{{Short description|Transitional phoneme produced like a vowel but used like a syllable boundary}}{{IPA notice}}In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.{{sfnp|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=322}} Examples of semivowels in English are the consonants y and w in yes and west, respectively. Written {{IPAc-en|j|_|w}} in IPA, y and w are near to the vowels ee and oo in seen and moon, written {{IPAc-en|i:|_|u:}} in IPA. The term glide may alternatively refer to any type of transitional sound, not necessarily a semivowel.{{sfnp|Crystal|2008|p=211}}

Classification

Semivowels form a subclass of approximants.{{sfnp|Crystal|2008|pp=431â€“2}}{{sfnp|MartÃnez CeldrÃ¡n|2004|p=9}} Although "semivowel" and "approximant" are sometimes treated as synonymous,{{sfnp|Meyer|2005|p=101}} most authors use the term "semivowel" for a more restricted set; there is no universally agreed-upon definition, and the exact details may vary from author to author. For example, {{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996}} do not consider the labiodental approximant {{IPA|[Ê‹]}} to be a semivowel.{{sfnp|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=323}}In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the diacritic attached to non-syllabic vowel letters is an inverted breve placed below the symbol representing the vowel: {{unichar|032F|COMBINING INVERTED BREVE BELOW|ulink=Phonetic symbols in Unicode|cwith=â—Œ}}. When there is no room for the tack under a symbol, it may be written above, using {{unichar|0311|COMBINING INVERTED BREVE|ulink=Phonetic symbols in Unicode|cwith=â—Œ}}. Before 1989, non-syllabicity was represented by {{unichar|0306|COMBINING BREVE|ulink=Phonetic symbols in Unicode|cwith=â—Œ}}, which now stands for extra-shortness.Additionally, there are dedicated symbols for four semivowels that correspond to the four close cardinal vowel sounds:{{sfnp|MartÃnez CeldrÃ¡n|2004|p=9}}{| class="wikitable"! Semivowel (non-syllabic)! Vowel (syllabic)

j}} (palatal approximant)

i}} (close front unrounded vowel)

É¥}} (labio-palatal approximant)

y}} (close front rounded vowel)

É°}} (velar approximant)

É¯}} (close back unrounded vowel)

w}} (labiovelar approximant)

u}} (close back rounded vowel)

In addition, some authors{{sfnp|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=323}}{{sfnp|MartÃnez CeldrÃ¡n|2004|p=8}} consider the rhotic approximants {{IPAblink|É¹}}, {{IPAblink|É»|É»}} to be semivowels corresponding to R-colored vowels such as {{IPAblink|Éš}}. An unrounded central semivowel, {{IPA|[jÌˆ]}} (or {{IPA|[jË—]}}), equivalent to {{IPA|[É¨]}}, is uncommon, though rounded {{IPA|[áº…]}} (or {{IPA|[wÌŸ]}}), equivalent to {{IPA|[Ê‰]}}, is found in Swedish and Norwegian.

Contrast with vowels

Semivowels, by definition, contrast with vowels by being non-syllabic. In addition, they are usually shorter than vowels.{{sfnp|Crystal|2008|pp=431â€“2}} In languages such as Amharic, Yoruba, and Zuni, semivowels are produced with a narrower constriction in the vocal tract than their corresponding vowels.{{sfnp|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=323}} Nevertheless, semivowels may be phonemically equivalent with vowels. For example, the English word fly can be considered either as an open syllable ending in a diphthong {{IPA|[flaÉªÌ¯]}} or as a closed syllable ending in a consonant {{IPA|[flaj]}}.{{sfnp|Cohen|1971|p=51}}It is unusual for a language to contrast a semivowel and a diphthong containing an equivalent vowel,{{citation needed|date=January 2010}} but Romanian contrasts the diphthong {{IPA|/eÌ¯a/}} with {{IPA|/ja/}}, a perceptually similar approximant-vowel sequence. The diphthong is analyzed as a single segment, and the approximant-vowel sequence is analyzed as two separate segments.In addition to phonological justifications for the distinction (such as the diphthong alternating with {{IPA|/e/}} in singular-plural pairs), there are phonetic differences between the pair:{{sfnp|Chitoran|2002|pp=212â€“214}}

{{IPA|/ja/}} has a greater duration than {{IPA|/eÌ¯a/}}
The transition between the two elements is longer and faster for {{IPA|/ja/}} than {{IPA|/eÌ¯a/}} with the former having a higher F2 onset (greater constriction of the articulators).

Although a phonological parallel exists between {{IPA|/oÌ¯a/}} and {{IPA|/wa/}}, the production and perception of phonetic contrasts between the two is much weaker, likely because of lower lexical load for {{IPA|/wa/}}, which is limited largely to loanwords from French, and speakers' difficulty in maintaining contrasts between two back rounded semivowels in comparison to front ones.{{sfnp|Chitoran|2002|p=221}}

Contrast with fricatives/spirant approximants

According to the standard definitions, semivowels (such as {{IPA|[j]}}) contrast with fricatives (such as {{IPA|[Ê]}}) in that fricatives produce turbulence, but semivowels do not. In discussing Spanish, MartÃnez CeldrÃ¡n suggests setting up a third category of "spirant approximant", contrasting both with semivowel approximants and with fricatives.{{sfnp|MartÃnez CeldrÃ¡n|2004|p=6}} Though the spirant approximant is more constricted (having a lower F2 amplitude), longer, and unspecified for rounding (viuda {{IPA|[ËˆbjuÃ°a]}} 'widow' vs. ayuda {{IPA|[aËˆÊÊ·uÃ°a]}} 'help'),{{sfnp|MartÃnez CeldrÃ¡n|2004|p=208}} the distributional overlap is limited. The spirant approximant can only appear in the syllable onset (including word-initially, where the semivowel never appears). The two overlap in distribution after {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/n/}}: enyesar {{IPA|[áº½É²ÉŸÊeËˆsaÉ¾]}} ('to plaster') aniego {{IPA|[Ã£ËˆnjeÉ£o]}} ('flood'){{sfnp|Trager|1942|p=222}} and although there is dialectal and idiolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs like abyecto ('abject') vs. abierto ('opened').{{sfnp|Saporta|1956|p=288}} One potential minimal pair (depending on dialect) is ya visto {{IPA|[(ÉŸ)ÊaËˆÎ²isto]}} ('already seen') vs. y ha visto {{IPA|[jaËˆÎ²isto]}} ('and he has seen').{{sfnp|Bowen|Stockwell|1955|p=236}}Again, it is not present in all dialects. Other dialects differ in either merging the two or enhancing the contrast by moving the former to another place of articulation ({{IPA|[Ê’]}}), like in Rioplatense Spanish.

References

Sources

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Semivowel