Semivowel
Semivowels (also called
semiconsonants or
glides, though these are now dispreferred) are
non-syllabic vowels that form
diphthongs with syllabic vowels. They may be contrasted with
approximants, which are similar to but
closer than vowels or semivowels and behave as
consonants. Semivowels are normally written by adding the
IPA non-syllabic mark to a vowel symbol, but often for simplicity the vowel symbol alone is written.
To illustrate, the English word
wow may be transcribed as (or abbreviated to ). Even though both the and the are similar to the vowel , the transcription indicates that the initial segment is considered to be a consonant by the transcriber, while the final segment is considered to form a diphthong with the preceding vowel. The approximant is more constricted and therefore more consonant-like than the semivowel . (Using the transcription for the diphthong rather than as one might expect is a minor phonetic point. See
diphthong for details.)
Because they are so similar phonetically, the concepts of
semivowel and
approximant are often used interchangeably. In this conflated usage, semivowels are defined as those approximants that correspond phonetically to specific close vowels. These are [j], corresponding to [i]; [w] for [u]; for [y]; and for . (See
approximant for details.) However, languages such as
Nepali and
Samoan have additional semivowels such as and that correspond to
mid vowels, and which other than being non-syllabic are not at all like consonants.
Close semivowels
* English eye
* English cow
* Dutch ui "onion" Close vs. mid semivowels
* Samoan ai "probably"
* Samoan ae "but"
* Samoan 'auro "gold"
* Samoan ao "a cloud" *
List of phonetics topics*
Diphthong
