Voiced labial–palatal approximant
ɥ
IPA number	171
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Encoding
Entity(decimal)	ɥ
Unicode(hex)	U+0265
X-SAMPA	H
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Avoiced labial–palatal (orlabio-palatal)approximant is a type ofconsonantal sound, used in somespokenlanguages, for example, Frenchhuitième, read as [ɥitjɛm]. It has two constrictions in thevocal tract: with thetongue on thepalate, androunded at thelips. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɥ⟩, arotated lowercase letter⟨h⟩.

A labial–palatal approximant can in many cases be considered thesemivocalic equivalent of theclose front rounded vowel[y]. Theyalternate with each other in certain languages, such asFrench, and in thediphthongs of some languages, ⟨ɥ⟩ and ⟨y̑⟩ with the non-syllabic diacritic are used in differenttranscription systems to represent the same sound. Sometimes,^[1] ⟨y̆⟩ is written in place of ⟨y̑⟩, even though the former symbol denotes an extra-short[y] in the official IPA.

Some languages, though, have apalatal approximant that is unspecified for rounding, and therefore cannot be considered the semivocalic equivalent of either[y] or its unrounded counterpart[i]. An example of such a language is Spanish, in which a labialized palatal approximant (non-semivowel) appearsallophonically with back vowels in words such asayuda[aˈʝ̞ʷuð̞a] ('help'), while unrounded elsewhere, such asayer[aˈʝ̞eɾ] ('yesterday'). Therefore, according to some sources, it is not correct to transcribe this sound with the symbol ⟨ɥ⟩, which has a different kind of rounding, or with a modified ⟨j⟩, which according to the same sources cannot be rounded at all; the only suitable transcription is ⟨ʝ̞ʷ⟩.^[2] Seepalatal approximant for more information.

There is also alabialized post-palatal approximant^[3] in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical labialized palatal approximant, though not as back as the prototypicallabialized velar approximant. It can be considered the semivocalic equivalent of theclose central rounded vowel[ʉ]. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨ɥ˗⟩ (aretracted ⟨ɥ⟩), ⟨ɥ̈⟩ (centralized ⟨ɥ⟩), ⟨w̟⟩ (advanced ⟨w⟩), or ⟨ẅ⟩ (centralized ⟨w⟩). These symbols may be used separately to distinguish compressed (exolabial) and protruded (endolabial) rounding, as in ⟨ɥ˗⟩ vs ⟨w̟⟩ or ⟨ɥ̈⟩ vs ⟨ẅ⟩. Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈ʷ⟩ (a centralized and labialized ⟨j⟩) and ⟨ʉ̯⟩ (a non-syllabic ⟨ʉ⟩). The para-IPA symbols ⟨ɥw⟩ (barred ⟨ɥw⟩) may also be used for the exolabial and endolabial variants of the post-palatal approximant respectively,^[4] and are pending Unicode support as of 2025.^[5]

Especially inbroad transcription, a labialized post-palatal approximant may be transcribed as a palatalized and labialized velar approximant ⟨wʲ⟩.^{[citation needed]}

Acompressed palatal approximant is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨ɥ⟩, and that is the convention used in this article. There is no dedicateddiacritic for compression in the IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨β̞⟩ as ⟨j͡β̞⟩ (simultaneous[j] and labial compression) or ⟨jᵝ⟩ ([j] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨  ͍⟩ may also be used with a labialized approximant letter ⟨ɥ͍⟩ (or ⟨ɥ⃡⟩) as anad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded.

Acompressed post-palatal approximant^[3] can be transcribed simply as ⟨ɥ̈⟩ (centralized[ɥ]), and that is the convention used in this article. Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈ᵝ⟩ (centralized[j] modified with labial compression), ⟨ẅ͍⟩ (centralized[w] with the spread-lip diacritic), and the para-IPA ⟨ɥ⟩ (barred ⟨ɥ⟩).

Features of the compressed palatal approximant:

• Itsmanner of articulation isapproximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce aturbulent airstream.
• Itsplace of articulation ispalatal and in addition it isendo-labialized, which is accomplished by raising the body of thetongue toward thepalate while approximating the lips.
• Itsphonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is anoral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
• It is acentral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Itsairstream mechanism ispulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with theintercostal muscles andabdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Because a labialized palatal approximant is assumed to have compression, and few descriptions cover the distinction, some examples in the table below may actually have protrusion.

As there are no diacritics in the IPA to distinguish protruded and compressed rounding, an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨  ̫⟩, will be used here as anad hoc symbol for the protruded palatal approximant. Another possible transcription is ⟨ɥʷ⟩ or ⟨jʷ⟩ (a palatal approximant modified by endolabialization).

Acoustically, this sound is between the more typical compressed palatal approximant[ɥ] and a non-labialized palatal approximant[j].

Aprotruded post-palatal approximant^[3] can be transcribed simply as ⟨ẅ⟩ (centralized[w]). Other possible transcriptions include ⟨ȷ̈ʷ⟩ (centralized[j] modified with endolabialization), ⟨ɥ̫̈⟩ (centralized[ɥ] with labialization), and the para-IPA ⟨w⟩ (barred ⟨w⟩).

Features of a protruded palatal approximant:

• Itsmanner of articulation isapproximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce aturbulent airstream.
• Itsplace of articulation islabial–palatal, which is accomplished by raising the body of thetongue toward thepalate while approximating the lips.
• Itsphonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is anoral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
• It is acentral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Itsairstream mechanism ispulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with theintercostal muscles andabdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

• List of languages with[ɥ] onPHOIBLE

• Approximant consonants
• Palatal consonants
• Bilabial consonants
• Oral consonants
• Co-articulated consonants
• Central consonants
• Pulmonic consonants

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