Down to w

j is a palatal approximant. Note that Icelandic phonologists usually refer to this sound as a palatal fricative, but there is litle diference between the Icelandic and the English sounds.

In English, j is spelt

• with 'y' before vowels and between vowels:
  yellow , beyond
  • (Note that 'y' is often used in spelling where there is no j in pronunciation:
    party , say , joy , loyal , myth
• with 'u' in words like:
  use , tune , pursue , huge
• and occasionally with 'ew':
  few , new

• words like 'tune' and 'new' often lose the j in American English:
  tune , new
• words spelt with 'su' and 'lu' have j in old-fashioned British English, but this is dying out:

  	Older	Newer
  suit
  assume
  illusion

• in many words spelt with 'su', s and j have merged into or . Be careful not to pronounce j:
  sugar , sure or , fissure (='fisher'), leisure (American )

• Icelanders tend to add j in words like 'crew', 'screw', and even 'blue', and say:
  krjú, skrjú, bljú
  - be careful not to do this!

• And be careful not to add j after in words like
  shoe , racial , nation

Unvoicing of l r j w after fortis plosives

For ALL GLIDES , see j w r glides

Icelanders have problems distinguishing between v and w. There is no w in Icelandic, and yet, to English ears, Icelanders always seem to have w in words like 'very', 'revolve'. Why is this?

First, recall what we said about v - here we saw that

• English v is a much STRONGER sound than Icelandic v - it's a fricative, while Icelandic v is an APPROXIMANT, like English w
• English v is LABIO-DENTAL (bottom lip agains top teeth: show your top teeth!) while w is BILABIAL (both lips).

Secondly, w has secondary velar articulation - while the lips are making the 'w' shape (rounding), the back of the tongue is making a velar approximant - vey much like the g in 'ógurlega'.

For UNVOICING of w, see Unvoicing of l r j w after fortis plosives and words spelled 'wh-'

For ALL GLIDES , see j w r glides