# Nasal palatal approximant

The nasal palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j̃⟩, that is, a j with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j~, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨ỹ⟩.
The nasal palatal approximant is sometimes called a nasal yod; [j̃] and [w̃] may be called nasal glides.

## Features

Features of the nasal palatal approximant:
* 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.
* Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, in this case in addition to 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.

## Occurrence

[j̃], written ⟨ny⟩, is a common realization of /j/ before nasal vowels in many languages of West Africa that do not have a phonemic distinction between voiced nasal and oral stops, such as Yoruba, Ewe and Bini languages.
| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Nheengatu | Nheengatu | nheẽ | [j̃ẽʔẽ] | 'to speak' | Influenced Brazilian Portuguese ⟨nh⟩ sound. Sometimes written with ⟨ñ⟩ |
| Hindustani | Hindustani | संयम / sanyama | [səj̃jəm] | 'patience' | Allophone of /n/ before [j]. See Hindustani phonology |
| Kaingang | Kaingang | [j̃ũ] | [j̃ũ] | 'brave' | Possible word-initial realization of /j/ before a nasal vowel. |
| Lombard | Lombard | bisògn de | [biˈzɔj̃ d̪e] | 'need for (something)' | Allophone of /ɲ/ before a consonant. See Lombard phonology |
| Louisiana Creole | Louisiana Creole | [sɛ̃j̃ɛ̃] | [sɛ̃j̃ɛ̃] | 'bleed' | Intervocalic allophone of /ɲ/ |
| Polish | Polish | państwo | [ˈpãj̃stfɔ] | 'state, country' | Allophone of /ɲ/ before fricatives. See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Brazilian | sonho | [ˈsõj̃ʊ] | 'dream' | Allophone of /ɲ/ between vowels, nasalizes the preceding vowel. Language's original /ɲ/ sound. See Portuguese phonology |
| Portuguese | Most dialects | cães | [kɐ̃j̃s] | 'dogs' | Allophone of /j/ after nasal vowels. |
| Portuguese | Some dialects | me ame! | [ˈmj̃ɐ̃mi] | 'love me!' | Non-syllabic allophone of /i/ between nasal sounds. |
| Shipibo | Shipibo | | | | Allophone of /j/ after nasal vowels. |
| Spanish | Zwolle-Ebarb | año | [ˈãj̃o] | 'year' | Allophone of /ɲ/ between vowels, nasalizing the preceding vowel. |
| Spanish | Other dialects, occasional in rapid, unguarded speech | niños | [ˈnij̃os] | 'kids' | Allophone of /ɲ/. Because nasality is retained and there is no potential merger with any other Spanish phonemes, this process is rarely noticed, and its geographical distribution has never been determined. |
| Sakha | Sakha | айыы | [aȷ̃ɯː] | 'sin, transgression' | /ȷ̃/ is not distinguished from /j/ in the orthography. |