Editing Approximant (section)

==Semivowels==
{{Main|Semivowel}}

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.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=323}}, citing {{Harvcoltxt|Maddieson|Emmorey|1985}}</ref>

Vowels and their corresponding semivowels alternate in many languages depending on the phonological environment, or for grammatical reasons, as is the case with [[Indo-European ablaut]]. Similarly, languages often avoid configurations where a semivowel precedes its corresponding vowel.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rubach|2002|p=680}}, citing {{Harvcoltxt|Kawasaki|1982}}</ref> A number of phoneticians distinguish between semivowels and approximants by their location in a syllable. Although he uses the terms interchangeably, {{Harvcoltxt|Montreuil|2004|p=104}} remarks that, for example, the final glides of English ''par'' and ''buy'' differ from French ''par'' ('through') and ''baille'' ('tub') in that, in the latter pair, the approximants appear in the [[syllable coda]], whereas, in the former, they appear in the [[syllable nucleus]]. This means that opaque (if not minimal) contrasts can occur in languages like [[Italian language|Italian]] (with the i-like sound of ''piede'' 'foot', appearing in the nucleus: {{IPA|[ˈpi̯ɛˑde]}}, and that of ''piano'' 'plan', appearing in the syllable onset: {{IPA|[ˈpjaˑno]}})<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Montreuil|2004|p=104}}</ref> and Spanish (with a near minimal pair being ''abyecto'' {{IPA|[aβˈjekto]}} 'abject' and ''abierto'' {{IPA|[aˈβi̯erto]}} 'opened').<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Saporta|1956|p=288}}</ref>
:{|class="wikitable"
|-
|+Approximant-vowel correspondences<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|2004|p=202}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=323}}</ref>
! Vowel
! Corresponding<br />approximant
! Place of <br />articulation
! Example
|-
| {{IPA link|i}} || {{IPA link|j}}** || [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] || Spanish ''ampl'''í'''o'' ('I extend') vs. ''ampl'''ió''''' ('he extended')
|-
| {{IPA link|y}} || {{IPA link|ɥ}} || [[Labio-palatal consonant|Labialized palatal]] || French ''aig'''u''''' ('sharp') vs. ''aig'''u'''ille'' ('needle')
|-
| {{IPA link|ɯ}} || {{IPA link|ɰ}}** || [[Velar consonant|Velar]] || Korean '''음'''식 ('food') vs.  '''의'''사 ('doctor')
|-
| {{IPA link|u}} || {{IPA link|w}} || [[Labialized velar consonant|Labialized velar]] || Spanish continúo ('I continue') vs. continuó ('he/she/it continued') and ('you continued') used only in the formal treatment of 'usted'.
|-
| {{IPA link|ɑ}} || {{IPA link|ʕ̞}} || [[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]] || {{Example needed|date=January 2010}}
|-
| {{IPA link|ɚ}} || {{IPA link|ɻ}} || [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]], [[Retroflex consonant|retroflex]]{{ref|Retroflex|*}} ||North American English ''wait'''er''''' vs. ''wait'''r'''ess''
|}

:{{note|Retroflex|*}} Because of the articulatory complexities of the American English rhotic, there is some variation in its phonetic description. A transcription with the IPA character for an [[alveolar approximant]] ({{IPA|[ɹ]}}) is common, though the sound is more [[postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]]. Actual retroflexion may occur as well and both occur as variations of the same sound.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Hallé|Best|Levitt|Andrea|1999|p=283}} citing {{Harvcoltxt|Delattre|Freeman|1968}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Zawadzki|Kuehn|1980}}, and {{Harvcoltxt|Boyce|Espy-Wilson|1997}}</ref> However, {{Harvcoltxt|Catford|1988|p=161f}} makes a distinction between the vowels of American English (which he calls "rhotacized") and vowels with "retroflexion" such as those that appear in [[Badaga language|Badaga]]; {{Harvcoltxt|Trask|1996|p=310}}, on the other hand, labels both as [[r-colored vowel|r-colored]] and notes that both have a lowered third [[formant]].<ref>Both cited in {{Harvcoltxt|Hamann|2003|pp=25–26}}</ref>
:{{note|Retroflex|**}} Because the vowels {{IPA|[i ɯ]}} are articulated with spread lips, spreading is implied for their approximant analogues, {{IPA|[j ɰ]}}. However, these sounds generally have little or no lip-spreading. The fricative letters with a lowering diacritic, {{angbr IPA|ʝ˕ ɣ˕}}, may therefore be justified for a neutral articulation between spread {{IPA|[j ɰ]}} and rounded {{IPA|[ɥ w]}}.<ref>John Esling (2010) "Phonetic Notation", in Hardcastle, Laver & Gibbon (eds) ''The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences'', 2nd ed., p. 699</ref>

In articulation and often diachronically, [[palatal consonant|palatal]] approximants correspond to [[front vowel]]s, [[velar consonant|velar]] approximants to [[back vowel]]s, and labialized approximants to [[rounded vowel]]s. In American English, the [[rhotic consonant|rhotic]] approximant corresponds to the rhotic vowel. This can create alternations (as shown in the above table).

