Labialization

Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.

The most common labialized consonants are labialized velars. Most other labialized sounds also have simultaneous velarization, and the process may then be more precisely called labio-velarization. The "labialization" of bilabial consonants often refers to protrusion instead of a secondary articulatory feature velarization. doesn't mean although refers to a labial–velar approximant.

In phonology, labialization may also refer to a type of assimilation process.

Occurrence

Labialization is the most widespread secondary articulation in the world's languages. It is phonemically contrastive in Northwest Caucasian (e.g. Adyghe), Athabaskan, and Salishan language families, among others. This contrast is reconstructed also for Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages; and it survives in Latin and some Romance languages. It is also found in the Cushitic and Ethio-Semitic languages.

American English labializes to various degrees.

A few languages, including Arrernte and Mba, have contrastive labialized forms for almost all of their consonants.

In many Salishan languages, such as Klallam, velar consonants only occur in their labialized forms (except /k/, which occurs in some loanwords). However, uvular consonants occur abundantly labialized and unrounded.

Types

Out of 706 language inventories surveyed by Template:Harvcoltxt, labialization occurred most often with velar (42%) and uvular (15%) segments and least often with dental and alveolar segments. With non-dorsal consonants, labialization may include velarization as well. Labialization is not restricted to lip-rounding. The following articulations have either been described as labialization or been found as allophonic realizations of prototypical labialization:

• Labiodental frication, found in Abkhaz
• Labiodentalization is a common idiosyncrasy of English and , and especially of .
• Complete bilabial closure, , found in Abkhaz and Ubykh
• "Labialization" (, , and ) without noticeable rounding (protrusion) of the lips, found in the Iroquoian languages. It may be that they are compressed.
• Rounding without velarization, found in Shona and in the Bzyb dialect of Abkhaz.

Eastern Arrernte has labialization at all places and manners of articulation; this derives historically from adjacent rounded vowels, as is also the case of the Northwest Caucasian languages. Marshallese also has phonemic labialization as a secondary articulation at all places of articulation except for labial consonants and coronal obstruents.

In North America, languages from a number of families have sounds that sound labialized (and vowels that sound rounded) without the participation of the lips. See Tillamook language for an example.

Similarly to the distinction between the labio-palatal and labio-velar semivowels, some languages exhibit labio-palatalization , rather than labio-velarization .

Prelabialization

In Slovene, sounds can be prelabialized. Furthermore, the change is phonemic and all phonemes have prelabialized pairs (though not all of their allophones can have pairs). Compare Template:Wikt-lang 'stand' and Template:Wikt-lang 'stand up' . The prelabialization part, however, is usually not considered as being part of the same phoneme as prelabialized sound, but rather as an allophone of as it changes depending on the environment, e. g. Template:Wikt-lang 'take' and Template:Wikt-lang 'summarize' . See Slovene phonology for more details.

Transcription

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, labialization of velar consonants is indicated with a raised w modifier (Unicode U+02B7), as in . (Elsewhere this diacritic generally indicates simultaneous labialization and velarization.) There are also diacritics, respectively , to indicate greater or lesser degrees of rounding. These are normally used with vowels but may occur with consonants. For example, in the Athabaskan language Hupa, voiceless velar fricatives distinguish three degrees of labialization, transcribed either or .

The VoQS system has two additional symbols for degrees of rounding, originally introduced as part of the extensions to the IPA: Spread and open-rounded (as in English). It also has a symbol for labiodentalized sounds, .

If precision is desired, the Abkhaz and Ubykh articulations may be transcribed with the appropriate fricative or trill raised as a diacritic: , , , .

For simple labialization, Template:Harvcoltxt resurrected an old IPA symbol, , which would be placed above a letter with a descender such as . However, their chief example is Shona sv and zv, which they transcribe and but which actually seem to be whistled sibilants, without necessarily being labialized. Another possibility is to use the IPA diacritic for rounding, distinguishing for example the labialization in English soon and swoon. The open rounding of English is also unvelarized.

Assimilation

Labialization also refers to a specific type of assimilatory process where a given sound become labialized due to the influence of neighboring labial sounds. For example, may become in the environment of , or may become in the environment of or .

In the Northwest Caucasian languages as well as some Australian languages rounding has shifted from the vowels to the consonants, producing a wide range of labialized consonants and leaving in some cases only two phonemic vowels. This appears to have been the case in Ubykh and Eastern Arrernte, for example. The labial vowel sounds usually still remain, but only as allophones next to the now-labial consonant sounds.

