Labiodental nasal
| Labiodental nasal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɱ | |||
| m̪ | |||
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| IPA number | 115 | ||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɱ |
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| Unicode (hex) | U+0271 | ||
| X-SAMPA | F |
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| Kirshenbaum | M |
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| Sound | |||
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The labiodental nasal is a type of consonantal sound. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɱ⟩. The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter m with a leftward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter. Occasionally it is instead transcribed as an em with a dental diacritic: ⟨m̪⟩.
It is pronounced very similarly to the bilabial nasal [m], except instead of the lips touching each other, the lower lip touches the upper teeth. The position of the lips and teeth is generally the same as for the production of the other labiodental consonants, like [f] and [v], though closure is obviously incomplete for the fricatives.
Although commonly appearing in languages, it is overwhelmingly present non-phonemically, largely restricted to appear before labiodental consonants like [f] and [v]. A phonemic /ɱ/ has been reported for the Kukuya (Kukwa) dialect of Teke, where it contrasts with /m, mpf, mbv/ and is "accompanied by strong protrusion of both lips". It is [ɱʷ] before /a/ and [ɱ] before /i/ and /e/, perhaps because labialization is constrained by the spread front vowels; it does not occur before back (rounded) vowels.[1] However, there is some doubt that a true stop can be made by this gesture due to gaps between the incisors, which for many speakers would allow air to flow during the occlusion;[2] this is particularly pertinent considering that one of the words with this consonant, /ɱáá/, means a 'gap between filed incisors,'[3] a practice of the Teke people. That is, Teke /ɱ/ might be better characterized as a labiodental nasal approximant than as a nasal stop.
Nonetheless, it is common phonetically, as it is a typical allophone of /m/ and /n/ before the labiodental fricatives [f] and [v], as in English comfort, circumvent, infinitive, or invent. In Angami, it occurs as an allophone of /m/ before /ə/.
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[edit] Features
Features of the labiodental nasal:
- Its manner of articulation is stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
- Its place of articulation is labiodental, which means it is articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
- 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
[edit] Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalan | càmfora | [ˈkaɱfuɾə] | 'camphor' | See Catalan phonology | |
| Czech | tramvaj | [ˈtraɱvaj] | 'tram' | See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | symfoni | [syɱfoˈniˀ] | 'symphony' | See Danish phonology | |
| Dutch[4][5] | omvallen | [ˈʔɔɱvɑlə] | 'to fall over' | See Dutch phonology | |
| English | symphony | [ˈsɪɱfəni] | 'symphony' | See English phonology | |
| Finnish | kamferi | [ˈkɑɱfe̞ri] | 'camphor' | See Finnish phonology | |
| Greek[6] | έμβρυο/émvryo | [ˈe̞ɱvrio̞] | 'embryo' | Learned or careful pronunciation. See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Gweno | [ɱwiː] | 'gray hair' | |||
| Italian[7] | invece | [iɱˈvetʃe] | 'on the contrary' | See Italian phonology | |
| Kukuya | Teke[8] | [ɱíì] | 'eyes' | Phonemic. | |
| Norwegian | komfyr | [kɔɱˈfyːɾ] | 'stove' | See Norwegian phonology | |
| Slovene | simfonija | [siɱfɔˈnija] | 'symphony' | ||
| Spanish[9] | influencia | [ĩɱˈflwẽ̞nθja] | 'influence' | See Spanish phonology | |
| Swedish | amfibie | [aɱˈfiːbjɛ] | 'amphibia' | See Swedish phonology | |
| West Frisian | ûnwis | [uɱʋɪs] | 'unsure' | Allophone of /n/ before labiodental sounds. | |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Paulian (1975:57)
- ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:18)
- ^ Paulian (1975:40)
- ^ Kooij & Van Oostendorp (2003:9)
- ^ Verhoeven (2005:243)
- ^ Newton (1972:10)
- ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:118)
- ^ Paulian (1975:41)
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258)
[edit] References
- Kooij, Jan; Van Oostendorp, Marc (2003), Fonologie: uitnodiging tot de klankleer van het Nederlands, Amsterdam University Press, http://books.google.nl/books?id=7r6YHscTk5kC
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996), Sounds of the World's Languages, Blackwells
- Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259
- Newton, Brian (1972). The generative Interpretation of Dialect: A Study of Modern Greek Phonology. Cabridge Studies in Linguistics. 8. Cambridge University Press.
- Paulian, Christiane (1975), Le Kukuya Langue Teke du Congo: phonologie, classes nominales, Peeters Publishers
- Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121
- Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (2): 243–247
