The nasal labial–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~.
| Nasal labial–velar approximant | |
|---|---|
| w̃ |
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 of the nasal labial–velar approximant:
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaingang[1] | [w̃ĩ] | 'to see' | Possible word-initial realization of /w/ before a nasal vowel.[2] | ||
| Polish | są | [sɔũ̯] | 'they are' | See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese | Most dialects[3][4] | são | [sɐ̃w̃] | 'saint', 'they are' | Allophone of /w/ after nasal vowels. See Portuguese phonology |
| Some dialects[5] | muamba | [ˈmw̃ɐ̃bɐ] | 'smuggling', 'jobbery', 'stash' |
Non-syllabic allophone of /u/ between nasal sounds. | |
| Marathi | संशय | [sə̃w̃ʃəe̯] | 'doubt' | Anuswara (ṁ) preceding र (r), व (v), श (ś), ष (ṣ), स (s), ह (h) or ज्ञ (jñ/dnya) is rendered as 'w̃'. | |
| Seri | cmiique | [ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ] | 'person' | Allophone of /m/ | |
| Shipibo[6] | banwan[7] | [βɐ̃ˈw̃ɐ̃] | 'parrot' | Allophone of /w/ after nasal vowels.[6] | |
| Uwa | táw̃aya | [ˈtaw̃aja] | 'yellow' | ||
| Yoruba | wọ́n | [w̃ɔ̃́n] | 'they' | Allophone of /w/ before nasal vowels. | |