List of labialized consonants

type		Phone	IPA	Languages
Stops	plain	protruded voiceless bilabial stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Chaha, Ibaloi, Paha
		protruded voiced bilabial stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Chaha, Ibaloi, Paha, Mayo, Yaqui
		labzd voiceless alveolar stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Abkhaz, Lao, Paha, Ubykh
		labzd voiced alveolar stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Abkhaz, Ubykh
		labzd voiceless velar stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Taos, Chipewyan, Hadza, Gwichʼin, Tlingit, Akan, Nez Perce, Archi, Cantonese, Wariʼ, Chaha, Dahalo, Hausa, Igala, Igbo, Lao, Latin, Nahuatl, Nawat, Okinawan, Ossetic, Paha, Portuguese, Thai, Tigrinya, Hiw, Ubykh, Bearlake Slavey, Breton, Gothic
		labzd voiced velar stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Akan, Archi, Chaha, Dahalo, Hausa, Okinawan, Oowekyala, Ossetic, Hadza, Ibaloi, Igala, Igbo, Gwichʼin, Kabardian, Paha, Portuguese, Tigrinya, Ubykh, Breton, Yoruba, Gothic
		labzd voiceless uvular stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Kabardian, Ossetic, Paha, Tlingit, Nez Perce, Ubykh
		labzd pharyngealized voiceless uvular stop		Archi, Ubykh
		labzd voiced uvular stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Oowekyala, Kwak'wala, Tsakhur
		labzd glottal stop	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Adyghe, Kabardian, Lao, Tlingit
		labzd prenasalized voiced bilabial plosive		Tamambo
	Labial–velar	protruded voiceless labio–velar stop		Dorig, Mwotlap
		protruded prenasalized voiced labial–velar stop		Volow
Affricates	sibilant	labzd voiceless alveolar affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Adyghe, Archi, Lezgian, Tsakhur
		labzd voiced alveolar affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Adyghe, Dahalo
		labzd voiceless palato-alveolar affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Abaza, Adyghe, Paha, Aghul, German
		labzd voiced palato-alveolar affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Aghul, Tsakhur, German
		labzd voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate		Abkhaz, Akan, Ubykh
		labzd voiced alveolo-palatal affricate		Abkhaz, Akan, Ubykh
	non-sibilant	labzd voiceless velar affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Navajo
		labzd voiceless uvular affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Kabardian, Lillooet
	lateral	labzd voiceless velar lateral affricate	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi
Fricatives	sibilant	labzd voiceless alveolar sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Lao, Lezgian
		labzd voiced alveolar sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Tsakhur, Lezgian
		labzd voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Paha, Aghul, Ubykh
		labzd voiced palato-alveolar sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi, Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Aghul, Ubykh
		labzd voiceless retroflex sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Bzhedug
		labzd voiced retroflex sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Bzhedug
		labzd voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abkhaz, Ubykh
		labzd voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abkhaz, Ubykh
	non-sibilant	protruded voiceless bilabial fricative		Okinawan, Taruma
		protruded voiced bilabial fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Tamambo
		labzd voiceless labiodental fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Hadza, Chaha
		labzd voiced labiodental fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Chichewa
		labzd voiceless dental fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Paha
		labzd voiced dental fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Paha
		labzd voiceless palatal fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Akan
		labzd voiceless velar fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Adyghe, Avestan, Chaha, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Oowekyala, Taos, Navajo, Tigrinya, Lillooet, Tlingit
		labzd voiced velar fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Navajo, Lillooet, Gwichʼin, possibly Proto-Indo-European
		labzd voiceless uvular fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abkhaz, Adyghe, Archi, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Lillooet, Tlingit, Wariʼ, Chipewyan, Oowekyala, Ossetic, Ubykh
		labzd pharyngealized voiceless uvular fricative		Abkhaz, Archi, Ubykh
		labzd voiced uvular fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abkhaz, Adyghe, Chipewyan, Kabardian, Ubykh
		labzd pharyngealized voiced uvular fricative		Archi, Ubykh
		labzd voiceless pharyngeal fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Abkhaz
		labzd voiced pharyngeal fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Lillooet
	Pseudo-fricatives	labzd voiceless glottal fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Akan, Tlingit, Tsakhur, Gothic
	Lateral fricatives	labzd voiceless alveolar lateral fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Dahalo
		labzd voiceless velar lateral fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Archi
Nasals		protruded bilabial nasal	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Adyghe, Chaha, Paha, Tamambo
		labzd palatal nasal		Akan
		labzd velar nasal		Akan, Avestan, Lao, Hiw, Igala
		protruded labial-velar nasal		Dorig, Mwotlap
Approximants		labzd alveolar lateral approximant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Lao
		labzd labiodental approximantTemplate:Explain		Russian
		labialized palatal approximant	Template:Category handler	Abkhaz, Akan, French, Mandarin, Paha
		Labio-velar approximant (voiced)		in Japanese
		Protruded labio-velar approximant (voiced)		widespread; in every above-mentioned language, as well as e.g. Arabic, English, Korean, Vietnamese
		Voiceless labio-velar approximant		certain dialects of English
		nasal labialized velar approximant		Polish, Portuguese
		labzd postalveolar approximant		many dialects of English
		labzd retroflex approximant	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler
Ejectives		protruded bilabial ejective	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Adyghe
		labzd alveolar ejective	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh
		labzd velar ejective	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Archi, Bearlake Slavey, Chipewyan, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Ossetic, Tlingit, Ubykh
		labzd palato-alveolar ejective fricative	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Adyghe
		labzd uvular ejective	Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	Abaza, Abkhaz, Archi, Halkomelem, Hakuchi, Tlingit, Ubykh
		labzd pharyngealized uvular ejective		Archi, Ubykh
		labzd alveolar ejective affricate		Archi, Khwarshi
		labzd alveolar lateral ejective affricate		Khwarshi
		labzd palato-alveolar ejective affricate		Abaza, Archi, Khwarshi
		labzd alveolo-palatal ejective affricate		Abkhaz, Ubykh
		labzd retroflex ejective affricate		allophonic in Adyghe
		labzd velar lateral ejective affricate		Archi
		labzd velar ejective fricative		Tlingit
		labzd uvular ejective fricative		Tlingit

See also

• Labio-palatalization (◌ᶣ)

Bibliography

• Template:SOWL