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Bilabial consonant

{{Short description|Consonant articulated with both lips}}

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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,{{ citation | last= Maddieson | first= Ian | date=2008 | chapter= Absence of Common Consonants | editor1-last= Haspelmath | editor1-first= Martin | editor2-last= Dryer | editor2-first= Matthew S. |editor3-last= Gil | editor3-first= David |editor4-last= Comrie |editor4-first= Bernard |title= The World Atlas of Language Structures Online |place= Munich |publisher= Max Planck Digital Library | chapter-url= http://wals.info/feature/18}} though all of these have a labial–velar approximant /w/.

Varieties

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

class=wikitable
rowspan="2" | IPA

! rowspan="2" | Description

! colspan="4" | Example

Language

! Orthography

! IPA

! Meaning

{{IPA|m̥}}

| voiceless bilabial nasal

| Hmong

| {{lang|hmn|Hmoob}}

| {{IPA|[m̥ɔ̃́]}}

| Hmong

{{IPA|m}}

| voiced bilabial nasal

| English

| man

| {{IPA|[mæn]}}

| man

{{IPA|p}}

| voiceless bilabial plosive

| English

| spin

| {{IPA|[spɪn]}}

| spin

{{IPA|b}}

| voiced bilabial plosive

| English

| bed

| {{IPA|[bɛd]}}

| bed

{{IPA|p͜ɸ}}

| voiceless bilabial affricate

|Kaingang{{sfnp|Jolkesky|2009|pp=680-681}}

| {{lang|kgp|fy}}

| {{IPA|[ˈp͜ɸɤ]}}

| 'seed'

{{IPA|b͜β}}

| voiced bilabial affricate

| Shipibo{{sfnp|Valenzuela|Márquez Pinedo|Maddieson|2001|p=}}

| {{lang|shp|boko}}

| {{IPA|[ˈb͜βo̽ko̽]}}

| 'small intestine'

{{IPA|ɸ}}

| voiceless bilabial fricative

| Japanese

| {{lang|ja|富士山}} ({{Transliteration|ja|fujisan}})

| {{IPA|[ɸɯʑisaɴ]}}

| Mount Fuji

{{IPA|β}}

| voiced bilabial fricative

| Ewe

| {{lang|ee|ɛʋɛ}}

| {{IPA|[ɛ̀βɛ̀]}}

| Ewe

{{IPA|β̞}}

| bilabial approximant

| Spanish

| {{lang|es|lobo}}

| {{IPA|[loβ̞o]}}

| wolf

{{IPA|ⱱ̟}}

| voiced bilabial flap

| Mono{{Harvcoltxt|Olson|2004|p=233}}

| {{lang|mnh|vwa}}

| {{IPA|[ⱱ̟a]}}

| 'send'

{{IPA|ʙ̥}}

| voiceless bilabial trill

| Pará Arára{{Cite thesis|last=de Souza|first=Isaac Costa|title=A Phonological Description of "Pet Talk" in Arara|type=MA|chapter=3|chapter-url=http://www-01.sil.org/americas/brasil/publcns/ling/ARPetTlk.pdf|year=2010|publisher=SIL Brazil|access-date=2014-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012055939/http://www-01.sil.org/americas/brasil/publcns/ling/ARPetTlk.pdf|archive-date=2013-10-12|url-status=dead}}

|colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ʙ̥uta]}}

| 'to throw away'

{{IPA|ʙ}}

| voiced bilabial trill

| Nias

| {{lang|nia|simbi}}

| {{IPA|[siʙi]}}

| lower jaw

{{IPA|pʼ}}

| bilabial ejective stop

| Adyghe

| {{lang|ady|пӀэ}}

| {{IPA|[pʼa]}}

| meat

{{IPA|ɸʼ}}

| bilabial ejective fricative

| Yuchi{{cite journal|last=Crawford|first=James M.|year=1973|title=Yuchi Phonology|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|volume=39|issue=3|pages=173–179|doi=10.1086/465261|s2cid=224808560}}

| {{lang|yuc|ḟasę}}

| {{IPA|[ɸ’asẽ]}}

|{{gloss|good evening!}}

{{IPA|ɓ̥}}

| voiceless bilabial implosive

| Serer

| {{example needed|date=July 2023}}

|

|

{{IPA|ɓ}}

| voiced bilabial implosive

| Jamaican Patois

| {{lang|jam|beat}}

| {{IPA|[ɓiːt]}}

| beat

{{IPA|k͡ʘ q͡ʘ
ɡ͡ʘ ɢ͡ʘ
ŋ͡ʘ ɴ͡ʘ}}

| bilabial clicks (many distinct consonants)

| Nǁng

| {{lang|ngh|ʘoe}}

| {{IPA|[k͡ʘoe]}}

| meat

Owere Igbo has a six-way contrast among bilabial stops: {{IPA|[p pʰ ɓ̥ b b̤ ɓ]}}.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Other varieties

The extensions to the IPA also define a {{vanchor|bilabial percussive}} ({{IPAblink|ʬ|audio=y}}) for smacking the lips together. A lip-smack in the non-percussive sense of the lips audibly parting would be {{IPA|[ʬ↓]}}.{{cite book |last=Heselwood |first=Barry |title= Phonetic Transcription in Theory and Practice |year=2013 |page=121 |doi=10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640737.001.0001 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |jstor=10.3366/j.ctt9qdrqz|isbn=978-0-7486-4073-7 |s2cid=60269763 }}

The IPA chart shades out bilabial lateral consonants, which is sometimes read as indicating that such sounds are not possible. The fricatives {{IPA|[ɸ]}} and {{IPA|[β]}} are often lateral, but since no language makes a distinction for centrality, the allophony is not noticeable.

See also

References

= Citations =

{{Reflist}}

= Sources =

; General references

{{refbegin}}

  • {{citation |last=Jolkesky |first=Marcelo Pinho de Valhery |year=2009 |title=Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble |journal=Anais do SETA |volume=3 |pages=675–685 |place=Campinas |publisher=Editora do IEL-UNICAMP |url=http://www.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/seta/article/view/557/474}}
  • {{SOWL}}
  • {{cite book |last=McDorman |first=Richard E. |year=1999 |title=Labial Instability in Sound Change: Explanations for the Loss of /p/ |location=Chicago |publisher=Organizational Knowledge Press |isbn=0-9672537-0-5}}
  • {{cite journal |last=Olson |first=Kenneth S. |year=2004 |title=Mono |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=233–238 |doi=10.1017/S0025100304001744 |url=http://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/11/37/52/113752932904084361138922206226269471614/Olson2004.pdf |doi-access=free}}
  • {{cite journal |last1=Valenzuela |first1=Pilar M. |last2=Márquez Pinedo |first2=Luis |last3=Maddieson |first3=Ian |year=2001 |title=Shipibo |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=281–285 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40852342 |doi=10.1017/S0025100301002109 |doi-access=free}}

{{refend}}

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