semivocal

/ ˌsɛmɪvəʊˈkælɪk, ˌsɛmɪˈvəʊkəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to a semivowel

Example Sentences

There are other clear sounds besides those formed by the larynx; some of them are formed in the mouth, as may be heard previous to the enunciation of the letters b, and d, and ga; or during the pronunciation of the semivocal letters, v. z. j. and others in sounding the liquid letters r and l; these sounds we shall term orisonance.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

In speaking of articulate sounds they may be conveniently divided first into clear continued sounds, expressed by the letters called vowels; secondly, Into hissing sounds, expressed by the letters called sibilants; thirdly, Into semivocal sounds, which consist of a mixture of the two former; and, lastly, Into interrupted sounds, represented by the letters properly termed consonants.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

The semivocal sounds are produced by the stream of air having received quick vibrations, or clear sound, in passing through the larynx, or in the cavity of the mouth; but apart of it, as the outsides of this sonorous current of air, afterwards receives slower vibrations, or hissing sound, from some other passages of the lips or mouth, through which it then flows.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

I have preferred the word sonisibilants to the word semivocal sibilants; as the sounds of these sonisibilants are formedlambda Eta λ in different apertures of the mouth, and not in the larynx like the vowels.

Read more on Project Gutenberg