Nasal labialized velar approximant

The nasal labio-velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨w̃⟩, that is, a w with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w~.

The nasal approximants [ȷ̃] and [w̃] may also be called nasal glides. In some languages like Portuguese, they form a second element of nasal diphthongs.

Features

Features of the nasal labio-velar 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 labialized velar, which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate (the velum) while rounding the lips.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
• 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
Kaingang		[w̃ĩ]		'to see'	Possible word-initial realization of /w/ before a nasal vowel.
Polish		są	[sɔũ̯]	'they are'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Most dialects	são	[sɐ̃w̃]	'they are'	Allophone of /w/ after nasal vowels. See Portuguese phonology
	Some dialects	muamba	[ˈmw̃ɐ̃bɐ]	'smuggling', 'jobbery', 'stash'	Non-syllabic allophone of /u/ between nasal sounds.
Seri		cmiique	[ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ]	'person'	Allophone of /m/
Shipibo		?	[βɐ̃ˈw̃ɐ̃]	'parrot'	Allophone of /w/ after nasal vowels.
Uwa		táw̃aya	[ˈtaw̃aja]	'yellow'

See also

• Palatal nasal
• Nasal palatal approximant
• Labiodental nasal, which may be an approximant in the one language in which it is phonemic
• Voiceless nasal glottal approximant
• Index of phonetics articles