Semivowel
From Freepedia
| Manners of articulation |
| Obstruent |
| Click |
| Plosive |
| Ejective |
| Implosive |
| Affricate |
| Fricative |
| Sibilant |
| Sonorant |
| Nasal |
| Flap/Tap |
| Trill |
| Approximant |
| Semivowel |
| Liquid |
| Vowel |
| Lateral |
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Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are non-syllabic vocoids that function phonemically as consonants. They are typically briefer, less stable and often closer than the corresponding vowels. For example, the word wow may be written [waʊ̯] in IPA. Even though the [w] and the [ʊ̯] are similar phones, this transcription indicates that the former is considered a consonant while the latter is considered a non-syllabic vowel (that is, part of a diphthong). This may be because English speakers rhyme wow with how [haʊ̯], and these words share the same syllable rime [aʊ̯]. (The remaining [w] in wow and the [h] in how are both syllable onsets, or initial consonants.) Or it may be argued that the semivowel [w] is more constricted (closer) and therefore more consonant-like than the non-syllabic vowel [ʊ̯].
List of semivowels
Semivowels are classified as approximants that correspond phonetically to specific close vowels.
- unrounded palatal semivowel [j] (a consonantal [i])
- rounded palatal semivowel [ɥ] (a consonantal [y])
- unrounded velar semivowel [ɰ] (a consonantal [ɯ])
- rounded velar semivowel [w] (a consonantal [u])
Although many languages have central vowels [ɨ, ʉ] which lie between back/velar [ɯ, u] and front/palatal [i, y], no language is known to have a corresponding semivowel phoneme.
Examples
- English y in yes: the unrounded palatal semivowel/palatal approximant [j]
- English w in well: the rounded velar semivowel/labial-velar approximant [w]
- French u in huit: the rounded palatal semivowel/labial-palatal approximant [ɥ]
