Voiceless labiodental affricate

{{infobox IPA

| ipa symbol = p̪f

}}

The voiceless labiodental affricate ({{IPA|[p̪͡f]}} in IPA) is a rare affricate consonant that is initiated as a labiodental stop {{IPA|[p̪]}} and released as a voiceless labiodental fricative {{IPA|[f]}}.

The XiNkuna dialect of Tsonga has this affricate, as in {{IPA|[tiɱp̪͡fuβu]}} "hippopotamuses" and aspirated {{IPA|[ɱp̪͡fʰuka]}} "distance" (compare {{IPA|[ɱfutsu]}} "tortoise", which shows that the stop is not epenthetic), as well as a voiced labiodental affricate, {{IPA|[b̪͡v]}}, as in {{IPA|[ʃileb̪͡vu]}} "chin". There is no voiceless labiodental fricative {{IPA|[f]}} in this dialect of Tsonga, only a voiceless bilabial fricative, as in {{IPA|[ɸu]}} "finished". (Among voiced fricatives, both {{IPA|[β]}} and {{IPA|[v]}} occur, however.)

German has a similar sound {{IPA|/p͡f/}} in Pfeffer {{IPA|{{nowrap|/ˈp͡fɛfɐ/}}}} ('pepper') and Apfel {{IPA|/ˈap͡fəl/}} ('apple'). Phonotactically, this sound does not occur after long vowels, diphthongs or {{IPA|/l/}}. It differs from a true labiodental affricate in that it starts out bilabial but then the lower lip retracts slightly for the frication.

The sound occurs occasionally in English, in words where one syllable ends with "p" and the next starts with "f", like in "helpful" or "stepfather".

Features

Features of the voiceless labiodental affricate:

There are two variants of the stop component:
bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips. The affricate with this stop component is called bilabial-labiodental.
labiodental, which means it is articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
The fricative component of this affricate is labiodental, articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.

Occurrence

class="wikitable" !colspan=2\| Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
colspan="2" \|Burushaski{{Cite book \|last=Berger \|first=Hermann \|title=Die Burushaski-Sprache von Hunza und Nager \|date=1998 \|publisher=Harrassowitz \|isbn=978-3-447-03961-1 \|series=Neuindische Studien \|location=Wiesbaden}} \|iphusimi \|{{IPA\|[ip̪͡fusimi]}} \|'he ties him' \|In free variation with {{IPA\|/pʰ/}}. May also be realized as {{IPA\|/f/}}.
