A labio-palatalized sound is one that is simultaneously labialized and palatalized

Palatalization

In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....

. Typically the roundedness

Roundedness

In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. That is, it is vocalic labialization. When pronouncing a rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are pronounced with the lips relaxed...

 is compressed, like [y], rather than protruded like [u]. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 for this secondary articulation

Secondary articulation

Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner. The approximant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and colors it rather than obscuring it...

 is ⟨ᶣ⟩, a superscript ⟨ɥ⟩, 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, ⟨ʷ⟩, as with the [ɕʷ] = [ɕᶣ] of Abkhaz

Abkhaz language

Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly by the Abkhaz people. It is the official language of Abkhazia where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan...

 or the [ɲʷ] = [ɲᶣ] of Akan

Akan language

Akan, also known as Twi and Fante, is an Akan language that is the principal native language of Ghana, spoken over much of the southern half of that country, by about 52% of the population, and to a lesser extent across the border in eastern Côte d'Ivoire...

.

The labial-palatal approximant [ɥ] occurs in Mandarin Chinese and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, but is uncommon, as it is generally dependent upon the presence of front rounded vowels such as ø and y, 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 allophone

Allophone

In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...

s of labialized consonants before /i/, including the [tɕᶣ] at the beginning of the language name Twi. In Russian, /o/ and /u/ trigger labialization of any preceding consonant, including palatalized consonants, so that нёс 'he carried' is pronounced [nᶣos].

Labial–palatal consonants

Truly co-articulated labial–palatal consonants such as [c͡p, ɟ͡b, ɲ͡m] are theoretically possible. However, the closest sounds attested from the world's languages are the labial–postalveolar consonants of Yélî Dnye

Yélî Dnye language

The Yélî Dnye language, also known as Yele, is the language of Rossel island, the easternmost island in the Louisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea. For now it is best considered a language isolate, but it may turn out to be related to the Anêm and Ata language isolates of New...

in New Guinea, which are sometimes transcribed as labial–palatals.