Editing Voiced labiodental approximant (section)

{{Short description|Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʋ⟩ in IPA}}
{{use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox IPA
|ipa symbol=ʋ
|ipa number=150
|decimal=651
|imagefile=IPA Unicode 0x028B.svg
|imagesize=150px
|xsampa=P or v\
|kirshenbaum=r<nowiki><lbd></nowiki>
|braille=“
|braille2=v
}}

The '''voiced labiodental approximant''' is a type of [[consonant]]al sound, used in some [[Speech|spoken]] [[language]]s. It is something between an [[English language|English]] /[[Voiced labial–velar approximant|w]]/ and /[[Voiced labiodental fricative|v]]/, pronounced with the teeth and lips held in the position used to articulate the letter [[V]]. The symbol in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] that represents this sound is {{angbr IPA|ʋ}}, a [[Ʋ|letter ''v'' with a leftward hook]] protruding from the upper right of the letter, and the equivalent [[X-SAMPA]] symbol is <code>P</code> ''or'' <code>v\</code>. With an advanced diacritic, {{angbr IPA|ʋ̟}}, this letter also indicates a [[bilabial approximant]], though the diacritic is frequently omitted because no contrast is likely.<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Ladefoged |year=1968 |title=A Phonetic Study of West African Languages: An Auditory-instrumental Survey |page=26 |isbn=9780521069632 |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |first=Joyce Thambole Mogatse |last=Mathangwane |year=1996 |title=Phonetics and Phonology of Ikalanga: A Diachronic and Synchronic Study |publisher=University of California |location=Berkeley |page=79 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8m17f977}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=March 2024}}

The labiodental approximant is the typical realization of {{IPA|/v/}} in the [[South African English#Indian South African English|Indian South African]] variety of English. As the voiceless {{IPA|/f/}} is also realized as an approximant ({{IPAblink|ʋ̥}}), it is also an example of a language contrasting voiceless and voiced labiodental approximants.<ref name="mesthrie">{{Harvcoltxt|Mesthrie|2004|p=960}}</ref>