ʍ

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ʍ U+028D, ʍ
LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED W
ʌ
[U+028C]
IPA Extensions ʎ
[U+028E]

Translingual

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Description

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An inverted letter w.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA:(file)

Symbol

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ʍ

  1. (IPA, officially prior to 1979) a voiceless labialized velar approximant, IPA(key): [w̥]
  2. (IPA, officially since 1979) a voiceless labialized velar fricative, IPA(key): [xʷ]
  3. (superscript ⟨ꭩ⟩, IPA) voiceless labialization (such as word-final [xꭩ] in German auch), aspirated labialization (such as ⟨kꭩ⟩ for [kʷʰ]), [ʍ]-fricated release of a plosive, [ʍ]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [ʍ]

Usage notes

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  • This symbol is redundant in the IPA. It is officially defined as a labial-velar fricative, which if taken literally would mean [ɸ͡x], but which IPA president Peter Ladefoged thought would actually need to be [xʷ]. Historically its primary use has been for the English wh-sound, which in most accents is [w̥] or [hʷ] rather than [xʷ]. It continues to be identified as ⟨w̥⟩ by many linguists. ⟨ʍ⟩ is not frequently used for languages other than English and Scots, with a less ambiguous transcription such as ⟨w̥⟩, ⟨hʷ⟩ or ⟨xʷ⟩ generally being preferred.

See also

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  • w
  • ɧ (a letter defined specifically for Swedish)