Voiceless bilabial trill
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʙ̥⟩ in IPA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A 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 â¨ÊÌ¥â©. Some sources use a para-IPA symbol â¨á´â© to transcribe this sound.[1][2]
This sound is typologically extremely rare. It occurs in languages such as Pará Arára.[3] Only a few languages contrast voiced and voiceless bilabial trills phonemically â e.g. Mangbetu and Dongo of DR Congo and Ninde of Vanuatu.[4][5][6]
Features
Features of a 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 that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the medianâlateral dichotomy does not apply.
- 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
Plain
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahamb[7] | [ÅãËÊÌ¥Ìs] | 'it foams' | Contrasts /ÊÌ¥, áµÊ, â¿áµr/. | |
| Neverver[8] | [naÉ£aáµÊÌ¥] | 'fire, firewood' | Allophone of /p/ before /u/[9] | |
| Pará Arára[10] | [ÊÌ¥uta] | 'to throw away' | ||
| Dongo[6] | ppoÌppoÌ-kó | [ÊÌ¥ÅÊÌ¥Åkó] | 'wings' | Contrasts with /Ê/ and /p/; has allophone [pÊ°]. |
Prestopped trills and stops with trill release
There is also a very rare voiceless bilabially post-trilled dental or alveolar stop, [t̪͡ÊÌ¥] (written â¨táµÌâ© in Everett & Kern) reported from a few words in the Chapacuran languages Wariʼ, Itene (More),[11] and Oro Win, as well as Sangtam, a Naga language. The sound also appears as an allophone of the labialized voiceless alveolar stop /tÊ·/ of Abkhaz and Ubykh, but in those languages it is more often realised by a doubly articulated stop [tÍ¡p]. In the Chapacuran languages, [tÊÌ¥] is reported almost exclusively before rounded vowels such as [o] and [y].
Additionally, the Efe dialect of Lese has a doubly articulated labialâvelar with trilled release [kÍ¡ÊÌ¥], which occurs as an allophone of the voiceless labialâvelar plosive /kÍ¡p/.[12]
In some languages, the trill may be voiced, particularly when syllabic; see Voiced bilabial trill § Prestopped trills and stops with trill release.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Itene[11] | [ËtðÌ¥u] | 'toad' | Phonemic | ||
| Lese | Efe[12] | [ukÍ¡ÊÌ¥u] | 'head' | Allophone of /kÍ¡p/. | |
| Oro Win[13] | [t̪͡ÊÌ¥um] | 'small boy' | Noted as 'a bilabial trill, preceded by a dental stop, forming a single uni[t]'[14] | ||
| Sangtam[15] | [t̪͡Ê̥ʰÊ] | 'plate' | Contrasts aspirated /t̪͡Ê̥ʰ/ and unaspirated /t̪͡ÊÌ¥/, noted as 'prestopped trills'. The trill in the unaspirated consonant is typically voiced as [t̪͡Ê] when word-medial.[16] | ||
| Ubykh[17][full citation needed] | [tÍ¡ÊÌ¥aÏÉbza] | 'Ubykh language' | Allophone of /tÊ·/. See Ubykh phonology | ||
| Wariʼ[18] | totowe' | [t̪͡ÊÌ¥ot̪͡ÊÌ¥oËweÊ] | 'chicken' | Occurs only before /o/ and /y/, appearing almost exclusively in older speakers; allophonic with [t] in some dialects | |