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A non-syllabic vowel is a vowel-like sound that is not the nucleus of a syllable or mora (ie. it doesn't make up the most prominent part of the syllable). In languages such as Japanese and many Polynesian languages, every vocalic segment constitutes a separate syllable or mora. That is, there are no diphthongs.

However, languages such as English have large numbers of diphthongs. A convenient way to indicate that a vowel sound is a non-syllabic part of a diphthong is to write these as approximants, such as eye [aj] or cow [kaw]. However, phoneticians often object that the final segments of these diphthongs do not have the constriction of the consonants [j] or [w] as in yes [jɛs] or wall [wɔɫ], but rather are purely vocalic, and therefore the symbols and are inappropriate. In addition, there are languages where a sequence like [ao] is a diphthong, but contrasts with a diphthong [au]; the symbol obviously cannot be used for both. In such cases the IPA non-syllabic diacritic [  ̯] can be used; this is dubbed an arch. Beside enabling contrasts like [ao̯] vs [au̯], this allows a more precise transcription of standard diphthongs. For instance, the diphthong in English bay may be transcribed with a near-high vowel as [beɪ̯] rather than [bej].

One use of the symbol is to explain the current "w-like" pronunciation of the Polish character "ł", which is /ʊ̯/.

Note that in practice many diacritics, including the arch, are often left out in broad transcription, so that bay is frequently transcribed [beɪ] (or even [beː] or [be]). It is necessary to know the phonology of the language in order to understand what is meant by such transcriptions.

• List of phonetics topics
• Syllabic consonant
• Semivowel
• Diphthong