In phonetics, the voiced labiodental flap is a speech sound found primarily in languages of Central Africa, such as Kera and Mangbetu.
[2] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ⱱ⟩, which resembles Cyrillic izhitsa, ⟨ѵ⟩, but is composed of a V and the hook of the flap ⟨ɾ⟩.
In 2005, the International Phonetic Association, responding to Kenneth Olson's request for its adoption, voted to include a symbol for this sound, and selected a v with a right hook,[3] that is, a combination of ⟨v⟩ + ⟨ɾ⟩.
[5] Another historic symbol for this sound was v with curl ⟨ⱴ⟩, which had been employed in articles from the School of Oriental and African Studies, by Joseph Greenberg,[6] and others.
[7] Features of the voiced labiodental flap: The labiodental flap is found primarily in Central Africa, in as many as a few hundred languages found in the Chadic family (Margi, Tera), Ubangian (Ngbaka, Ma'bo, Sera), Mbum (e.g. Kare), Central Sudanic (Mangbetu, Kresh), and Bantoid (Ngwe, some Shona dialects).