Voiceless labial–palatal fricative

The voiceless labial–palatal fricative or approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in a few spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɥ̊⟩^[1] or ⟨ɸ͡ç⟩.^[2] The former – more accurately the voiceless labialized palatal fricative by those who consider it to be a fricative^[3] – is the voiceless counterpart of the voiced labial–palatal approximant. Other linguists posit voiceless approximants distinct from voiceless fricatives; to them, [ɥ̊] is a voiceless labialized palatal approximant.

• Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.

or

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• The place of articulation of [ɥ̊] is palatal; it is also labialized.^[3] The place of articulation of [ɸ͡ç] is palatal and bilabial.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• It is an oral consonant, which means that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

• List of languages with [ɥ̊] on PHOIBLE
• List of languages with [ɥ̥] on PHOIBLE