pronounced as /notice/In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a labial consonant articulated with both lips.
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, though all of these have a labial–velar approximant /w/.
The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are:
| IPA | Description | Example | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | |||
| pronounced as /m̥/ | voiceless bilabial nasal | Hmong | Hmong; Mong: '''Hm'''oob | pronounced as /[m̥ɔ̃́]/ | Hmong | |
| pronounced as /m/ | voiced bilabial nasal | English | man | pronounced as /['''m'''æn]/ | man | |
| pronounced as /p/ | voiceless bilabial plosive | English | spin | pronounced as /[s'''p'''ɪn]/ | spin | |
| pronounced as /b/ | voiced bilabial plosive | English | bed | pronounced as /['''b'''ɛd]/ | bed | |
| pronounced as /p͡ɸ/ | voiceless bilabial affricate | Kaingang | '''f'''y | pronounced as /[ˈp͡ɸɤ]/ | 'seed' | |
| pronounced as /b͡β/ | voiced bilabial affricate | Shipibo | '''b'''oko | pronounced as /[ˈb͡βo̽ko̽]/ | 'small intestine' | |
| pronounced as /ɸ/ | voiceless bilabial fricative | Japanese | Japanese: 富士山 | pronounced as /['''ɸ'''uʑisaɴ]/ | Mount Fuji | |
| pronounced as /β/ | voiced bilabial fricative | Ewe | Ewe: ɛ'''ʋ'''ɛ | pronounced as /[ɛ̀'''β'''ɛ̀]/ | Ewe | |
| pronounced as /β̞/ | bilabial approximant | Spanish | Spanish; Castilian: lo'''b'''o | pronounced as /[lo'''β̞'''o]/ | wolf | |
| pronounced as /ⱱ̟/ | voiced bilabial flap | Mono | '''vw'''a | pronounced as /[ⱱ̟a]/ | 'send' | |
| pronounced as /ʙ̥/ | voiceless bilabial trill | Pará Arára[1] | pronounced as /[ʙ̥uta]/ | 'to throw away' | ||
| pronounced as /ʙ/ | voiced bilabial trill | Nias | Nias: si'''mb'''i | pronounced as /[si'''ʙ'''i]/ | lower jaw | |
| pronounced as /pʼ/ | bilabial ejective stop | Adyghe | Adyghe; Adygei: '''п'''Ӏэ | pronounced as /['''pʼ'''a]/ | meat | |
| pronounced as /ɸʼ/ | bilabial ejective fricative | Yuchi[2] | '''ḟ'''asę | pronounced as /['''ɸ’'''asẽ]/ | ||
| pronounced as /ɓ̥/ | voiceless bilabial implosive | Serer | ||||
| pronounced as /ɓ/ | voiced bilabial implosive | Jamaican Patois | '''b'''eat | pronounced as /['''ɓ'''iːt]/ | beat | |
| pronounced as /k͡ʘ q͡ʘ ɡ͡ʘ ɢ͡ʘ ŋ͡ʘ ɴ͡ʘ/ | bilabial clicks (many distinct consonants) | Nǁng | '''ʘ'''oe | pronounced as /['''k͡ʘ'''oe]/ | meat | |
Owere Igbo has a six-way contrast among bilabial stops: pronounced as /[p pʰ ɓ̥ b b̤ ɓ]/.
The extensions to the IPA also define a (pronounced as /link/) for smacking the lips together. A lip-smack in the non-percussive sense of the lips audibly parting would be pronounced as /[ʬ↓]/.[3]
The IPA chart shades out bilabial lateral consonants, which is sometimes read as indicating that such sounds are not possible. The fricatives pronounced as /[ɸ]/ and pronounced as /[β]/ are often lateral, but since no language makes a distinction for centrality, the allophony is not noticeable.
pronounced as /navigation/