdit

According to the standard definitions, semivowels (such as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) contrast with fricatives (such as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) in that fricatives produce turbulence, but semivowels do not. In discussing Spanish, Martínez Celdrán suggests setting up a third category of "spirant approximant", contrasting both with semivowel approximants and with fricatives.Template:Sfnp Though the spirant approximant is more constricted (having a lower F2 amplitude), longer, and unspecified for rounding (viuda {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'widow' vs. ayuda {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'help'),Template:Sfnp the distributional overlap is limited. The spirant approximant can only appear in the syllable onset (including word-initially, where the semivowel never appears). The two overlap in distribution after {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}: enyesar {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ('to plaster') aniego {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ('flood')Template:Sfnp and although there is dialectal and idiolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs like abyecto ('abject') vs. abierto ('opened').Template:Sfnp One potential minimal pair (depending on dialect) is ya visto {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ('already seen') vs. y ha visto {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ('and he has seen').Template:Sfnp Again, it is not present in all dialects. Other dialects differ in either merging the two or enhancing the contrast by moving the former to another place of articulation ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}), like in Rioplatense Spanish.

ReferencesEdit

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SourcesEdit

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Semivowel

Contents

ClassificationEdit

Contrast with vowelsEdit

Contrast with fricatives/spirant approximantsEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

SourcesEdit

Further readingEdit