In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a labial consonant articulated with both lips.
Transcription
The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are:
| IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | ||
){kind=small} | bilabial nasal | English | man | [mæn] | |
){kind=small} | voiceless bilabial plosive | English | spin | [spɪn] | |
){kind=small} | voiced bilabial plosive | English | bed | [bɛd] | |
){kind=small} | voiceless bilabial fricative | Japanese | 富士山 (fujisan) | [ɸuʑisaɴ] | Mount Fuji |
){kind=small} | voiced bilabial fricative | Ewe | ɛʋɛ | [ɛ̀βɛ̀] | Ewe |
){kind=small} | bilabial approximant | Spanish | lobo | [loβ̞o] | wolf |
){kind=small} | bilabial trill | Nias | simbi | [siʙi] | lower jaw |
){kind=small} | bilabial ejective | Adyghe | пӀэ | [pʼa] | meat |
){kind=small} k͡ʘ ɡ͡ʘ ŋ͡ʘ | bilabial click release (many distinct consonants) | Nǁng | ʘoe | [k͡ʘoe] | meat |
Owere Igbo has a six-way contrast among bilabial stops: [p pʰ ɓ̥ b b̤ ɓ]. Approximately 0.7% of the world's languages lack bilabial consonants altogether, including Tlingit, Chipewyan, Oneida, and Wichita.[1]
The extensions to the IPA also define a bilabial percussive ([ʬ]) for striking the lips together (smacking the lips – see percussive consonant). A lip-smack in the non-percussive sense of the lips noisily parting would be [ʬ↓].[2]
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
- Place of articulation
- Index of phonetics articles
References
Citations
- ^ 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, chapter 18. Available online at http://wals.info/feature/18 Archived 2009-06-01 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed on 2008-09-15.
- ^ Heselwood (2013: 121)
Sources
- General references
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
- McDorman, Richard E. (1999). Labial Instability in Sound Change: Explanations for the Loss of /p/'l. H'. Chicago: Organizational Knowledge Press. ISBN 0-9672537-0-5.