Voiced bilabial plosive

Voiced bilabial plosive
b
Image
IPA number	102
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	b
Unicode (hex)	U+0062
X-SAMPA	b
Kirshenbaum	b
Sound

The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some 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 plosive occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨b⟩ in boy. Many Indian languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between breathy voiced /bʱ/ and plain /b/.

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial plosive:

• Its manner of articulation is stop, or plosive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. (The term plosive contrasts with nasal stops, where the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.)
• 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
b	plain b
bʷ	labialised
b̜ʷ	semi-labialised
b̹ʷ	strongly labialised
bʲ	palatalised
bʱ	breathy voiced

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Standard	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		բարի	[bɑɾi]	'kind'
Basque		bero	[beɾo]	'hot'
Catalan		bèstia	[ˈbɛstiə]	'beast'	See Catalan phonology
Czech		bota	[bota]	'boot'	See Czech phonology
Dutch		boer	[buːr]	'farmer'	See Dutch phonology
English		aback	[əˈbæk]	'aback'	See English phonology
French		boue	[bu]	'mud'	See French phonology
Georgian		ბავშვი	[ˈbavʃvi]	'child'
German		Bub	[buːp]	'boy'	See German phonology
Greek		μπόχα/bócha	[ˈbo̞xa]	'reek'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		બક્રી	[bəkri]	'goat'	See Gujarati phonology
Hindi		बाल	[bɑːl]	'hair'	Contrasts with aspirated version(भ). See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		baba	[bɒbɒ]	'baby'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian		bile	[ˈbile]	'rage'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		番/ban	[baɴ]	'(one's) turn'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		차비/ chabi	[t͡ɕʰɐbi]	'fare'	See Korean phonology
Malay		baru	[baru]	'new'
Maltese		għatba	[aːtˈba]	'threshold'
Norwegian		bål	[ˈbɔːl]	'bonfire'	See Norwegian phonology
Pirahã		pibaóí	[ˈpìbàóí̯]	'parent'
Polish		bas	[bas]	'bass'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		bato	[ˈbatʊ]	'I strike'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian		bou	[bow]	'bull'	See Romanian phonology.
Russian		рыба	[ˈrɨbə]	'fish'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Slovak		byť	[bic]	'to be'
Spanish		invertir	[ĩmbe̞rˈtir]	'to invest'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		bra	[ˈbrɑː]	'good'	See Swedish phonology
Turkish		bulut	[ˈbuɫut̪]	'cloud'	See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian		брат	[ˈbrɑt̪]	'brother'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		بال	[bɑːl]	'hair'	Contrasts with aspirated version(بھ). See Hindi-Urdu phonology
West Frisian		bak	[bak]	'tray'
Yi		ꁧ/bbo	[bo˧]	'mountain'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	bald	[bal͡d]	'few'

See also

• Betacism
• List of phonetics topics

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191 
• 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", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (1): 107–114 
• Okada, Hideo (1991), "Phonetic Representation:Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21 (2): 94–97 
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", 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