Bilabial consonant

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

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

IPA	Description	Example
IPA	Description	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
p͜ɸ	voiceless bilabial affricate	Kaingang²	fy	[ˈp͜ɸɤ]	'seed'
b͜β	voiced bilabial affricate	Shipibo³	boko	[ˈb͜βo̽ko̽]	'small intestine'
ɸ	voiceless bilabial fricative	Japanese	富士山 (fujisan)	[ɸɯʑisaɴ]	Mount Fuji
β	voiced bilabial fricative	Ewe	ɛʋɛ	[ɛ̀βɛ̀]	Ewe
β̞	bilabial approximant	Spanish	lobo	[loβ̞o]	wolf
ⱱ̟	voiced bilabial flap	Mono⁴	vwa	[ⱱ̟a]	'send'
ʙ̥	voiceless bilabial trill	Pará Arára⁵	[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	Yuchi⁶	ḟasę	[ɸ’asẽ]	'good evening!'
ɓ̥	voiceless bilabial implosive	Kaqchikel	b'ojoy	[ɓ̥oχoj]	'pot'
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].

The IPA chart shades out bilabial lateral consonants. This is because lateral consonants are defined as ones in which the airflow passes over the side of the tongue; the category therefore does not apply to labial consonants. (See also labiodental consonant, which very commonly have airflow at the side of the mouth.)

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 audibly parting would be an ingressive [ʬ↓].⁷

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
Jolkesky (2009), pp. 680–681.
Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001).
Olson (2004:233)
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.
Crawford, James M. (1973). "Yuchi Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 39 (3): 173–179. doi:10.1086/465261. S2CID 224808560.
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

Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA, 3, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP: 675–685
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
McDorman, Richard E. (1999). Labial Instability in Sound Change: Explanations for the Loss of /p/. Chicago: Organizational Knowledge Press. ISBN 0-9672537-0-5.
Olson, Kenneth S. (2004). "Mono" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 (2): 233–238. doi:10.1017/S0025100304001744.
Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001). "Shipibo". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 31 (2): 281–285. doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109.

[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

[FOOTNOTEJolkesky2009680–681-2] Jolkesky (2009), pp. 680–681.

[FOOTNOTEValenzuelaMárquez_PinedoMaddieson2001-3] Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001).

[4] Olson (2004:233)

[5] 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.

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