rowspan=2\|English	rowspan=2\|Some speakers	helpful	{{IPA\|[ˈhɛɫp̚ˌp̪͡fəɫ]}}	'helpful'	Occurs for some speakers in consonant clusters of /pf/
info	{{IPA\|[ˈɪɱˌp̪͡fəʊ̯]}}	'info'	Allophone of /f/ after nasal consonants for some speakers as a form of epenthesis; usually occurs during fast and casual speech.
rowspan=2\|German	Standard{{sfnp\|Mangold\|2005\|p=45}}	{{lang\|de\|Pfirsiche}}	{{Audio-IPA\|De-Pfirsiche.ogg\|[ˈp͡fɪɐ̯zɪçə]}}	'peaches'	Bilabial-labiodental.{{sfnp\|Mangold\|2005\|p=45}} Arisen as a reflex of /p/ in the 8th century High German sound shift.Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979. See Standard German phonology
\| Swiss dialects{{sfnp\|Fleischer\|Schmid\|2006\|p=244}}{{sfnp\|Marti\|1985\|p=?}}	{{lang\|gsw\|Soipfe}}	{{IPA\|[ˈz̥oi̯p͡fə]}}	'soap'	Bilabial-labiodental. The example word is from the Zürich dialect.
colspan="2" \|Ghomalaʼ \| colspan="3" \|{{Example needed\|date=September 2024}} \|
Italian	Some central-south dialects{{sfnp\|Canepari\|1992\|p=71}}	{{lang\|it\|infatti}}	{{IPA\|[iɱˈp̪͡fät̪̚t̪i]}}	'indeed'	Labiodental, allophone of {{IPA\|/f/}} after nasals.{{sfnp\|Canepari\|1992\|p=71}} See Italian phonology
colspan=2\|Luxembourgish{{sfnp\|Gilles\|Trouvain\|2013\|p=72}}	{{lang\|lb\|Kampf}}	{{IPA\|[ˈkʰɑmp͡f]}}	'fight'	Occurs only in German loanwords.{{sfnp\|Gilles\|Trouvain\|2013\|p=72}} See Luxembourgish phonology
colspan=2\|Ngiti{{sfnp\|Kutsch Lojenga\|1994\|p=31}}	{{lang\|niy\|pfɔ̀mvɔ}}	{{IPA\|[p̪͡fɔ̀ɱ(b̪)vɔ̄]}}	'water spirit'	Less commonly [{{IPA link\|p͡ɸ}}]{{sfnp\|Kutsch Lojenga\|1994\|p=45}}
colspan=2\|Kinyarwanda	gupfundikira	{{IPA\|[gup̪͡fu:ndiciɾa]}}	'to close, seal'
Mandarin \|Xi'an dialect \|猪/豬 {{lang\|zh\|zhū}} \|[p̪͡fú²¹] \|'pig' \|From the labialization of retroflex stops in Middle Chinese
colspan="2" \|Slovene \|{{lang\|sl\|pfenig\|italic=yes}} \|{{IPA\|[ˈp̪féːnìk]}} \|'pfennig' \|Rarely occurs, mostly in German loanwords. See Slovene phonology
colspan=2\| SopvomaGiridhar, P P. "Mao Naga Grammar." 1994, p. 26. https://archive.org/details/dli.language.2262/page/n9/mode/2up	{{lang\|nbi\|ōpfǒ}}	{{IPA\|[o̞˧p̪͡fo̞˦]}}	'father'	Aspirated [{{IPA\|p̪͡fʰ}}] in some words, in free variation. "ǒ" represents a "Higher Mid" tone between the Mid and Lower High tones found in some speakers.
Tsonga	XiNkuna dialect	timpfuvu	{{IPA\|[tiɱp̪͡fuβu]}}	'hippopotami'	Contrasts with aspirated form.

