Labio-palatalization

A labio-palatalized sound is one that is simultaneously labialized and palatalized. Typically the roundedness is compressed, like, rather than protruded like. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for this secondary articulation is, a superscript , the symbol for the labio-palatal approximant. If such sounds pattern with other, labialized, consonants, they may instead be transcribed as palatalized consonants plus labialization,, as with the =  of Abkhaz or the  =  of Akan.

The labial-palatal approximant occurs in Mandarin Chinese and French, but is uncommon, as it is generally dependent upon the presence of front rounded vowels such as  and, which are themselves not common. However, the labial-palatal approximant and labio-palatalized consonants also appear in languages without front rounded vowels in the Caucasus and West Africa, such as Abkhaz, and as allophones of labialized consonants before, including the at the beginning of the language name Twi. In Russian,  and  trigger labialization of any preceding consonant, including palatalized consonants, so that нёс 'he carried' is pronounced.

Labial–palatal consonants
Truly co-articulated labial–palatal consonants such as are theoretically possible. However, the closest sounds attested from the world's languages are the labial–postalveolar consonants of Yélî Dnye in New Guinea, which are sometimes transcribed as labial–palatals.