Voiceless labiodental plosive
| Voiceless labiodental plosive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| p̪ | |||
| IPA number | 101 408 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
|
source · help | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | p̪ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0070 U+032A | ||
| X-SAMPA | p_d | ||
| Braille |    | ||
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A voiceless labiodental plosive or stop is a consonant sound produced like a [p], but with the lower lip contacting the upper teeth, as in [f]. This can be represented in the IPA as ⟨p̪⟩. A separate symbol not recognized by the IPA that was occasionally seen, especially in Bantu linguistics, is the qp ligature ⟨ȹ⟩.[1]
A voiceless labiodental plosive is possibly not phonemic in any language, though see the entry on Shubi. However, it does occur allophonically. The XiNkuna dialect of Tsonga has affricates, [p̪͡f] and [b̪͡v]. German /p͡f/ ranges between [p̪͡f], [p͡f], and [p͡ɸ].
Features
Features of a voiceless labiodental 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, it is a plosive.
- Its place of articulation is labiodental, which means it is articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the median–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most speech sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | up-front | ⓘ | 'up-front' | Common allophone of /p/ before the labiodentals /f/ and /v/ (although it is also possible for the labiodentals to shift to bilabial /ɸ/ and /β/, respectively, instead). |
| Greek | σάπφειρος | [ˈsap̪firo̞s̠] | 'sapphire' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Slovene | snop vidim | [ˈs̪nɔ̂p̪ ˈʋíːd̪ìm] | '(I) see a sheaf' | Allophone of /p/ before /f, ʋ/. See Slovene phonology. |