Notes

References

{{citation

|last=Canepari

|first=Luciano

|year=1992

|title=Il MªPi – Manuale di pronuncia italiana

|trans-title=Handbook of Italian Pronunciation

|language=it

|location=Bologna

|publisher=Zanichelli

|isbn=88-08-24624-8

}}

{{citation

|last1=Fleischer

|first1=Jürg

|last2=Schmid

|first2=Stephan

|year=2006

|title=Zurich German

|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association

|volume=36

|issue=2

|pages=243–253

|doi=10.1017/S0025100306002441

|doi-access=free

}}

{{citation

|last1=Gilles

|first1=Peter

|last2=Trouvain

|first2=Jürgen

|year=2013

|title=Luxembourgish

|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association

|volume=43

|issue=1

|pages=67–74

|doi=10.1017/S0025100312000278

|doi-access=free

}}

{{citation

|last=Kutsch Lojenga

|first=Constance

|year=1994

|title=Ngiti: a Central-Sudanic language of Zaire

|location=Köln

|publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag

|isbn=978-3-927620-71-1

}}

{{citation

|last=Mangold

|first=Max

|author-link=Max Mangold

|year=2005

|orig-year=First published 1962

|title=Das Aussprachewörterbuch

|edition=6th

|place=Mannheim

|publisher=Dudenverlag

|isbn=978-3-411-04066-7

}}

{{citation

|last=Marti

|first=Werner

|date=1985

|title=Berndeutsch-Grammatik

|location=Bern

|publisher=Francke

|isbn=3-7720-1587-5

}}

External links

{{phoible|pf}}

Category:Affricates

Category:Pulmonic consonants

Category:Voiceless oral consonants

Category:Labiodental consonants

Category:Central consonants

class="wikitable" !colspan=2\| Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
colspan="2" \|Burushaski{{Cite book \|last=Berger \|first=Hermann \|title=Die Burushaski-Sprache von Hunza und Nager \|date=1998 \|publisher=Harrassowitz \|isbn=978-3-447-03961-1 \|series=Neuindische Studien \|location=Wiesbaden}} \|iphusimi \|{{IPA\|[ip̪͡fusimi]}} \|'he ties him' \|In free variation with {{IPA\|/pʰ/}}. May also be realized as {{IPA\|/f/}}.
rowspan=2\|English	rowspan=2\|Some speakers	helpful	{{IPA\|[ˈhɛɫp̚ˌp̪͡fəɫ]}}	'helpful'	Occurs for some speakers in consonant clusters of /pf/
info	{{IPA\|[ˈɪɱˌp̪͡fəʊ̯]}}	'info'	Allophone of /f/ after nasal consonants for some speakers as a form of epenthesis; usually occurs during fast and casual speech.
rowspan=2\|German	Standard{{sfnp\|Mangold\|2005\|p=45}}	{{lang\|de\|Pfirsiche}}	{{Audio-IPA\|De-Pfirsiche.ogg\|[ˈp͡fɪɐ̯zɪçə]}}	'peaches'	Bilabial-labiodental.{{sfnp\|Mangold\|2005\|p=45}} Arisen as a reflex of /p/ in the 8th century High German sound shift.Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979. See Standard German phonology
\| Swiss dialects{{sfnp\|Fleischer\|Schmid\|2006\|p=244}}{{sfnp\|Marti\|1985\|p=?}}	{{lang\|gsw\|Soipfe}}	{{IPA\|[ˈz̥oi̯p͡fə]}}	'soap'	Bilabial-labiodental. The example word is from the Zürich dialect.
colspan="2" \|Ghomalaʼ \| colspan="3" \|{{Example needed\|date=September 2024}} \|
Italian	Some central-south dialects{{sfnp\|Canepari\|1992\|p=71}}	{{lang\|it\|infatti}}	{{IPA\|[iɱˈp̪͡fät̪̚t̪i]}}	'indeed'	Labiodental, allophone of {{IPA\|/f/}} after nasals.{{sfnp\|Canepari\|1992\|p=71}} See Italian phonology
colspan=2\|Luxembourgish{{sfnp\|Gilles\|Trouvain\|2013\|p=72}}	{{lang\|lb\|Kampf}}	{{IPA\|[ˈkʰɑmp͡f]}}	'fight'	Occurs only in German loanwords.{{sfnp\|Gilles\|Trouvain\|2013\|p=72}} See Luxembourgish phonology
colspan=2\|Ngiti{{sfnp\|Kutsch Lojenga\|1994\|p=31}}	{{lang\|niy\|pfɔ̀mvɔ}}	{{IPA\|[p̪͡fɔ̀ɱ(b̪)vɔ̄]}}	'water spirit'	Less commonly [{{IPA link\|p͡ɸ}}]{{sfnp\|Kutsch Lojenga\|1994\|p=45}}
colspan=2\|Kinyarwanda	gupfundikira	{{IPA\|[gup̪͡fu:ndiciɾa]}}	'to close, seal'
Mandarin \|Xi'an dialect \|猪/豬 {{lang\|zh\|zhū}} \|[p̪͡fú²¹] \|'pig' \|From the labialization of retroflex stops in Middle Chinese
colspan="2" \|Slovene \|{{lang\|sl\|pfenig\|italic=yes}} \|{{IPA\|[ˈp̪féːnìk]}} \|'pfennig' \|Rarely occurs, mostly in German loanwords. See Slovene phonology
colspan=2\| SopvomaGiridhar, P P. "Mao Naga Grammar." 1994, p. 26. https://archive.org/details/dli.language.2262/page/n9/mode/2up	{{lang\|nbi\|ōpfǒ}}	{{IPA\|[o̞˧p̪͡fo̞˦]}}	'father'	Aspirated [{{IPA\|p̪͡fʰ}}] in some words, in free variation. "ǒ" represents a "Higher Mid" tone between the Mid and Lower High tones found in some speakers.
Tsonga	XiNkuna dialect	timpfuvu	{{IPA\|[tiɱp̪͡fuβu]}}	'hippopotami'	Contrasts with aspirated form.