Voiced labial–velar nasal
Consonantal sound
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A voiced labialâvelar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is â¨ÅÍ¡mâ©.
ŋâ͡âmNm| Voiced labialâvelar nasal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ÅÍ¡m | |||
| IPA number | 119 (114) | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ŋâ͡âm | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+014BâU+0361âU+006D | ||
| X-SAMPA | Nm | ||
| |||
A labialâvelar nasal is found in West and Central Africa and eastern New Guinea, as well as in certain contexts in Vietnamese.[1][2]
Features
Features of a voiced labialâvelar nasal:
- Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
- Its place of articulation is labialâvelar, which means it is simultaneously articulated with the lips and with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum). The dorsal closure is made and released slightly before the labial closure, but they overlap for most of their duration.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is a nasal consonant, which means air is exclusively allowed to escape through the nose for nasal stops; otherwise, in addition to through the mouth.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dangme[3] | Dangme | [daÅÍ¡me] | 'Dangme' | |
| Igala[4] | ñmá» | [ÅÍ¡mÉÌ] | 'to drink' | Allophone of /m/. See Igala Phonology |
| Vietnamese[5] | Äúng | [ÉuÅÍ¡m] | 'correct' | Allophone of /Å/ after /u, o, É/. See Vietnamese phonology |
| Yele | ngmo | [ÅÍ¡mÉ] | 'breast' | Contrasts voiced labialâalveolar nasal and voiced labialâretroflex nasal. |
Labialized variant
Some languages, especially in Vanuatu, combine this labialâvelar nasal with a labialâvelar approximant release, hence [ÅÍ¡mÊ·].
In the Banks Islands languages which have it, the phoneme /ÅÍ¡mÊ·/ is written â¨mÌâ© in local orthographies, using a macron on the corresponding bilabial. In other languages of Vanuatu further south (such as South Efate, or Lenakel), the same segment is spelled â¨mÌâ© with a combining tilde.