Labial consonant
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Places of articulation |
---|
• Labial |
Bilabial |
Labial-velar |
Labial-alveolar |
Labiodental |
• Bidental |
• Coronal |
Linguolabial |
Interdental |
Dental |
Denti-alveolar |
Alveolar |
Apical |
Laminal |
Postalveolar |
Alveolo-palatal |
Retroflex |
• Dorsal |
Palatal |
Labial-palatal |
Velar |
Uvular |
Uvular-epiglottal |
• Radical |
Pharyngeal |
Epiglotto-pharyngeal |
Epiglottal |
• Glottal |
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Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). English [m] is a bilabial nasal sonorant, [b] and [p] are bilabial stops (plosives), [v] and [f] are labiodental fricatives.
Bilabial fricatives and the bilabial approximant do not exist in standard English, but do occur in many languages. For example, the Spanish consonant spelt b or v is pronounced as a voiced bilabial approximant between vowels.
Lip rounding, or labialisation can also accompany other articulations. English /w/ is a labialised velar approximant.
Labial consonants are divided into two subplaces of articulation:
Very few languages, however, make a distinction on purely this basis. (One example is Ewe, with both kinds of fricatives.) For by far the most languages in the world, labial by itself is a sufficient phonemic specification. Whether the sounds will actually be bilabial or labiodental depends on the language, but the most common pattern is that exhibited in English: bilabial stops and nasals, labiodental fricatives. Neither purely labial approximant is as common as the labial-velar approximant /w/.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Ladefoged, Peter; Ian Maddieson (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.