Voiced bilabial stop

Voiced bilabial stop
b
IPA Number	102
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	b
Unicode (hex)	U+0062
X-SAMPA	b
Braille

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

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 stop.
• 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
Adyghe		бгъу		'nine'
Arabic	Standard	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		baba	[baːba]	'father'
Armenian	Eastern	բարի	<phonos file="bɑɾi.ogg">[bɑˈɾi]</phonos>	'kind'
Basque		bero	[beɾo]	'hot'
Catalan		bèstia	[ˈbɛstiə]	'beast'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Southern Min	閩	[ban]	'another name for Fujian Province'	Only in colloquial speech.
	Wu	皮	[bi]	'Skin'
	Xiang	浮	[bau]	'Floating'
Czech		bota	[ˈbota]	'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
Hebrew		בית	[bajit]	'house'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindi		बाल	[bɑːl]	'hair'	Contrasts with aspirated version ⟨भ⟩. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		baba	[ˈbɒbɒ]	'baby'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian		bile	[ˈbile]	'rage'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		番/ban	[baɴ]	'(one's) turn'	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		бгъуы		'nine'
Korean		차비/chabi	[t͡ɕʰɐbi]	'fare'	See Korean phonology
Luxembourgish		geblosen	[ɡɵ̞ˈbloːzɵ̞n]	'blown'	More often voiceless [p]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		убав	[ˈubav]	'beautiful'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		baru	[bäru]	'new'
Maltese		għatba	[aːtˈba]	'threshold'
Marathi		बटाटा	[bəˈʈaːʈaː]	'potato'	See Marathi phonology
Norwegian		bål	[ˈbɔːl]	'bonfire'	See Norwegian phonology
Pirahã		pibaóí	[ˈpìbàóí̯]	'parent'
Polish		bas	<phonos file="Pl-bas.ogg">[bäs]</phonos>	'bass'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		bato	[ˈbatʊ]	'I strike'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਬਿੱਲੀ	[bɪlːi]	'cat'
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	[ˈbɾɑː]	'good'	May be an approximant in casual speech. 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