Voiceless bilabial trill

Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʙ̥⟩ in IPA
Voiceless bilabial trill
ʙ̥
Audio sample
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Encoding
X-SAMPAB\_0

The voiceless bilabial trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʙ̥. The X-SAMPA symbol is B\_0

This sound is typologically extremely rare. It occurs in languages such as Pará Arára[1] and Sercquiais.[citation needed]

Only a few languages contrast voiced and voiceless bilabial trills phonemically – e.g. Mangbetu of Congo and Ninde of Vanuatu.[2][3]

There is also a very rare voiceless alveolar bilabially trilled affricate, [t̪͡ʙ̥] (written tᵖ̃ in Everett & Kern) reported from Pirahã and from a few words in the Chapacuran languages Wariʼ and Oro Win. The sound also appears as an allophone of the labialized voiceless alveolar stop /tʷ/ of Abkhaz and Ubykh, but in those languages it is more often realised by a doubly articulated stop [t͡p]. In the Chapacuran languages, [tʙ̥] is reported almost exclusively before rounded vowels such as [o] and [y].

Additionally, Lese has another rare trilled affricate, a labial–velar trilled affricate [k͡pʙ̥], which occurs as an allophone of the voiceless labial–velar plosive [k͡p].[4]

Features

Features of the bilabial trill:

  • Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is produced by directing air over an articulator so that it vibrates.
  • Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
  • Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
  • 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 centrallateral 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.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Ahamb[5] [ŋãˈʙ̥̍s] 'it foams' Contrasts /ʙ̥, ᵐʙ, ⁿᵈr/.
Lese[4] [uk͡pʙ̥u] 'head' Allophone of /k͡p/
Neverver[6] [naɣaᵐʙ̥] 'fire, firewood'
Pará Arára[7] [ʙ̥uta] 'to throw away'
Ubykh[8] тваҳəбза/tuaqhəbza [t͡ʙ̥aχəbza] 'Ubykh language' Allophone of /tʷ/. See Ubykh phonology
Wariʼ tpotpowe [t͡ʙ̥ot͡ʙ̥oweʔ] 'chicken'

Notes

  1. ^ de Souza, Isaac Costa (2010). "3". A Phonological Description of "Pet Talk" in Arara (MA). University of North Dakota. S2CID 61247622.
  2. ^ Linguist Wins Symbolic Victory for 'Labiodental Flap'. NPR (2005-12-17). Retrieved on 2010-12-08.
  3. ^ LINGUIST List 8.45: Bilabial trill. Linguistlist.org. Retrieved on 2010-12-08.
  4. ^ a b Didier Demolin, Bernard Teston (September 1997). "Phonetic characteristics of double articulations in some Mangbutu-Efe languages" (PDF). International Speech Communication Association: 803–806.
  5. ^ Rangelov, Tihomir. 2019. The bilabial trills of Ahamb (Vanuatu): Acoustic and articulatory properties. In S. Calhoun, P. Escudero, M. Tabain and P. Warren (eds),Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019. Canberra, Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.: 1292-1296.
  6. ^ See pp.33-34 of: Barbour, Julie (2012). A Grammar of Neverver. Germany: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110289619.
  7. ^ de Souza, Isaac Costa (2010). "3" (PDF). A Phonological Description of "Pet Talk" in Arara (MA). SIL Brazil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  8. ^ Ladefoged (2005:165) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFLadefoged2005 (help)
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IPA topics
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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