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,[1] 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
m̥ voiceless bilabial nasal Hmong Hmoob [m̥ɔ̃́] Hmong
m voiced bilabial nasal English man [mæn] man
p voiceless bilabial plosive English spin [spɪn] spin
b voiced bilabial plosive English bed [bɛd] bed
p͡ɸ voiceless bilabial affricate Kaingang[2] fy [ˈp͡ɸɤ] 'seed'
b͡β voiced bilabial affricate Shipibo[3] boko [ˈb͡βo̽ko̽] 'small intestine'
ɸ voiceless bilabial fricative Japanese 富士山 (fujisan) [ɸuʑisaɴ] Mount Fuji
β voiced bilabial fricative Ewe ɛʋɛ [ɛ̀βɛ̀] Ewe
β̞ bilabial approximant Spanish lobo [loβ̞o] wolf
ⱱ̟ voiced bilabial flap Mono[4] vwa [ⱱ̟a] 'send'
ʙ̥ voiceless bilabial trill Pará Arára[5] [ʙ̥uta] 'to throw away'
ʙ voiced bilabial trill Nias simbi [siʙi] lower jaw
pʼ bilabial ejective stop Adyghe пӀэ [pʼa] meat
ɸʼ bilabial ejective fricative Yuchi[6]
ɓ̥ voiceless bilabial implosive Serer
ɓ voiced bilabial implosive Jamaican Patois beat [ɓiːt] beat
k͡ʘ q͡ʘ
ɡ͡ʘ ɢ͡ʘ
ŋ͡ʘ ɴ͡ʘ		 bilabial clicks (many distinct consonants) Nǁng ʘoe [k͡ʘoe] meat

Owere Igbo has a six-way contrast among bilabial stops: [p pʰ ɓ̥ b b̤ ɓ].

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 [ʬ↓].[7]

The IPA chart shades out bilabial lateral consonants, which is sometimes read as indicating that such sounds are not possible. The fricatives [ɸ] and [β] 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 (2013: 121)

Sources

General references


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