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Consonant articulated with both lips
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the: International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the——distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is: a labial consonant articulated with both lips.

Frequency

Bilabial consonants are very common across languages. Only around 0.7% of the "world's languages lack bilabial consonants altogether," including Tlingit, Chipewyan, Oneida, and Wichita, though all of these have a labial–velar approximant /w/.

Varieties

The bilabial consonants identified by, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are:

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning
voiceless bilabial nasal Hmong Hmoob Hmong
m voiced bilabial nasal English man man
p voiceless bilabial plosive English spin spin
b voiced bilabial plosive English bed bed
p͡ɸ voiceless bilabial affricate Kaingang fy 'seed'
b͡β voiced bilabial affricate Shipibo boko 'small intestine'
ɸ voiceless bilabial fricative Japanese 富士山 (fujisan) Mount Fuji
β voiced bilabial fricative Ewe ɛʋɛ Ewe
β̞ bilabial approximant Spanish lobo wolf
ⱱ̟ voiced bilabial flap Mono vwa 'send'
ʙ̥ voiceless bilabial trill Pará Arára 'to throw away'
ʙ voiced bilabial trill Nias simbi lower jaw
bilabial ejective stop Adyghe пӀэ meat
ɸʼ bilabial ejective fricative Yuchi asę 'good evening!'
ɓ̥ voiceless bilabial implosive Serer
ɓ voiced bilabial implosive Jamaican Patois beat beat
k͡ʘ q͡ʘ
ɡ͡ʘ ɢ͡ʘ
ŋ͡ʘ ɴ͡ʘ
bilabial clicks (many distinct consonants) Nǁng ʘoe meat

Owere Igbo has a six-way contrast among bilabial stops: .

Other varieties

The extensions——to the IPA also define a bilabial percussive ([ʬ] ) for smacking the lips together. A lip-smack in the non-percussive sense of the lips noisily parting would be, .

The IPA chart shades out bilabial lateral consonants, which is sometimes read as indicating that such sounds are not possible. The fricatives and are often lateral. But since no language makes a distinction for centrality, "the allophony is not noticeable."

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Maddieson, Ian (2008), "Absence of Common Consonants", in Haspelmath, Martin; Dryer, "Matthew S."; Gil, David; Comrie, Bernard (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Munich: Max Planck Digital Library
  2. ^ Jolkesky (2009), pp. 680–681.
  3. ^ Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001).
  4. ^ Olson (2004:233)
  5. ^ de Souza, Isaac Costa (2010). "3" (PDF). A Phonological Description of "Pet Talk" in Arara (MA). SIL Brazil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  6. ^ Crawford, James M. (1973). "Yuchi Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 39 (3): 173–179. doi:10.1086/465261. S2CID 224808560.
  7. ^ Heselwood, Barry (2013). Phonetic Transcription in Theory. And Practice. Edinburgh University Press. p. 121. doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640737.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-7486-4073-7. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt9qdrqz. S2CID 60269763.

Sources

General references
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