Voiced palatal approximant

A voiced palatal approximant is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the "y" sound in "young".

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j⟩; the equivalent symbol in the Americanist phonetic notation is ⟨y⟩. In order to not imply that the approximant is spread as the vowel [i] is, it may instead be transcribed ⟨ʝ̞⟩. When this sound occurs in the form of a palatal glide it is frequently, but not exclusively, denoted as a superscript j ⟨ʲ⟩ in IPA.

This sound is traditionally called a yod, after its name in Hebrew. This is reflected in the names of certain phonological changes, such as yod-dropping and yod-coalescence.

A palatal approximant is often the semivocalic equivalent of a close front unrounded vowel [i]. They alternate with each other in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages as ⟨j⟩ and ⟨i̯⟩, with the non-syllabic diacritic used in some phonetic transcription systems to represent the same sound.

Phonetic ambiguity and transcription usage

Some languages have a special sound called a palatal approximant that doesn’t have a clear “rounded” shape. This makes it different from other similar sounds. For example, in Spanish, there are two kinds of this sound. One is short and only appears with full vowel sounds. The other has a lower sound level and can appear at the beginning of a syllable.

In many European languages, the letter j stands for this sound. For example, in German, the word Jahr means “year”. Some English loanwords also use this, like hallelujah and Jägermeister.

In old Ancient Greek, this sound was sometimes written with a special symbol, but it disappeared from the language over time.

Features

The voiced palatal approximant is a special sound used in many languages. It is made by bringing the middle or back part of the tongue close to the roof of the mouth, but not touching it, which creates a narrow space. This sound is voiced, meaning the voice box vibrates when we say it.

It is an oral sound, so we do not let air escape through the nose. The air we use to make this sound comes only from our lungs, using muscles between the ribs and in the belly, just like most other sounds we make when speaking.

Occurrence

Palatal

Post-palatal (pre-velar) approximant

Some languages have a sound called a post-palatal or pre-velar approximant. This sound is made a little further back in the mouth than the common "y" sound in English, but not as far back as another sound called the velar approximant.

The International Phonetic Alphabet, which uses special symbols to show sounds, does not have a single symbol for this sound. It can be written in a few different ways, such as ⟨j̠⟩, ⟨j᫢⟩, or ⟨ɰ̟⟩, depending on how it is described. This sound is made by narrowing the space in the mouth without creating a turbulent airflow, and the voice box vibrations make it a voiced sound. Air passes only through the mouth, not the nose, and the sound is made with the middle of the tongue.

Nasal

A nasalized voiced palatal approximant is a special sound used in some languages. It is shown with the symbol ⟨j̃⟩ in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

This sound is made by:

• Narrowing the vocal tract but not enough to make a rough airflow.
• Raising the middle or back part of the tongue to the hard palate.
• Letting the vocal cords vibrate while making the sound.
• Allowing air to escape only through the nose.
• Directing the air down the middle of the tongue.
• Using the muscles between the ribs and in the belly to push the air, like most sounds we make.

The symbol ⟨ny⟩ is often used for this sound before nasal vowels in some West African languages like Yoruba, Ewe, and Bini.