Voiceless palatal approximant

Voiceless palatal approximant
j̊
IPA number	153 402A
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	j​̊
Unicode (hex)	U+006A U+030A
X-SAMPA	j_0
Kirshenbaum	j<vls>

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.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Jalapa Mazatec[1]					Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[1]
Washo		t'á:Yaŋi	[ˈťaːj̊aŋi]	'he's hunting'	Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants.

References

1. Silverman et al. (1995), p. 83.

Bibliography

• Silverman, Daniel; Blankenship, Barbara; Kirk, Paul; Ladefoged, Peter (1995), "Phonetic Structures in Jalapa Mazatec", Anthropological Linguistics, The Trustees of Indiana University, 37 (1): 70–88, JSTOR 30028043