Voiced palatal approximant

Voiced palatal approximant
j
IPA number	153
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	j
Unicode (hex)	U+006A
X-SAMPA	j
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The voiced palatal approximant is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j⟩; the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨y⟩. When this sound occurs in the form of a palatal glide it is frequently, but not exclusively, denoted as a superscript j ⟨ʲ⟩ in IPA.

This sound is traditionally called a yod,^[1] after its name in Hebrew. This is reflected in the names of certain phonological changes, such as yod-dropping and yod-coalescence.

The palatal approximant can often be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the close front unrounded vowel [i]. They alternate with each other in certain languages, such as French, and in the diphthongs of some languages as ⟨j⟩ and ⟨i̯⟩, with the non-syllabic diacritic used in different phonetic transcription systems to represent the same sound.

A voiced alveolo-palatal approximant is attested as phonemic in the Huastec language,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} and is represented as an advanced voiced palatal approximant ⟨j̟⟩,^[9][4] or the plus sign may be placed after the letter, ⟨j˖⟩.