In addition to alternations, glides can be inserted to the left or the right of their corresponding vowels when they occur next to a hiatus.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rubach|2002|p=672}}</ref> For example, in [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], medial {{IPA|/i/}} triggers the formation of an inserted {{IPA|[j]}} that acts as a syllable onset so that when the affix {{IPA|/-ist/}} is added to футбол ('football') to make футболіст 'football player', it is pronounced {{IPA|[futbo̞ˈlist]}}, but маоїст ('[[Maoist]]'), with the same affix, is pronounced {{IPA|[mao̞ˈ'''j'''ist]}} with a glide.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rubach|2002|pp=675–676}}</ref> [[Dutch language|Dutch]] for many speakers has a similar process that extends to mid vowels:<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rubach|2002|pp=677–678}}</ref>
* ''bioscoop'' → {{IPA|[bi'''j'''ɔskoːp]}} ('cinema')
* ''zee'' + ''en'' → {{IPA|[zeː'''j'''ə(n)]}} ('seas')
* ''fluor'' → {{IPA|[fly'''ɥ'''ɔr]}} ('fluorine')
* ''reu'' + ''en'' → {{IPA|[rø'''ɥ'''ə(n)]}} ('male dogs')
* ''Rwanda'' → {{IPA|[ru'''ʋ'''andɐ]}} ('[[Rwanda]]')<ref name="Dutch">There is dialectal and allophonic variation in the realization of {{IPA|/ʋ/}}. For speakers who realize it as {{IPA|[ʋ]}}, {{Harvcoltxt|Rubach|2002|p=683}} postulates an additional rule that changes any occurrence of {{IPA|[w]}} from glide insertion into {{IPA|[ʋ]}}.</ref>
* ''Boaz'' → {{IPA|[bo'''ʋ'''as]}} ('[[Boaz]]')<ref name="Dutch"/>

Similarly, vowels can be inserted next to their corresponding glide in certain phonetic environments. [[Sievers' law]] describes this behaviour for [[Germanic languages|Germanic]].

Non-high semivowels also occur. In colloquial [[Nepali language|Nepali]] speech, a process of [[glide-formation]] occurs, where one of two adjacent vowels becomes non-syllabic; the process includes mid vowels so that {{IPA|[dʱo̯a]}} ('cause to wish') features a non-syllabic mid vowel.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|pp=323–324}}</ref> Spanish features a similar process and even nonsyllabic {{IPA|/a/}} can occur so that ''ahorita'' ('right away') is pronounced {{IPA|[a̯o̞ˈɾita]}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|pp=256–257}}</ref> It is not often clear, however, whether such sequences involve a semivowel (a consonant) or a diphthong (a vowel), and in many cases, it may not be a meaningful distinction.

Although many languages have [[central vowel]]s {{IPA|[ɨ, ʉ]}}, which lie between back/velar {{IPA|[ɯ, u]}} and front/palatal {{IPA|[i, y]}}, there are few cases of a corresponding approximant {{IPA|[ ȷ̈]}}. One is in the Korean diphthong {{IPA|[ ȷ̈i]}} or {{IPA|[ɨ̯i]}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/iverson/www/kordiph.pdf |title=Ahn & Iverson (2006) |access-date=2010-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720114729/https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/iverson/www/kordiph.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-20 }}</ref> though it is more frequently analyzed as velar (as in the table above), and [[Mapudungun]] may be another, with three high vowel sounds, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/ɨ/}} and three corresponding consonants, {{IPA|/j/}}, and {{IPA|/w/}}, and a third one is often described as a non-labialized voiced velar fricative; some texts note a correspondence between this approximant and {{IPA|/ɨ/}} that is parallel to {{IPA|/j/}}–{{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/w/}}–{{IPA|/u/}}. An example is ''liq'' {{IPA|/ˈliɣ/}} ({{IPA|[ˈliɨ̯]}}?) ('white').<ref>Listen to a [http://www.logosdictionary.org/sound/mp/5119539_n.wav recording] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060226053417/http://www.logosdictionary.org/sound/mp/5119539_n.wav |date=February 26, 2006 }}</ref>
It has been noted that the expected symbols for the approximant correlates of {{IPA|[ɨ], [ʉ]}} are {{angbr IPA|ɉ, ɥ̶}}<ref>Martin Ball & Joan Rahilly (2011) The symbolization of central approximants in the IPA. ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association''. 41 (2), pp. 231–237</ref> or {{angbr IPA|ɉ, w̶}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ball |first1=Martin J. |title=Phonetics for communication disorders |last2=Müller |first2=Nicole |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8058-5363-6 |page=70}}</ref>