Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 21, 2026

Voiced bilabial implosive

A voiced bilabial implosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɓ⟩.

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Jul 21, 2026
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Voiced bilabial implosive
ɓ
IPA number160
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɓ
Unicode (hex)U+0253
X-SAMPAb_<
Braille⠦ (braille pattern dots-236)⠃ (braille pattern dots-12)

A voiced bilabial implosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɓ⟩.

Features

Features of a voiced bilabial implosive:

  • Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
  • Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
  • Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the median–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
  • The airstream mechanism is implosive (glottalic ingressive), which means it is produced by pulling air in by pumping the glottis downward. Since it is voiced, the glottis is not completely closed, but allows a pulmonic airstream to escape through it.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Akatek p'eyp'al [ɓejɓal] 'the walking (thing)'
Balanta-Ganja ɓaara? [ɓaːra]? 'heron' Possible allophone for /b/.1
Ega2 [ɓá] 'send away'
English Southern American3 body [ɓʌdi] 'body' Possible realization of word-initial /b/.3 See English phonology
Fula4 fulɓe
𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫		 [fulɓe] 'Fulbe person' (g.)
Goemai ḅas [ɓas] 'to fetch'
Hausa ɓaɓewa / ݑَݑٜىٰوَا [ɓaɓɛua] 'quarreling'
Jamaican Patois5 beat [ɓiːt] 'beat' Allophone of /b/ in the onset of prominent syllables.
Kalabari6 ḅá [ɓá] 'kill'
Khmer បារាំង / barăng [ɓaːraŋ] noun: 'France'
adjective: 'French'		 See Khmer phonology
Konso7 bad [ɓaɗ] 'to hide'
Kwaza bura [ɓuɾa] 'put [the] hat on!'
Latundê8 [ˌɓa:ˈnãn] '(they) are two' One of the possible realisations of /p/.8
Mayan Yucatec balam [ɓalam] 'jaguar'
Mam qanbʼax [qamɓaʂ] 'foot'
Mono9 ‘balœ [ɓálə́] 'at'
Punjabi Dialectal ਬੱਕਰੀ / بکری [ˈɓək.krɪ] 'goat'
Paumarí10 'bo'da [ɓoɗa] 'old'
Saraiki11 ٻال [ɓɑː.l] 'child'
Sindhi ٻر [ɓaˑrʊ]
Serer12 ɓood/ ࢠࣷودْ [ɓoːd] 'to crawl' Contrasts /ɓ̥, ɗ̥, ʄ̊, ɓ, ɗ, ʄ/.
Southern Nambikwara13 [ɓa̰h] 'ask excuse' One of the possible realisations of /p/.13
Shona baba [ɓàːɓá] 'father'
Tera14 ɓala [ɓala] 'to talk' Contrasts phonemically with palatalized implosive, /ɓʲ/.
Tukang Besi [aɓa] 'previous'
Vietnamese15 bạn [ɓan̪˧ˀ˨ʔ] 'you' See Vietnamese phonology
Standard Zhuang lajmbwn [la̋ːɓɯ̌n] 'world'
Zulu ubaba [úˈɓàːɓá] 'my father'
See also

See also

Notes

Notes

  1. "Balanta-Ganja (Fgañja / فْگَݧْجَ)". Omniglot.
  2. Connell, Ahoua & Gibbon (2002:100)
  3. Wells (1982:489)
  4. Keer (1999:82)
  5. Devonish & Harry (2004:456)
  6. Harry (2003:113)
  7. Orkaydo, Ongaye Oda (2013). A Grammar of Konso. p. 11.
  8. Telles (2013:298)
  9. Olson (2004:233)
  10. Everett (2003:23)
  11. Bashir, Elena; J. Conners, Thomas (2019). "3.3.1.3". A Descriptive Grammar of Hindko, Panjabi, and Saraiki. Vol. 4 of Mouton-CASL Grammar Series. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 28. ISBN 9781614512257. Saraiki has four voiced implosive stops: bilabial /ɓ/, alveolar /ɗ/, palatal /ʄ/, and velar /ɠ/.
  12. Mc Laughlin (2005:203)
  13. Netto (2018:105, 106)
  14. Tench (2007:228)
  15. Thompson (1959:458–461)
References

References

  • Connell, Bruce; Ahoua, Firmin; Gibbon, Dafydd (2002), "Ega", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 32 (1): 99–104, doi:10.1017/S002510030200018X
  • Devonish, H.; Harry, Otelamate G. (2004), "Jamaican phonology", in Kortman, B; Shneider E. W. (eds.), A Handbook of Varieties of English, phonology, vol. 1, Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 441–471
  • Everett, Daniel L. (2003), "Iambic Feet in Paumari and the Theory of Foot Structure", Linguistic Discovery, 2 (1), doi:10.1349/ps1.1537-0852.a.263, ISSN 1537-0852
  • Harry, Otelamate G. (2003), "Kalaḅarị-Ịjo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 113–120, doi:10.1017/S002510030300121X
  • Keer, Edward (1999), Geminates, The OCP and The Nature of CON, Rutgers University
  • Mc Laughlin, Fiona (2005), "Voiceless implosives in Seereer-Siin", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 201–214, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002215, S2CID 145717014
  • Olson, Kenneth S. (2004), "Mono" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 233–238, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001744
  • Tench, Paul (2007), "Tera", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 228–234, doi:10.1017/s0025100307002952
  • Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
  • Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-24225-8
  • Netto, Luiz (2018), Fonologia do grupo Nambikwára do Campo (Master's dissertation) (in Brazilian Portuguese), Recife: Federal University of Pernambuco, pp. 105, 106
  • Telles, Stella (2013), "Traços laringais em Latundê (Nambikwára do Norte)", Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas (in Brazilian Portuguese), 8 (2), Belém: 291–306, doi:10.1590/S1981-81222013000200005
External links