Voiceless labial–velar fricative

The voiceless labial–velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨xʷ⟩ or occasionally ⟨ʍ⟩. The letter ⟨ʍ⟩ was defined as a voiceless until 1979, when it was defined as a fricative with the place of articulation of  the same way that  is an approximant with the place of articulation of. However, the IPA Handbook treats it as both a "fricative" (IPA 1999: ix).

Some linguists posit voiceless approximants distinct from voiceless fricatives. To them, English is an approximant, a labialized glottal fricative , or an  sequence, not a velar fricative. Scots has been described as a velar fricative, especially in older Scots, where it was. Other linguists believe that a "voiceless approximant" is a contradiction in terms, and so must be the same as. Ladefoged and Maddieson were unable to confirm that any language has fricatives produced at two places of articulation, like labial and velar. They conclude that "if it is a fricative, it is better described as a voiceless labialized velar fricative".

Features
Features of the voiceless labial–velar fricative: