Voiced bilabial plosive

Consonantal sound represented by ⟨b⟩ in IPA
Voiced bilabial plosive
b
IPA Number102
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)b
Unicode (hex)U+0062
X-SAMPAb
Braille⠃ (braille pattern dots-12)

The voiced bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is b, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial stop occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨b⟩ in obey [oʊˈbeɪ] (oU"beI).

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial stop:

  • 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 air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
  • Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA Description
b plain b
labialised
b̜ʷ semi-labialised
b̹ʷ strongly labialised
palatalised
breathy voiced
velarised

Occurrence

Occurrence of [b] in several languages
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe бгъу / bġ° [bʁʷə] 'nine'
Albanian bletë ['bletə] 'bee'
Arabic Standard[1] باب / baab / bāb [baːb] 'door' See Arabic phonology
Assyrian ܒܒܐ baba [baːba] 'father'
Armenian Eastern[2] բարի/bari [bɑˈɾi] 'kind'
Basque bero [beɾo] 'hot'
Bengali লো / balo [bɔlo] 'say!' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Catalan[3] bell [ˈbeʎ] 'beautiful' See Catalan phonology
Chechen борз / borz [borz] 'wolf'
Czech bota [ˈbota] 'boot' See Czech phonology
Danish Standard[4][5] ber [ˈløːbɐ] 'runner' Only partially voiced; possible allophone of /b/ in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless [p].[4][5] See Danish phonology
Dutch[6] boer [buːr] 'farmer' See Dutch phonology
English aback [əˈbæk] 'aback' See English phonology
Esperanto batalo [baˈtalo] 'war' See Esperanto phonology
Filipino buto [buto] 'bone'
French[7] boue [bu] 'mud' See French phonology
Georgian[8] ავშვი / bavšvi [ˈbavʃvi] 'child'
German aber [ˈäːbɐ] 'but' See Standard German phonology
Greek μπόχα / bócha [ˈbo̞xa] 'reek' See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati ક્રી / bakri [bəkri] 'goat' See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew בית / báyit [bajit] 'house' See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani Hindi बाल / bāl [bäːl] 'hair' Contrasts with aspirated version /bʱ/. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Urdu بال / bāl
Hungarian baba [ˈbɒbɒ] 'baby' See Hungarian phonology
Italian[9] bile [ˈbile] 'rage' See Italian phonology
Japanese[10] / ban [baɴ] '(one's) turn' See Japanese phonology
Kabardian бгъуы/bg"uy [bʁʷə] 'nine'
Korean 지붕 / jibung [t͡ɕibuŋ] 'roof' See Korean phonology
Kurdish Northern bav [bɑːv] 'father' See Kurdish phonology
Central باوک/bâwk [bɑːwk]
Southern باوگ/bâwig [bɑːwɨg]
Luxembourgish[11] geblosen [ɡ̊əˈbloːzən] 'blown' More often voiceless [p].[11] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian убав/ubav [ˈubav] 'beautiful' See Macedonian phonology
Malay baru [bäru] 'new'
Maltese għatba [aːtˈba] 'threshold'
Marathi टाटा / baṭāṭā [bəˈʈaːʈaː] 'potato' See Marathi phonology
Nepali बाटो / bāṭo [bäʈo] 'path' See Nepali phonology
Norwegian bål [ˈbɔːl] 'bonfire' See Norwegian phonology
Odia ବାର/barô [bärɔ] 'twelve' Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persian خوب/ xub [xub] 'good' See Persian phonology
Pirahã pibaóí [ˈpìbàóí̯] 'parent'
Polish[12] bas [bäs] 'bass' See Polish phonology
Portuguese[13] bato [ˈbatu] 'I strike' See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi ਬਿੱਲੀ/billī [bɪlːi] 'cat'
Romanian[14] bou [bow] 'bull' See Romanian phonology.
Russian[15] рыба / ryba [ˈrɨbə] 'fish' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[16] биће / biće [bǐːt͡ɕě] 'being' See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak b [bi̞c] 'to be'
Slovene biti [ˈbìːt̪í] 'to be'
Southern Min / ban [ban] 'Fujian province' Only in colloquial speech.
Spanish[17] invertir [ĩmbe̞ɾˈt̪iɾ] 'to invest' See Spanish phonology
Swedish bra [ˈbɾɑː] 'good' May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology
Telugu డి [badi] 'school' Contrasts with aspirated form. Aspirated form is articulated as breathy consonant.
Thai ัด / bam-bàt [bam.bat̚] 'therapy' See Thai phonology
Turkish bulut [ˈbuɫut̪] 'cloud' See Turkish phonology
Tyap bai [bai] 'to come'
Ukrainian[18] брат / brat [brɑt̪] 'brother' See Ukrainian phonology
Welsh mab [mɑːb] 'son' See Welsh phonology
West Frisian bak [bak] 'tray'
Wu / bi [bi] 'skin'
Xiang / baw [bau] 'to float'
Yi / bbo [bo˧] 'mountain'
Zapotec Tilquiapan[19] bald [bald] 'few'

See also

Notes

References

  • Abrahams, Henrik (1949), Études phonétiques sur les tendances évolutives des occlusives germaniques, Aarhus University Press
  • Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
  • Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
  • Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
  • Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (1952), "Om stemtheds assimilation", in Bach, H.; et al. (eds.), Festskrift til L. L. Hammerich, Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, pp. 116–129
  • Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
  • Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
  • Goblirsch, Kurt (2018), Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-03450-1
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
  • Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
  • Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0
  • Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
  • Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
  • Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
  • Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
  • Puggaard-Rode, Rasmus; Horslund, Camilla Søballe; Jørgensen, Henrik (2022), "The rarity of intervocalic voicing of stops in Danish spontaneous speech", Laboratory Phonology, 13 (1), doi:10.16995/labphon.6449, hdl:1887/3304670
  • Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
  • Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
  • Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727

External links

  • List of languages with [b] on PHOIBLE
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IPA topics
IPA
Special topics
Encodings
Pulmonic consonants
Place Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal
Manner Bi­labial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Post­alveolar Retro­flex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn­geal/epi­glottal Glottal
Nasal m ɱ̊ ɱ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ
Plosive p b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ
Sibilant affricate ts dz t̠ʃ d̠ʒ
Non-sibilant affricate p̪f b̪v t̪θ d̪ð tɹ̝̊ dɹ̝ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ ɟʝ kx ɡɣ ɢʁ ʡʜ ʡʢ ʔh
Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ
Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̠ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ɻ̊˔ ɻ˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ
Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ ʔ̞
Tap/flap ⱱ̟ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̆
Trill ʙ̥ ʙ r ɽ̊r̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ
Lateral affricate tꞎ d𝼅 c𝼆 ɟʎ̝ k𝼄 ɡʟ̝
Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ 𝼅 𝼆 ʎ̝ 𝼄 ʟ̝
Lateral approximant l ɭ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠
Lateral tap/flap ɺ̥ ɺ 𝼈̥ 𝼈 ʎ̆ ʟ̆

Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Non-pulmonic consonants
BL LD D A PA RF P V U EG
Ejective Stop ʈʼ ʡʼ
Affricate p̪fʼ t̪θʼ tsʼ t̠ʃʼ tʂʼ kxʼ qχʼ
Fricative ɸʼ θʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ χʼ
Lateral affricate tɬʼ c𝼆ʼ k𝼄ʼ q𝼄ʼ
Lateral fricative ɬʼ
Click
(top: velar;
bottom: uvular)
Tenuis


k𝼊
q𝼊

Voiced ɡʘ
ɢʘ
ɡǀ
ɢǀ
ɡǃ
ɢǃ
ɡ𝼊
ɢ𝼊
ɡǂ
ɢǂ
Nasal ŋʘ
ɴʘ
ŋǀ
ɴǀ
ŋǃ
ɴǃ
ŋ𝼊
ɴ𝼊
ŋǂ
ɴǂ
ʞ
 
Tenuis lateral
Voiced lateral ɡǁ
ɢǁ
Nasal lateral ŋǁ
ɴǁ
Implosive Voiced ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ
Voiceless ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̊ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥
Co-articulated consonants
Labial–velar
ɧ
Sj-sound (variable)
Lateral approximant
Velarized alveolar
Labial–velar
Labial–alveolar
Other
Front Central Back
Close
•
•
Near-close
Close-mid
•
•
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
•
Open
•
•

Legend: unrounded  rounded