Approximant
From KneeQuickie
An approximant is a consonant made with very slight obstruction of the airflow, even less than for fricatives. The class of approximants is divided into semivowels and liquids.
Approximants are almost always voiced; unvoiced approximants tend to become raised to fricatives. The IPA only has symbols for voiced approximants, so that unvoiced approximants have to be written with a diacritic.
The IPA has the following symbols for approximants:
| IPA | X-Sampa | |
| Labiodental | /ʋ/ | /P/ or /v\/ |
| Coronal central | /ɹ/ | /r\/ |
| Coronal lateral | /l/ | /l/ |
| Retroflex central | /ɻ/ | /r\`/ |
| Retroflex lateral | /ɭ/ | /l`/ |
| Palatal central | /j/ | /j/ |
| Palatal lateral | /ʎ/ | /L/ |
| Labiopalatal | /ɥ/ | /H/ |
| Velar central | /ɰ/ | /M\/ |
| Velar lateral | /ʟ/ | /L\/ |
| Labiovelar | /w/ | /w/ |
Z-Sampa has the following additional approximant symbols:
