View source for Bilabial consonant

{{Short description|Consonant articulated with both lips}}
{{IPA notice}}
In [[phonetics]], a '''bilabial consonant''' is a [[labial consonant]] [[place of articulation|articulated]] with both [[lip]]s.

== Frequency ==
Bilabial consonants are very common across languages. Only around 0.7% of the world's languages lack bilabial consonants altogether, including [[Tlingit language|Tlingit]], [[Chipewyan language|Chipewyan]], [[Oneida language|Oneida]], and [[Wichita language|Wichita]],<ref>{{ 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}}</ref> 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 language|Hmong]]
| {{lang|hmn|'''Hm'''oob}}
| {{IPA|[m̥ɔ̃́]}}
| Hmong
|-
! {{IPA|m}}
| [[voiced bilabial nasal]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''m'''an
| {{IPA|['''m'''æn]}}
| man
|-
! {{IPA|p}}
| [[voiceless bilabial plosive]]
| [[English language|English]]
| s'''p'''in
| {{IPA|[s'''p'''ɪn]}}
| spin
|-
! {{IPA|b}}
| [[voiced bilabial plosive]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''b'''ed
| {{IPA|['''b'''ɛd]}}
| bed
|-
! {{IPA|p͜ɸ}}
| [[voiceless bilabial affricate]]
|[[Kaingang language|Kaingang]]{{sfnp|Jolkesky|2009|pp=680-681}}
| {{lang|kgp|'''f'''y}}
| {{IPA|[ˈp͜ɸɤ]}}
| 'seed'
|-
! {{IPA|b͜β}}
| [[voiced bilabial affricate]]
| [[Shipibo language|Shipibo]]{{sfnp|Valenzuela|Márquez Pinedo|Maddieson|2001|p=}}
| {{lang|shp|'''b'''oko}}
| {{IPA|[ˈb͜βo̽ko̽]}}
| '[[small intestine]]'
|-
! {{IPA|ɸ}}
| [[voiceless bilabial fricative]]
| [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| {{lang|ja|富士山}} ({{Transliteration|ja|'''f'''ujisan}})
| {{IPA|['''ɸ'''ɯʑisaɴ]}}
| [[Mount Fuji]]
|-
! {{IPA|β}}
| [[voiced bilabial fricative]]
| [[Ewe language|Ewe]]
| {{lang|ee|ɛ'''ʋ'''ɛ}}
| {{IPA|[ɛ̀'''β'''ɛ̀]}}
| Ewe
|-
! {{IPA|β̞}}
| [[bilabial approximant]]
| [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| {{lang|es|lo'''b'''o}}
| {{IPA|[lo'''β̞'''o]}}
| wolf
|-
! {{IPA|ⱱ̟}}
| [[voiced bilabial flap]]
| [[Mono language (Congo)|Mono]]<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Olson|2004|p=233}}</ref>
| {{lang|mnh|'''vw'''a}}
| {{IPA|[ⱱ̟a]}}
| 'send'
|-
! {{IPA|ʙ̥}}
| [[voiceless bilabial trill]]
| [[Pará Arára language|Pará Arára]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
|colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ʙ̥uta]}}
| 'to throw away'
|-
! {{IPA|ʙ}}
| [[voiced bilabial trill]]
| [[Nias language|Nias]]
| {{lang|nia|si'''mb'''i}}
| {{IPA|[si'''ʙ'''i]}}
| lower jaw
|-
! {{IPA|pʼ}}
| [[bilabial ejective stop]]
| [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]]
| {{lang|ady|'''п'''Ӏэ}}
| {{IPA|['''pʼ'''a]}}
| meat
|-
! {{IPA|ɸʼ}}
| [[bilabial ejective fricative]]
| [[Yuchi language|Yuchi]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
| {{lang|yuc|'''ḟ'''asę}}
| {{IPA|['''ɸ’'''asẽ]}}
|{{gloss|good evening!}}
|-
! {{IPA|ɓ̥}}
| [[voiceless bilabial implosive]]
| [[Serer language|Serer]]
| {{example needed|date=July 2023}}
|
|
|-
! {{IPA|ɓ}}
| [[voiced bilabial implosive]]
| [[Jamaican Patois]]
| {{lang|jam|'''b'''eat}}
| {{IPA|['''ɓ'''iːt]}}
| beat
|-
! {{IPA|k͡ʘ q͡ʘ<br>ɡ͡ʘ ɢ͡ʘ<br>ŋ͡ʘ ɴ͡ʘ}}
| [[bilabial click]]s (many distinct consonants)
| [[Nǁng language|Nǁng]]
| {{lang|ngh|'''ʘ'''oe}}
| {{IPA|['''k͡ʘ'''oe]}}
| meat
|}

Owere [[Igbo language|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 [[percussive consonant|smacking the lips together]]. A lip-smack in the non-percussive sense of the lips audibly parting would be {{IPA|[ʬ↓]}}.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

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==
* [[Place of articulation]]
* [[Index of phonetics articles]]

== 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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